Family of Holocaust survivors share stories in Youngstown

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Sam Kooperman’s parents never spoke about what happened to them during the Holocaust.

Kooperman, a Liberty resident and former executive director of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, was born after World War II in Germany in a camp for displaced people.

His parents both hailed from the same Polish village, though they didn’t meet until years later at a labor camp in Ukraine. Kooperman’s mother hid a piece of bread under the folds of her dress after her future husband had smuggled it into the camp, Kooperman said.

Relatives of Holocaust survivors shared stories Sunday afternoon during an annual Shoah Memorial Ceremony at the Youngstown Jewish Community Center, 505 Gypsy Lane. “Shoah” is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust.

The JCC will sponsor another remembrance event at noon Tuesday at the Mahoning County Courthouse downtown.

During the Holocaust, Nazis and their collaborators killed 6 million Jews.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.