One of the youngest Holocaust survivors shares story of resilience

By Anne Shannon

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    HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (WGAL) — One of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust shared her story in the Susquehanna Valley.

Tova Friedman was just 2 years old when World War II started.

“But I remember a lot, a lot, a lot,” she said.

She and her family were among thousands of Polish Jews forced to live in a ghetto.

She watched as members of her family were led to their deaths.

“I’m standing there. I’m 4 1/2, I said, ‘Oh, my grandparents,'” she said.

Friedman and her mother ended up in Auschwitz.

She narrowly escaped death several times.

“They’re closing the camp, so they started shooting. And somehow or other, I and my mother made it,” she said.

Through it all, Friedman refused to show weakness.

“I never cried. I never cried throughout the whole war,” she said.

Decades later, she is dedicated to sharing her story of resilience.

“I don’t want people to forget, and there are not many people who can do it because I can do it,” she said.

At almost 85, Friedman said the remembering doesn’t hurt. Instead, it’s helped to heal her and remind everyone.

“Hitler didn’t win. I have a family. Everything he didn’t want me to have, I have,” she said.

Friedman was in the Susquehanna Valley as part of an event for Jewish Family Service of Greater Harrisburg.

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