Your recordings of Abe in his own words and your obvious heartfelt connection to him as a man of incredible courage and warmth made his life feel palpably real for us. Talking about the Holocaust is always a challenge due to the immense horror of the event and the way it is beginning to feel further away, but you managed to bring Abe’s experience — and his humor and joi de vivre — into our class and our hearts.  I can’t thank you enough.

I want you to meet my friend Abe

Abe Piasek, a Holocaust survivor from Poland, passed away in January of 2020 at the age of 91. Days before he died, he asked his friend, educator Steve Goldberg, to keep telling his story. Steve tells Abe’s story in a uniquely compelling way — describing the trip Abe took to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum at age 90 (his first and only visit to the museum) where he went on the cattle car and, while surrounded by his family and a dozen high school students from Steve’s school, narrated his liberation from a similar cattle car in April 1945. 

Steve uses a dozen video clips of Abe speaking, woven together with photos, maps, and historical research to situate Abe’s story in the context of the Holocaust.

Steve’s goal is to keep Abe’s legacy alive by sharing Abe’s story with as many people as possible. As of November, 2024, Steve has shared Abe’s story with more than 120 audiences (over 6,000 people). He has spoken with high school audiences from Maine to Florida; to several groups students at Duke University (see testimonials), Indiana University and Davidson College; at Binkley Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, NC; and as a part of a commemoration for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. He has also spoken to employees at several companies over Zoom, including Brex, RedHat, and SalesHive (90 people on a Zoom call for 90 minutes on a Friday afternoon).

Steve would love to share Abe’s story with you. Please read this five-page document with more details about Abe and his story.

Basics about Abe: 

Abe Piasek was born in Poland in 1928. When he was 11, Germany invaded Poland and turned his home town of Bialobrzegi into a ghetto. The Nazis took Abe from his family at age 13. He never saw his mother, father, or little sister again. He was forced to work in three slave labor camps from 1942-1945, and survived a selection at Auschwitz in 1944. When he was liberated from a cattle car in April of 1945, Abe was 16 years old and weighed less than 80 pounds. 

Abe did not talk about the Holocaust for 50 years (1945-1995). His family and friends knew he was “a survivor,” but until he was interviewed by the Shoah Foundation in Florida in 1995, he had not spoken at any length about his experiences. Abe slowly started to tell his story and spoke at a few schools and synagogues in Florida, where he had moved to retire from his career as a baker. After Abe and his wife of 63 years moved to North Carolina in 2009, Abe became more adept at public speaking and Abe became a sought-after speaker throughout the state. Abe shared his powerful story with more than 10,000 people — at schools, military bases, churches, synagogues, libraries, and community centers — over the last decade of his life. Steve’s goal is to keep Abe’s legacy alive.