Rebecca will share the story of her maternal grandmother, Lore (Simberg) Weintraub, who was born in Bruschen, East Prussia (now Vesnovo, Russia). After Kristallnacht, her family moved to Berlin, and from there they were deported to the Riga Ghetto in 1942. As a teenager, she survived Riga-Kaiserwald, Stutthof, and Thorn -- miraculously with her mother by her side the entire time -- where she was used as slave labor for a German electrical equipment company.

Lore’s bravery, strength, and hope led her to make choices that ultimately saved her and her mother’s life. After a forced march from Poland back to Germany, she was liberated in January 1945 and immigrated to the US in November 1947.

Rebecca Weintraub is the granddaughter of two Holocaust survivors, Ben and Lore (Simberg) Weintraub. She participated in the WEDU program in January 2019 in order to share her grandmother’s story. She decided that if her grandmother wouldn’t speak about her experiences in her own lifetime, and neither would her father, then she would. She couldn’t let her grandmother’s story fall through the cracks and be forgotten - her story, and all survivors’ stories, deserve to be heard, especially with the survivor population dwindling.

Rebecca grew up in Kew Gardens Hills, New York, and currently lives in Manhattan. She received her BA in English Language and Literature at the University of Maryland, College Park, and her Masters in Library and Information Studies from Queens College, the City University of New York. She currently works as a processing archivist at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).