Survivor's Grandson Shares Grandmother's Story at NY School

Dillon Horowitz stood before students at Vestal High School in New York with a mission: share how his grandmother survived the impossible and refused to let hatred win.

His grandmother was just 17 when she was torn from her Hungarian home and sent to Auschwitz. Dr. Mengele's selection separated her from her family, who were killed shortly after arrival.

She endured months in the death camp before being forced on a brutal march. Russian soldiers eventually liberated her, though her last surviving family member died from hunger just after freedom came.

The journey home took months. When she finally arrived, she found her town's Jewish community nearly destroyed and her home looted.

She refused to give up. After remarrying and living as a refugee in Paris, she eventually moved to Israel and built a new life.

The Ripple Effect

"She really single-handedly in her mind defeated Hitler because he was trying to get rid of all of us," Horowitz told the students. "And she repopulated the world with the Galandaeur name, her last name, and something we're very proud of."

Her story stayed mostly private until late in life, when she finally opened up to a trusted writer. Now her family carries that testimony forward through 3GNY, an organization that trains survivors' grandchildren to share these personal histories in schools across New York.

Horowitz wants students to understand something powerful: one person's choices can change the world for good or evil. His grandmother chose life, family, and memory.

The numbers are staggering: 6 million Jews killed, 20 million total victims. But Horowitz focuses on the story of one woman who survived when everyone else from her town perished, then revived an entire culture and legacy.

Her grandchildren now ensure her story lives on, teaching new generations to remember these atrocities so history never repeats itself.