About the project
Abe Piasek, A Holocaust survivor, was a dynamic and engaging man who, at age 90, made a huge impression on Steve Goldberg, a veteran high school teacher.
Abe was separated from his family at age 13 and never saw his parents or younger sister again. He worked in three slave labor camps in Poland and Germany; when he was liberated in 1945, he was 16 years old and weighed just 75 pounds. Abe came to the US in 1947 as a refugee.
For 50 years, Abe did not speak about what happened to him. He was interviewed by the Shoah Foundation in 1995 in Florida, where he and his wife had retired from a career as a master baker. Abe started telling his story to a few schools, synagogues and community centers in Florida. Once Abe moved to North Carolina in 2009 to be close to his daughter, he told his story to more than 10,000 people during the final decade of his life. The Holocaust is a weighty subject, but Abe’s zest for life, spirit, compassion, and kindness — especially considering all he went through — make his story an ideal vehicle for helping students empathize with a survivor and become curious to learn more about the Holocaust.
As one of Steve’s students put it, “it’s easier to ‘never forget’ when you actually know the details of someone’s story.” Steve presents Abe’s story in a way that makes you feel like you are having a conversation with an old friend.
How Abe and Steve met: Abe had just turned 90 years old when he spoke at the school where Steve Goldberg was teaching. Steve had been an educator for more than two decades. Steve was so taken with Abe’s story that after Abe’s visit, Steve visited Abe at his house in Raleigh to interview Abe and learn more about his story. In April, 2019, Abe and Steve led a trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, for a dozen students in Steve’s classes and Abe’s local family (including his two great-grandchildren).
On that trip to the Holocaust Museum, Abe surprised everyone by telling his liberation story from a cattle car that was bombed just outside of Dachau in 1945. What made this story especially courageous and powerful was that Abe was standing in the cattle car at the museum. Abe had never visited the museum before, and he made sure the visit was one that the students (and the adults) on that trip would never forget. That powerful trip began a friendship between Steve and Abe.
Abe passed away on January 15, 2020, at the age of 91. A few days before he died, while he was on hospice care at his daughter’s house, Abe asked Steve to keep telling his story.
Steve is taking a break from his teaching career to tell Abe’s story, and so far, he has shared Abe’s story with nearly 3500 people (55+ audiences) — including audiences at Indiana University, Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke, Clayton High School, The Park School In Baltimore, Durham Academy, and a Community Center called Jewish For Good. Steve has also shared Abe’s story for employees at three companies — Brex, SalesHive, and RedHat.
Steve’s mission is to share Abe’s story as widely as possible — to whatever groups might be interested (schools, companies, churches, synagogues, community centers, libraries).
Why Learn about the holocaust?
Abe’s message was simple:
“Don’t Hate.”
But his message was profound at the same time because of everything Abe went through. The Holocaust is arguably the worst genocide in world history. It also serves as a warning about what can happen if hate and dehumanization are met with indifference rather than opposition.
As Elie Wiesel has said, whoever listens to a witness becomes a witness.
After you hear Abe’s story, you will be a witness. The goal is that Abe’s story will empower you to speak out when you see injustice in the world today, becuase you know what hate and dehumanization can lead to. You will also never forget Abe — or his story.
Who is Steve Goldberg?
Steve Goldberg’s mission is to keep Abe’s legacy alive by telling his story to as many people as possible.
Steve has spent more than two decades teaching high school students about history, so he understands how to connect with young people. He is also a graduate of Georgetown Law School, which helped him become a more effective communicator. Steve was so inspired by Abe’s story that he decided to take a break from teaching to tell Abe’s story.
Steve and Abe led a trip to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum for a dozen high school students and two of Abe’s great-grandchildren in April of 2019, when Abe was 90 years old. A few days before Abe passed away in January of 2020, he asked Steve to keep telling his story.
For more details about Abe and Steve, please click here.
Abe artifacts (for historians)
Abe’s impact on others