The USHMM invited me to speak at an event on March 15 entitled Stolen Legacy: Nazi Theft and the Quest for Justice.
This program addressed the ongoing challenges of restitution and the resources available for people, like me, who want to research the fate of family members and construct legal cases.
This evening at the USHMM speaking to a crowded theatre audience on the subject of justice for Holocaust victims, whose property was seized during the Nazi era, and their lives torn apart.
Joining me on stage were museum experts Dr. Leah Wolfson and Dr. Suzanne Brown-Fleming.
In his Standpoint magazine review, entitled Holocaust Survivors Are still Waiting for Justice, Michael Pinto-Duchinsky says Stolen Legacy is riveting, humane and politically important.
Initially he had reservations about reading the book, arising from his disappointment at the derisory compensation given to former Nazi slave laborers in Auschwitz whose cause he had championed as their honorary academic adviser. Yet Dr Pinto-Duchinsky discovered that his hesitation had been misplaced …the book shows the exceptional determination, skill and luck needed by Jewish heirs in search of belated justice.
And, encouragingly, he believes that stories such as mine appear … to be helping rather than hindering elderly survivors of the concentration and death camps and their families. I do hope that is the case.
The theater at London’s JW3 in Finchley was packed for my interview today with Melanie Phillips about Stolen Legacy. Tickets had sold out days beforehand and some people had to be turned away at reception as a result. The audience loved the photos we were able to illustrate the story with and lots of people came up to me afterwards to tell me their family histories.
“A determined struggle for justice” is the headline of a review in the February edition of the AJR Journal. The article goes on to say: … the book covers far more than simply a legal battle. It is also a well researched history of an interesting family.
The reviewer is kind enough to remark: Dina Gold is to be commended for her persistence and determination not only in fighting for the return of her family’s property but also in tracing the fate of her relations and exposing the misdeeds of apparently respectable organisations and individuals.