One of Michigan's last Holocaust survivors coming to Temperance

Suzanne Nolan Wisler, The Monroe News
·3 min read
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TEMPERANCE – A Holocaust survivor is returning to speak in Temperance.

Miller
Miller

In 2019, Irene Miller addressed a packed crowd at the Bedford Branch Library. Miller is coming back to the library at 6 p.m. April 11 as part of the library’s “Bedford History Series.”

Miller as a child during the Holocaust.
Miller as a child during the Holocaust.

To register, visit bit.ly/bdirene.

“The average age of a Holocaust survivor is 85, so people don't have much longer to hear these stories,” Bedford librarian Jen Saul said.

For the last 10 years, Miller has traveled around two countries, sharing her story. In 2019, her travels brought her to Temperance and Monroe County Community College; in 2020, to the Ida Branch Library.

Miller, who was born in 1932, was about 5 years old when the Nazis invaded her native Warsaw, Poland. She’s part of the estimated 10% of Jewish children in Europe who survived the Holocaust.

“Among the 6 million Jews who were killed, a million and a half were children ... Though I can tell you only my survival journey, those of us who were fortunate enough to be left alive became also the voices of the children who did not live to tell their story,” Miller told the Bedford audience in 2019.

Today, she’s also one of the last Holocaust survivors in the state.

“I don't know the number, but very few survivors are left. I am the only survivor in Michigan who travels to speak,” Miller said.

Her two-hour presentation will cover the invasion of her town, her weeks in “no man’s land” and her years spent in orphanages.

“My survival journey is different from what people know of the Holocaust,” Miller said.

She said audiences typically have limited knowledge of the Holocaust and ask “quite a range of questions.”

Miller came to the U.S. at age 21 and had a long career as a health care executive. She also served in Washington, D.C., on an advisory committee on issues of drug addiction in women and children. For two years she was a public school teacher in Israel.

After retiring, she became a docent and speaker at the Detroit Institute of Arts. She also speaks at the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills. She’s the subject of a PBS documentary and is featured on another PBS movie/documentary from 2022.

Today, Miller continues to travels around, sharing her Holocaust experience and spreading her message of acceptance and tolerance.

“Some years I had over 60 presentations. I have spoken all over the country and in Canada. (I want to) give a face to the darkest chapter of human history, to promote tolerance and diversity, to empower people to overcome obstacles in life, by example, to inspire people for positive action,” Miller said.

In 2012, she wrote the book “Into No Man's Land: A Historical Memoir,” which published by the University of Michigan. Signed copies can be purchased at the library for a discounted cost of $15.

For more information on Miller, visit her website, irenemillerspeaker.com.

Other programs in the Bedford Branch Library’s “Bedford History Series”:

  • 6-7:30 p.m. May 18: Tedd Long, speaking on “Toledo Letters”

  • 7-8 p.m. Sept. 21: Shawna Mazur, speaking on “Lake Erie Piers”

  • 6-7:30 p.m. Oct. 19: Valerie Marvin, speaking on “Capitol Women”

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: One of Michigan's last Holocaust survivors coming to Temperance