OSU Students Connect With 132 Holocaust Survivors in Ohio

When Ohio State University students returned from touring concentration camps in Poland, they discovered something unexpected: 132 Holocaust survivors living right in their own Columbus community.

On February 8, OSU Hillel and Jewish Family Services brought 16 students and 10 survivors together for an afternoon that turned lunch into living history. The students, still processing what they'd witnessed in Poland just weeks earlier, sat across from people who had survived those very horrors.

The gathering surprised everyone in the room. Many students had no idea so many survivors called Central Ohio home, and most survivors were from the former Soviet Union with stories rarely told in typical Holocaust education.

"Their experiences were different from what we usually hear," explained Garett Ray, chief program officer at Jewish Family Services. "They fled to the Soviet Union after the Holocaust, lived through the Iron Curtain, faced antisemitism there too, and eventually came to America as refugees."

One survivor was born in Warsaw. When students showed her photos from their recent trip to the Polish capital, the moment became electric with connection across decades.

Rabbi Aaron Portman, who organized the Poland trip and the lunch, watched students and survivors lean in closer as conversations deepened. "The students shared their photos and experiences. The survivors shared their lives and what they'd endured. Everyone kept saying how grateful they were to be together."

Why This Inspires

This lunch represents something precious slipping away. These college students are among the last generations who will ever hear Holocaust testimony directly from those who lived it.

But instead of treating survivors as historical artifacts, the event created genuine friendship. Survivors told students how meaningful it felt to meet young Jews proud of their heritage. Students recognized the gift of hearing truth spoken by voices that won't be around much longer.

The connection worked so well that both organizations are planning more gatherings. There's talk of inviting survivors back for Shabbat dinners at Hillel, turning a one-time event into an ongoing bridge between generations.

Jewish Family Services provides support to help all 132 Central Ohio survivors live independently and safely. Now those services include something harder to quantify: the dignity of being heard, remembered, and valued by young people who care.

"There was something very special about having young Jews and our elders coming together to break bread," Portman said. Breaking bread became breaking down the barriers of time, ensuring memory stays alive through relationship, not just textbooks.