HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR
AUTHOR
EDUCATOR
The girl who survived Berlin, Shanghai and a century.
Born Berlin, 1929
Refuge Shanghai, 1939
Home United States, 1953
In Memoriam · 1929–2023
Betty Grebenschikoff was born Ilse Kohn in Berlin in 1929. She fled Nazi Germany with her family in 1939, found refuge in Shanghai, and survived the war in the Hongkew ghetto. She spent the rest of her life telling that story — to her children, to schoolchildren, to scholars, to anyone who would listen — so that what happened would not be forgotten.
Three ways to enter Betty's life and her life's work.
Biography
Her Story
A Berlin childhood, escape to Shanghai, an American life. The full arc of one girl who became Betty.
Memoir
Once My Name Was Sara
Her own account of the years that should not have been survivable. Used in Holocaust education around the world.
Archive
Her Voice
Films, podcasts, articles and the unlikely and heart-warming reunion that brought her story to the world.
Reunited after 82 years
In 2021, Betty was reunited with her childhood best friend Ana María Wahrenberg over Zoom. The two women had said goodbye in Berlin as children, neither knowing whether the other survived. Their reunion was covered by news outlets around the world.
It is said that the greatest gift you can give to others, especially to your family, is the gift of self. A sense of awareness of who you are, where you came from, and the many events and people that shaped your life and made you the person you are.