What do we choose to remember and why? What memories should we work to keep alive? Jackie and Kevin explore that in this episode.  

“I think it's important for us to understand, too, why it's important to keep these stories, these legacies, alive... we all stand on the shoulders of the accomplishments and sacrifices of these individuals who've made our country, our world, a better place.” 
- Host Kevin Aldridge on the importance of honoring the upstanders who came before us 

January marks two important occasions of memory for the nation and the world – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Jackie and Kevin explore the character strengths that made Dr. King a transformative leader and how the Holocaust & Humanity Center is expanding its efforts to keep the memory of the survivors who founded its predecessor organizations alive. 

Joan Mermelstein survived Auschwitz and two other concentration camps. Her son Bob shares how he's keeping her memory alive. Joyce Kamen did meticulous work in preserving Holocaust testimonies in the 90's and demonstrated how stories must be handled with care and reverence.

This episode is part of the Cynthia & Harold Guttman Center for Storytelling. Subscribe here https://www.youtube.com/@holocaustandhumanity   

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Episode Resources 

Read the article Making Heroes is Community Work
https://news.chapman.edu/2025/01/14/making-heroes-is-community-work-lessons-from-the-early-life-of-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/  

Visit the exhibit on Emmett Till at the Underground Railroad Freedom Center
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2025/01/07/emmett-till-exhibit-coming-cincinnati-national-underground-railroad-freedom-center/77436062007/ 

Read more on the lives of Dr. King and Anne Frank, born just months apart in 1929
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/videos/martin-anne-kindred-spirits-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-and-anne-frank

How the world is marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day
https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/beyond-abyss-80th-anniversary-liberation-auschwitz-birkenau 
https://www.auschwitz.org/en/home-page-80/ 
https://www.claimscon.org/rememberthis/

Watch the episode of Hear My Story featuring Bob Mermelstein
https://youtu.be/aF-o3mpgC0w  

Watch the episode of Hear My Story with Joyce Kamen
https://youtu.be/kUn2LhdYUBw

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