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Podcast Description — Legacy Chronicles, Ep. 588

In this episode of Legacy Chronicles on hmTv, host Zachary Graulich sits down with Dr. Jonathan Hammel, physician, novelist, and author of The Jewish Hospital. Dr. Hammel shares the remarkable story behind his historical fiction novel, inspired by his grandmother Gerda Haas, a nurse in Berlin’s Jewish Hospital during World War II.

Through family testimony, USC Shoah Foundation interviews, and years of research, Dr. Hammel uncovered powerful details about his grandmother’s experiences, the ethical dilemmas faced by Jewish doctors and nurses under Nazi rule, and the extraordinary humanity shown in a place caught between healing, confinement, and deportation.

The conversation explores Holocaust memory, family legacy, bioethics, medical responsibility, and the importance of carrying survivor stories forward for future generations. Dr. Hammel also reflects on how writing the book deepened his understanding of decision-making under pressure and how lessons from the Holocaust continue to speak to medicine, education, and humanity today. 

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In this episode of Ordinary Heroes, host Bernie Furshpan welcomes Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena for a meaningful conversation about public service, community leadership, and the everyday work of improving lives.

Supervisor DeSena shares her journey from attorney and volunteer to elected leader, reflecting on how saying “yes” to service opened the door to helping families, seniors, young people, small businesses, and diverse communities across North Hempstead. She discusses the importance of presence, transparency, responsible government, quality of life, senior support, parks, public health programs, infrastructure improvements, and cultural connection.

Together, Bernie and Supervisor DeSena explore the role of education in preventing hate, the importance of Holocaust remembrance, the danger of distorted history, and the need to build bridges across faiths, cultures, and neighborhoods. Their conversation also touches on October 7th, antisemitism, youth isolation, social media, volunteering, and the power of the arts and music to bring people together.

At its heart, this episode is about leadership rooted in service, empathy, and hope. Supervisor DeSena reminds us that government can be noble when it stays close to people, listens carefully, and works every day to make communities stronger.

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In Episode 586 of Legacy Chronicles: Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future, host Donna Rosenblum welcomes author Silvia Fishbaum, whose powerful book Dirty Jewish tells a deeply personal story of survival, identity, courage, and legacy.

Silvia shares the story of her parents, both Holocaust survivors, including her mother’s survival of Auschwitz and her father’s experience in forced labor in Hungary. She reflects on growing up Jewish in postwar Czechoslovakia, facing antisemitism as a child, and developing an unshakable dream of freedom that eventually led her to the United States.

The conversation also explores Silvia’s remarkable mission to preserve the legacy of her former art teacher, Ľudovít Feld, a gifted Jewish artist and Auschwitz survivor who was forced to create artwork for Dr. Josef Mengele. Through determination, research, writing, and advocacy, Silvia helped bring Feld’s story and artwork back into public memory, ultimately helping establish a cultural center and gallery in his honor in Košice, Slovakia.

At a time when antisemitism is again rising around the world, Silvia and Donna discuss the urgent power of Holocaust education, art, testimony, and personal responsibility. Silvia’s message is clear: one person can make a difference, and one story can grow into a field of memory, education, and hope. 

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Ep. 585, Raised by Survivors with Bernie Furshpan and guest Marisa Fox on hmTv

In this powerful episode of Raised by Survivors, host Bernie Furshpan speaks with journalist and filmmaker Marisa Fox, director of the acclaimed documentary My Underground Mother. The film follows Marisa’s deeply personal investigation into the hidden life of her mother, Tamar, who claimed she was never a Holocaust victim, only a hero of the Jewish underground and Israel’s War of Independence.

Through years of research across archives, survivor testimonies, and family secrets, Marisa uncovered a far more complex and painful truth involving identity, survival, secrecy, women’s slave labor camps, sexual trauma, resistance, and the emotional cost of silence in families of Holocaust survivors.

Bernie and Marisa explore the shared experiences of second-generation survivors, the unanswered questions children often carry, and why so many women’s stories from the Holocaust remained hidden for decades. This moving conversation shines a light on courage, memory, trauma, truth, and the urgent responsibility to bring untold stories out of the darkness.

My Underground Mother is currently appearing at festivals, museums, and special screenings. Learn more at myundergroundmother.com.

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Ep. 584: The Israeli Bond with Gal Swisa Cohen

Guest: Bernie Furshpan
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In this meaningful episode of The Israeli Bond, host Gal Swisa Cohen welcomes Bernie Furshpan for a personal and inspiring conversation about identity, Israel, resilience, and the power of hope.

Born in Jaffa and raised in Brooklyn, Bernie shares his lifelong connection to Israel, his journey through many careers, and how his father’s survival of the Holocaust shaped his courage to keep saying yes to new possibilities. The conversation then turns to A Day of Hope, a powerful event Bernie helped create at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance on December 22.

Bernie describes how music, dance, and the arts can heal, unite, and reveal the true spirit of coexistence in Israel. Through Jewish, Muslim, Druze, Christian, and international students performing together, the academy became a living example of what hope looks like in action.

The episode also explores the making of the documentary The Making of Day of Hope, which captures the love, planning, collaboration, and emotional impact behind this extraordinary event. At its heart, this conversation is a reminder that Israel’s national anthem is called Hatikvah, “The Hope,” and that even in difficult times, hope remains one of Israel’s greatest strengths.

