MHelen Hoffman (née Kurz), born in a displaced persons’ camp after the Holocaust, is a distinguished member of both the Holocaust Museum’s Speakers Bureau and Torah Umesorah’s Holocaust Speakers Program. She is among the first participants in the Names, Not Numbers® oral history project.
In 2012, Mrs. Hoffman serialized her mother’s powerful story, Branded for Life, across 18 installments in the Queens Jewish Link, giving readers a firsthand view into the horrors of the Holocaust and the rebuilding of faith afterward.
For decades, the Margaret Tietz Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has stood as a sanctuary for Holocaust survivors—a place where memory is honored and dignity is preserved. On Thursday morning, Margaret Tietz once again fulfilled that sacred role, hosting an especially poignant Yom HaShoah remembrance program that brought together survivors, community leaders, and local officials for a morning of deep reflection, hope, and commitment.
The event was coordinated with great care by Linda Spiegel, Director of Public Affairs at Margaret Tietz, who also participated in lighting one of the six memorial candles. Stirring tributes were offered by Rabbi Yossi Blesofsky, Director of Chabad of Northeast Queens, who addressed the gathering, recited Keil Maleh Rachamim on behalf of the six million kedoshim, and led the singing of Ani Maamin.
Rabbi Zavel Perlman, the on-site full-time Rabbi at Margaret Tietz, also delivered moving words of reflection and recited Kaddish in memory of those lost.
Together, their heartfelt prayers and words of chizuk framed the solemn tone of the program.
The centerpiece of the morning was the keynote address delivered by Mrs. Helen Hoffman (née Kurz), daughter of Holocaust survivors Alter and Rose Kurz. A lifelong advocate for Holocaust education, Mrs. Hoffman has dedicated her life to preserving the voices of those who witnessed humanity’s darkest hour. She is a distinguished member of both the Holocaust Museum’s Speakers Bureau and Torah Umesorah’s Holocaust Speakers Program and was among the first participants in the Names, Not Numbers® oral history project that pairs survivors with students to preserve testimony for future generations.
Born in a displaced persons’ camp after the war, Mrs. Hoffman has always felt the deep responsibility to share her family’s story. At Margaret Tietz, standing before an audience filled with survivors, descendants, and supporters, she brought that mission to life.
Later, as she declared, “We must never forget,” a passionate voice rang out from the audience. Margaret Tietz resident and survivor Sylvia Cohen, seated in a wheelchair, called out, “WE MUST NEVER FORGET!”—repeating it with heartfelt emotion.
Cohen, who lost her entire family in the Holocaust and once served as a dedicated volunteer at Margaret Tietz before making it her home, shared her own story and publicly thanked Linda Spiegel for her dedication and kindness to all residents.
Through vivid storytelling, Mrs. Hoffman described her mother’s unwavering emunah even amidst horror—trading precious bread for a potato on Pesach, risking death to hide tefillin, and seeing Hashem’s hashgachah pratis through dreams and small acts of kindness, along with anecdotes disproving the myth that Jews went passively to their deaths.
A touching display of photographs and personal mementos from her mother’s life, along with vivid descriptions of rebuilding a new life in America, made history come alive for those gathered. Mrs. Hoffman noted that her family has chronicled her mother’s story in a deeply personal family record, entitled Branded for Life, as a lasting testament to the matriarch’s resilience, faith, and survival.
Mrs. Hoffman’s personal reflections made the event especially poignant.
“When I told them I was born in a displaced persons camp,” she shared, “it felt like a miracle after such a devastating war. All the elderly people started to applaud! I was so moved.”
Mrs. Hoffman concluded her keynote with a message of achdus and hope, marveling at the miracle of her family, built from the ashes of destruction. “I know Mashiach is coming. I know he’s on the way. We should all merit to see him,” she said.
Today, Mrs. Hoffman and her husband, Rabbi Pinchos Hoffman, continue to inspire countless others through their family’s unwavering commitment to Torah, mitzvos, and ahavas Yisrael. She is the sister of Reb Shloime Kurz, both proud residents of Kew Gardens Hills, where their parents, Alter and Rose Kurz, built a new life after surviving the horrors of the Holocaust.
Throughout the morning, memorial candles were lit by distinguished participants: Linda Spiegel, Rabbi Mayer Waxman (Executive Director of Queens Jewish Community Council), Rabbi Daniel Pollack (Jewish Liaison to Congress Member Grace Meng), Rabbi Yossi Blesofsky, and Rabbi Zavel Perlman. Mordo Bono, CEO of Care Providers NYC, was also in attendance, standing in solidarity with the survivors and the community.
Rabbi Waxman additionally led the assembly in a stirring rendition of Hatikvah, uniting the room in remembrance and hope.
Shabsie Saphirstein
