Deutsches Haus at NYU presents a presentation and reading from “Lilly and Arthur: The Girl and the Holocaust Survivor” (TitleTown Publishing, 2023) by the author Lilly Maier, followed by a conversation between the Lilly Maier and Carol Strauss, the former Executive Director of the Leo Baeck Institute.

About the book:

What do a 75-year-old Los Angeles based rocket engineer and an eleven-year-old schoolgirl from Austria have in common? Not much at first glance, but Arthur and Lilly influenced each other’s lives in a fateful way. When Arthur Kern knocked on the door of the house where he grew up as a boy in Vienna, Austria, an eleven year old girl opened. Neither of them knew that this chance encounter would change both of their lives forever.

In 1939, Arthur‘s Jewish parents sent their son abroad on a so-called Kindertransport (“children’s transport”), hoping to save him from the Holocaust. The separation is a traumatic experience for the ten-year-old. Although he is rescued – from Austria via France to the USA – his family is murdered by the Nazis. He never sees them again.

Sixty-five years later: During a visit to his parents‘ former apartment in Vienna, Austria, Arthur Kern – by now a retired rocket engineer involved in the moon landing – meets eleven-year-old Lilly Maier. A decisive encounter for both of them, which not only shapes Lilly’s further life, but also leads to Arthur receiving a long-lost legacy from his parents.

A moving tale of two lives that fatefully cross paths, and an immensely knowledgeable insight into an unknown Holocaust story: the rescue of hundreds of Jewish children to America on a Kindertransport.

Date and Time: Tuesday, December 12th, 2023 from 6:00 PM-7:30 PM

Location: Deutsches Haus at NYU, 42 Washington Mews, New York, NY 10003

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