A moving episode about homeland, humanity, resilience, and the healing language of the arts. 

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Ep 583: The Israeli Bond with Gal Swisa Cohen and guest Eyal Eshel on hmTv

In this powerful and deeply emotional episode of The Israeli Bond on hmTv, host Gal Swisa Cohen sits down with Eyal Eshel, father of Roni Eshel, an IDF observer who was killed on October 7.

Eyal shares Roni’s story, from her joyful childhood and unforgettable smile to her service as an observer at Nahal Oz, where she served as one of Israel’s eyes along the Gaza border. He speaks openly about the warnings Roni shared before October 7, the final messages sent from the command room, the 34 agonizing days when she was listed as missing, and the painful journey toward identifying and honoring her memory.

The conversation also explores Eyal’s mission after tragedy: demanding accountability, preserving Roni’s legacy, and building a living memorial park filled with children, fruit trees, nature, and smiles, reflecting the spirit of the daughter he continues to carry with him every day.

This episode is a moving tribute to courage, memory, responsibility, and the enduring love of a father determined that Roni’s story, and the stories of all those lost on October 7, will never be forgotten. 

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In Episode 582, Part 2 of Raised by Survivors on hmTv, host Bernie Furshpan continues his powerful conversation with Jake Ehrenreich, acclaimed actor, musician, playwright, author of A Jew Grows in Brooklyn, and proud son of Holocaust survivors.

Building on the warmth and humor of Part 1, Bernie and Jake turn to the urgent rise of antisemitism in New York City and beyond. Together, they explore Jewish identity, Zionism, Israel, political division, media influence, social media misinformation, and the painful reality that many Jews today feel afraid to openly express who they are.

Jake reflects on the lessons of his survivor parents, the importance of protecting Jewish communities, and the need for courage, honesty, and unity in a divided time. Bernie and Jake also discuss the responsibility to question, think independently, resist hatred, and recognize when criticism crosses into demonization and intimidation.

At its heart, this episode is about memory, self-defense, pride, hope, and the human responsibility to stand against hate. It is a timely and deeply personal conversation about what it means to be raised by survivors, and what it means to carry that legacy forward with strength, humor, and humanity. 

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In Episode 581, Part 1 of Raised by Survivors on hmTv, host Bernie Furshpan welcomes Jake Ehrenreich, acclaimed actor, musician, playwright, author, and proud son of Holocaust survivors, for a heartfelt and humorous conversation about identity, memory, family, and resilience.

Jake reflects on his beloved autobiographical work, A Jew Grows in Brooklyn, sharing how his one-man show and book grew out of his experience as the child of survivors growing up between Brooklyn and the Catskills. He and Bernie discuss the unique world of survivor families, the Yiddish phrases, Eastern European food, music, humor, guilt, love, and cultural memories that shaped their childhoods.

The conversation moves between laughter and deep emotion as Jake speaks about his parents’ survival, his mother’s grief, his father’s silence, and the power of storytelling to preserve what was almost lost. Together, Bernie and Jake explore how children of survivors carry history forward, not only through sorrow, but through humor, creativity, music, and a commitment to living fully.

This episode is a warm, funny, and deeply meaningful tribute to Brooklyn, Jewish identity, Holocaust memory, and the enduring strength of the survivor family legacy. 

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In this powerful episode of Ordinary Heroes on hmTv, host Bernie Furshpan welcomes Robert Gryn to share the extraordinary story of his father, Tony Gryn, a young Polish Jew who became a courageous rescuer during the Holocaust.

Born in Poland and later raised in Paris, Tony Gryn was a brilliant medical student at the Sorbonne when World War II changed the course of his life. After surviving imprisonment by the Germans, he joined a Zionist youth resistance network in France and helped smuggle hundreds of Jewish children across the border into Switzerland. Working under constant threat from the Gestapo and German patrols, Tony relied on courage, intelligence, forged documents, and the help of brave members of the French population, including clergy and local officials.

Robert Gryn shares remarkable details from his father’s life, including Tony’s work creating thousands of false identity documents for Jews hiding in occupied France, his efforts to save children from deportation, and the lasting impact of his actions on generations of survivors and their descendants.

This episode is a moving tribute to a man who never called himself a hero, but whose bravery, humility, and determination helped save countless lives.

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Ep 579 Legacy Chronicles with Donna Rosenblum and guest Linda Houck on hmTv

In this heartfelt episode of Legacy Chronicles: Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future on hmTv, host Donna Rosenblum welcomes Linda Houck for a moving conversation about family memory, survival, and the responsibility of the second generation. 

Linda shares the story of her parents, both from Vienna, whose lives were forever changed after the Anschluss. Her mother escaped to the United States, while her father endured imprisonment, escaped, and made his way to Zurich before eventually joining her in America. Linda also reflects on her extended family’s paths to New Zealand, Shanghai, Argentina, and the United States.

As the youngest child and only daughter, Linda describes feeling like the family’s “memory keeper.” She speaks about growing up surrounded by German, Yiddish, survivor stories, and the lasting presence of Holocaust memory in her home. She also shares how this legacy influenced her 46-year career as a nurse, where she cared for many survivors with deep compassion.

The conversation also highlights Linda’s connection to HMTC, the 2G community, survivor support, and the importance of preserving testimony as survivors age. This episode is a powerful reminder that every story matters, every voice deserves to be heard, and the work of remembrance must continue from one generation to the next.

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