The Shadows of Shoah Exhibition was launched in 2013 by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. Since then it has toured museums, galleries and public spaces the length of New Zealand.
27 January is United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Over this week Shalom.Kiwi will post a survivor story each day to raise awareness of this important event – an event that becomes increasingly important as survivors pass and as anti-Semitism re-emerges. We invite readers to share these stories with their networks via social media.
Today is the fifth in our series and the story is that of Ralph Anspach.
Ralph Anspach was born in 1926 in Germany. In 1938 he escaped Germany for the US. During college, he learned of the difficulties of concentration camp survivors being forbidden to enter Palestine. He volunteered to fight in Israel’s War of Independence as a part of the Mahal, foreign volunteers. He is a retired economics professor from San Francisco State University.