Holocaust survivor Joan Da Silva in 1946 (courtesy of Joan Da Silva) and as an adult today. US Holocaust Memorial Museum
As a young Jewish child, Joan Da Silva had to move from family to family to stay safe from the Nazis in German-occupied Poland, usually without her parents. She also had to pretend to be Catholic, as recorded on her false identity papers. To pull off this ruse, a rescuer taught Christian prayers to five-year-old Joan in the middle of the night.
In her first appearance on First Person, Joan will share her experiences. “I knew something terrible was happening. I knew that I must never tell anybody that I was Jewish. … Whatever was happening was something that was not going to happen to me … I was going to survive.”
Speaker
Joan Da Silva, Holocaust Survivor and Museum Volunteer
Moderator
Bill Benson, Journalist and Host, First Person: Conversations with Holocaust Survivors
Watch live at youtube.com/ushmm. You don’t need a YouTube account to view our program. After the live broadcast, the recording will be available to watch on demand on the Museum's YouTube page.
Marking 25 years, First Person is a monthly, hour-long discussion with a Holocaust survivor that is made possible through generous support from the Louis Franklin Smith Foundation.