Deaf Holocaust Survivor Shares Story at Frederick Event

When Eugene Bergman was just 12 years old and deaf, he risked his life helping the Polish resistance during World War II. Now, the Holocaust survivor will share his remarkable story at a joint remembrance event in Frederick, Maryland on April 19.

Congregation Kol Ami and Beth Sholom Congregation are coming together to host the Holocaust Remembrance Day event. Bergman's daughter will interpret his words through American Sign Language, ensuring his story reaches everyone in the room.

"They decided if they didn't tell his story, nobody else could," said Martin Erlichman, chair of Beth Sholom's Holocaust Committee. The unique presentation format allows Bergman to answer questions directly while his daughter translates his responses for the audience.

Rabbi Peter Grumbacher of Kol Ami will also share his own father's story of surviving Dachau and later serving as a decorated hero in the U.S. Army. For Grumbacher, these personal accounts transform an incomprehensible number into something real.

"When you talk about six million, nobody knows what that number means," he explained. "When I talk about my father's experiences, it's one person, and I think people are much more attuned to that."

The event welcomes the entire Frederick community, not just Jewish residents. The city's mayor and county executive will attend and present Holocaust remembrance proclamations to both congregations.

The Ripple Effect

This approach of bringing individual stories to small communities has already created change. Grumbacher once spoke in Whitwell, Tennessee, where students collected six million paper clips to visualize the Holocaust's scale. The project grew into a community-wide memorial and deeper understanding of Jewish history.

Erlichman sees these personal stories as essential tools for preventing future atrocities. "The program in itself is to remember," he said. "We want to take action. It's sustained action against hatred, because with antisemitism, it never just stops there."

For Grumbacher, sharing these stories feels increasingly urgent. "Nowadays especially, with the antisemitism and Holocaust denial, if I don't tell this story who the heck is going to?" he asked. "Every generation is getting older and older, and one day someone's going to say, 'Nothing happened there.'"

By standing together and opening their doors to the wider community, these two Frederick synagogues are proving that remembrance is an active choice that happens one person, one story, one community at a time.