The annual commemoration this year features Betty Gold, a Holocaust survivor, who has shared her experiences with students and adults in the greater Cleveland area for many years.

As part of the observance this year, Akron marks the 20th anniversary of the Holocaust Arts and Writing Contest for students in Greater Akron. In these 20 years, middle and high school students from Akron and all over Summit County have prepared more than 8,100 art, writing or multi media works that explore many different aspects of the Holocaust.

The exhibit featuring award winning works from the contest will be at the Main Library through May 2.

This year’s speaker, Betty Potash Gold, was born in 1930 in Poland.

On August 11, 1942 Nazis led the townspeople of her community into an area they had established as a ghetto. Betty walked with her grandmother toward the ghetto and soon realized that the rest of her family had not followed. Betty knew that she could be walking toward her death and decided to take a chance. She ran past Nazi soldiers and back to her home, where she suspected her family was hiding. In anticipation of this day, Betty’s father had built a secret hiding place in their barn. In the ghetto from which Betty had escaped, some 4,200 Jews were lined up and shot that day, including Betty’s grandmother.

Betty found her family and other relatives hiding behind the secret wall. They were able to escape to the woods, where they survived for about eight or nine months. Betty’s father had dug nine caves in various parts of the woods in preparation. Betty and her family lived in caves, moving when they heard Nazis were near. Betty’s job was to steal food from nearby farms to feed her family. The family thought they would die, and several times, just barely escaped capture. Eventually, a group of Russian partisans discovered the family and brought them to a collective farm.

In the spring of 1945 her family was reunited and by 1946 her family arrived at Ellis Island and moved to Cleveland.

She has dedicated her time to educate students about the Holocaust by speaking at schools, colleges, churches and as a docent at Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood. She has a special relationship with students and faculty at St. Ignatius High School on the west side of Cleveland, where she acted as hostess to Elie Wiesel. (EL ee/ vee ZELL)

City Holocaust Teacher Awards (7k pdf)