On Monday April 5, 2021, WCU Hillel hosted author, speaker and Holocaust educator Felice Cohen in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day as part of its 2021 virtual speaker series. As the grandchild of two Holocaust survivors, Cohen is the author of “What Papa Told Me,” a memoir about her grandfather’s life before, during and after the second World War. The book has been endorsed by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and Yad Vashem, which is the World Holocast Remembrance Center, in Israel. “What Papa Told Me” is taught in schools across the country, has been translated into Polish and has sold over 40,000 copies worldwide.
Cohen’s grandfather, Papa Murray, had asked her to do this one important thing, and that was to tell his story. The book was originally a gift for her grandfather but turned into a greater message for the world. It took 18 years to piece together her grandfather’s story because his memory was like a “sponge.” Cohen and her grandfather spent a great deal of time together gathering these memories. Murray would share these extremely heartbreaking memories of his Holocaust story, which would drain all of his energy for that sitting, and they would continue another day.
Cohen explained that the motivation for her to finally complete the book was an emotional trip that she took to Poland where she visited her grandfather’s hometown prior to the Holocaust. Upon her return home, she rented a tiny apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan in order to focus intensely on finishing the book. In fact, that tiny apartment turned out to play a key role — or was bashert — in sharing “What Papa Told Me” with the world. Bashert is a Yiddish word that means “destiny” or “meant to be.”
Cohen became known nationally and internationally as the woman who lived in the world’s smallest apartment. When interviewed for a Youtube video about living in that 90 square foot New York City apartment, the book cover for “What Papa Told Me” just happened to be on her computer screen. That video went viral with almost 25 million views, gaining media attention across the globe. Many journalists and bloggers were interested in interviewing her about her tiny living space, and her grandfather’s story also took center stage, inspiring people around the world to order the book.
Murray and Cohen ended up not only sharing his Holocaust story around their local community but with the world. Cohen shared a memory from a speaking event at a local elementary school that Murray attended where young children ran up to him at the end like he was a hero and rockstar. On that day, Murray said, “Felice, we did something good there today.” “Papa” Murray Schwartzbaum passed away in 2015. His story lives on through Cohen’s book and as a tribute to the six million lives lost in the Holocaust.
Her second book is “90 Lessons for Living Large in 90 Square Feet (…or more).” Cohen’s work has been featured on Good Morning America, NBC, CBS, Sirius, NPR, Time and more
As the newly elected President of WCU Hillel, we invite you to join the organization and its members on a journey of spiritual awakening through the Speaker Series. All members of the WCU community are welcome and invited to attend any and all of the presentations within the series.
In addition to our speaker series, WCU Hillel is co-sponsoring a host of other events with the Office of Wellness Promotion in their Game of Well-Being. Participation in tagged events on RamConnect will earn students credit towards a Game of Well-Being badge. For more information, check out the following links or contact the email listed below.
WCU Hillel RamConnect: https://ramconnect.wcupa.edu/student_community?club_id=19821 WCU Hillel Website- https://wcuhillel.org/
Wellness Promotion RamConnect: https://ramconnect.wcupa.edu/student_community?club_id=20016 Wellness Promotion Website- https://www.wcupa.edu/_services/wellness/default.aspx
Elizabeth Gittleson is a second-year Microbiology major with minors in Psychology and Civic & Professional Leadership. EG938538@wcupa.edu