Oyster Bay-East Norwich Public Schools

Oyster Bay-East Norwich Students Learn Powerful Lessons from Holocaust Survivor's Granddaughter

On Mar. 18, sixth and eighth graders from the Oyster Bay-East Norwich School District had the unique opportunity to attend a presentation by 3GNY, an educational non-profit organization founded by the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. 3GNY’s mission is to educate communities about the perils of intolerance and to provide a supportive forum for the descendants of survivors.

3GNY partners with schools throughout the tri-state area to provide opportunities for students to hear personal family stories from those impacted by the Holocaust. In Oyster Bay High School’s auditorium, guest speaker Ms. Jane Pashman shared the story of her Hungarian grandmother, Ella Baumohl, whom she affectionately called “Nagymami.”

Ms. Pashman recounted how her grandmother was just 24 years old when her family was first relocated to the Hungarian ghetto in Budapest and later deported to Auschwitz. She showed the students a striking photograph of Jewish people being moved into the ghetto while bystanders watched silently from the street. This image underscored a powerful message about the dangers of remaining passive in the face of injustice.

At Auschwitz, Ms. Baumohl was separated from her family and her fiancé. Ms. Pashman explained her grandmother’s experiences in a manner appropriate for the students’ age group, detailing the hardships she endured. She also shared a photograph of her grandmother’s arm, permanently marked with a tattooed identification number, a painful reminder of the atrocities she survived.

Later, Ms. Baumohl was transported to another concentration camp, where she was completely isolated from her loved ones. During this time, she contracted typhoid and, in a fevered state, hallucinated about being home in Hungary with her entire family—a vision that provided her with the strength to endure the darkest days. In 1945, Russian forces liberated the camp. Ms. Baumohl awoke one morning to find the Nazi officers gone, marking the beginning of her path to freedom. She was transported to Denmark and later to Sweden, where she began rebuilding her life. Eventually, she discovered that she was the sole survivor from her family. Despite this unimaginable loss, she was reunited with her fiancé, and they married in 1946.

Ms. Pashman expressed her admiration for her grandmother’s resilience, sharing how she draws strength from her story whenever she faces challenges in her own life. She encouraged the students to be “upstanders” rather than passive bystanders in the face of injustice. She concluded her presentation with a powerful quote from Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel: “When you listen to a witness, you become a witness.”

Students were deeply engaged throughout the presentation and asked thoughtful questions. Some of them shared that they had family members who were also Holocaust survivors. Ms. Pashman encouraged those students to connect with 3GNY and to explore ways to preserve and share their own family histories.

She left the students with a final call to action: to practice resilience, to speak up against intolerance and to embrace empathy by learning about people from different backgrounds. She also encouraged them to talk to their parents and grandparents to learn more about their own family histories.

The presentation provided students with a powerful, personal connection to history and reinforced the importance of remembrance, empathy, and standing against hate.