Chanukah: 8 Candles
2025-01-01 | AZ
Hanukkah; the Jewish festival of rededication

AJHS Book Discussion We Were the Lucky Ones
2025-01-09 14:00 (America/Phoenix) | AZ
We Were the Lucky Ones
By Georgia Hunter
Discussion led by Sheryl Bronkesh, Phoenix Holocaust Association
Thursday, January 9, 2025 at 2PM
Discussion via ZOOM
Inspired by the incredible true story of one Jewish family separated at the start of World War II, determined to survive—and to reunite—We Were the Lucky Ones is a tribute to the triumph of hope and love against all odds.
It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new babies and budding romance, not of the increasing hardships threatening Jews in their hometown of Radom, Poland. But soon the horrors overtaking Europe will become inescapable and the Kurcs will be flung to the far corners of the world, each desperately trying to navigate his or her own path to safety.
As one sibling is forced into exile, another attempts to flee the continent, while others struggle to escape certain death, either by working grueling hours on empty stomachs in the factories of the ghetto or by hiding as gentiles in plain sight. Driven by an unwavering will to survive and by the fear that they may never see one another again, the Kurcs must rely on hope, ingenuity, and inner strength to persevere.
An extraordinary, propulsive novel, We Were the Lucky Ones demonstrates how in the face of the twentieth century’s darkest moment, the human spirit can endure and even thrive.

January Café Europa
2025-01-12 13:00 - 15:00 | AZ
To Pay online: PHXHA.COM/CONNECT/
Contact Susan Getz: SUZE0000@GMAIL.COM

We Were the Lucky Ones
2025-01-23 18:00 - 21:00 | Chaparral High School, 6935 east Gold Dust Ave, Scottsdale, az, 85253
Online registration has closed. Admission at the door on January 23rd will be $40/person, payable by cash or check only.

In partnership with the Center for Jewish Philanthropy, please join the Phoenix Holocaust Association for an evening with New York Times bestselling author Georgia Hunter and Critics’ Choice Television Awards Best Supporting Actress Winner Busy Philipps.
When Georgia Hunter was fifteen years old, she discovered that she came from a family of Holocaust survivors. Years later, she embarked on a journey of intensive research, determined to unearth and record her family’s remarkable story. The result is the New York Times best seller, We Were the Lucky Ones, which has been published in over 20 languages and adapted for television by Hulu as an eight-part limited series. Hunter’s searing novel is the story of a Jewish family ripped away from each other at the start of the German and Russian occupation of Poland on the eve of World War II, and their extraordinary journey back to each other—a story based on Hunter’s grandfather’s real Holocaust survival story.

Ms. Hunter will be interviewed by Chaparral High School alumna actress Busy Philipps, who has starred in many critically acclaimed television series including Dawson’s Creek, Cougar Town and Girls5eva, and whose filmography includes Made of Honor, He’s Just Not That Into You and Mean Girls.

Event Sponsors (in formation)
Julee Landau & Robert Shahon
Buchanan Programme & Marley Kornreich
ASU Jewish Studies
Arizona Jewish Historical Society
Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival
Valley Beit Midrash
The Driver Provider
