Balm in Gilead: How Black Soldiers Rescued Young Holocaust Survivors

The Jewish Center of Princeton is hosting a Zoom presentation, “Balm in Gilead:
How Black Soldiers Rescued Young Holocaust Survivors”, by former ambassador to Albania, John L. Withers II, who will tell his father’s story of hope in the aftermath of World War II. The talk is Wednesday, November 9, 7 PM and is in
conjunction with the Kennesaw State University’s Museum of History and Holocaust Education traveling exhibit “Black + Jewish: Connection, Courage,Community,” brought to this area by The Jewish Center of Princeton. To register
for the zoom link for the November 9 program and for more information on the traveling exhibit, please contact Linda Oppenheim at linda.oppenheim@gmail.com.

The presentation will focus primarily on how in 1945, Withers’ father and the other members of an all-Black U.S. Army quartermaster company risked sheltering two young Dachau concentration camp survivors in contravention of
military policy, and the subsequent reunion between his father and one of the young men, many decades later. Ambassador Withers’ talk is based on his recent book, Balm in Gilead: A Story from the War, in which he relates this and other of
his father’s experiences from World War II, and also reflects on life growing up during Jim Crow in Greensboro, North Carolina.