GEMINDER FAMILYDEDICATIONSMARCH OF THE LIVINGROBERT'S STORIESVIDEOSBERTL STORY / SHOA QUILTTHE FAMILY TREEARCHIVED STORIESLINKS TO HOLOCAUST SITES

To contact Bob: Rgeminder@gmail.com

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Link to the Los Angeles Museum of Holocaust http://lamoth.org/

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"How we survived" a book contains the first person narratives of 52 authors who survived the Holocaust as children. Each story in this collection covers the range of children's experiences from the ghettos, the camps, in hiding, and on the run through Eastern Europe. Each author speaks of bewilderment, the pain of dislocation and the loss of family as seen through a child's eyes. . . How the children coped during and after the war and how they recovered and triumphed over adversity to live meaningful lives symbolizing their strength, determination and human courage.

Click HERE to read Bob's chapter from the book

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Bob participated in the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies course on “Between Memory and History: Interviewing Holocaust Survivors in the Digital Age,”
Through these activities, the Center aims to bring the past into conversation with the present. This class brings together Holocaust survivors & UCLA students. The students work with and learn from survivors. As final class project, students curate audio tours that integrate eyewitness testimony of individuals survivors with the LAMOTH archival collection.
 
Click HERE to read more about the class
 
 

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 Survivor: Robert Geminder

By Jane Ulman

In the early morning of Oct. 12, 1941, German authorities ordered the Jews of Stanislawow, Poland, to report to the town square. Six-year-old Robert (Bob) Geminder huddled there with his mother, grandmother and brother, George. The group of approximately 20,000 Jews was then marched to the nearby cemetery. Bob and his family, among the early arrivals, were shoved toward the cemetery’s back wall, where they crouched down. “If you stood up, they would shoot you,” Bob remembered. Meanwhile, people in the front were marched forward toward large pits in the ground, then shot. As they fell into the gaping earth, more Jews were ordered forward. This systematic killing continued all day, until falling snow and darkness halted the massacre of 12,000 or more.

Click HERE to read an article in the Jewish Journal

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Wendy Wolman-Ledner, a very accomplished photographer, writer, and sculptress, published this unbelievable book of Holocaust survivors with self-written poems in July of 2013. Wendy came to Bob's home and interviewed and photographed him for the book.

 

 

 

Click HERE to read about Wendy Wollman-Ledner & see selected pages from the book. 

Click HERE to see the complete book.

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In the summers, Bob speaks to the summer school in the Palos Verdes school system. Bob has done this in the summer for many years.

Click HERE to read e-mails re received from the students.

 Click HERE to read more from the students

With students at PVPHS.

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Bob speaks to a private school in Palos Verdes, Chadwick, for the past few years.

Click on the image to read an amazing letter he received from

one of the students..
 
 
 
 
 

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Inside the trailer - where all stories are recorded

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An interview with Story Corps, a radio show that is on National Public Radio, NPR, In Los Angeles it is on 89.3, KPCC. They interview thousands of people all over the country and quite honestly I never expected to be on the radio.

I scheduled this recording of my story. They will archive this and keep it forever. Story Corps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folk life Center at the Library of Congress. Story Corps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to the weekly broadcasts on NPR’s Morning Edition.

From my friend Judy Coy: Hi dear Bob - I just listened to your story.  We have talked about your experience before but just hearing you tell it again really is a reminder of how horrific the Holocaust was and how important it is never, never to forget what happened.  I can't begin to imagine what it was like - we visited the Auschwitz site while in Poland several years ago.  It is a memory that will always stay with me.  I will never understand and I'm sure you don't either.  I am so glad that you are here to tell your story, as hurtful as it is..... 

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Holocaust talk at the Lair of the Golden Bear

Bob is a regular speaker at this family camp located in Northern California

Click HERE to watch the video Video taped by Shia Geminder Introduction by Mindy Geminder
 
 
 
 
 
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The Geminder Family

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                               Mindy, Judy, Bob, Ellen & Shia

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This coming weekend August 18th, 2018 Bob will read from the Torah

on his second Bar Mitzvah in front of family & many friends

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Bob and Gabriela Karin were featured on ABC Eye on LA. To watch the video click on the picture below.

 

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This week (Feb 3, 2017) in the Jewish Journal

 

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    George (14)        Muriel        Bob (12)

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Surviving the Holocaust:
Stories of Life
Los Angeles is one of the great Jewish cities of the world and home to hundreds of Holocaust survivors with personal narratives full of life. It is important to hear their stories and their voices, now more than ever, when we need to be reminded of our commonalities and mutual hope for our community, city, and world. Surviving the Holocaust: Stories of Life is a series of audio conversations with Holocaust survivors - oral histories that explore life during and after the Holocaust. These conversations are part of an ongoing project by KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust in Pan Pacific Park. Excerpts air weekly on KPFK, and can also be found at lamoth.org. Survivors have so much to say. We are lucky that their voices are so strong, and their memories so clear. Series Creator and Producer: Paula Kessler Production/Editorial Assistance: Sydni Phelps and Mark Maxwell
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Recently Bob was honored with 2016 Holocaust Memorial Day by assembly member David Hadley, picture with Rabbi Brian Schuldenfrei
  
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an interactive workshop and exhibition experience with Holocaust Survivors and their families

The Memory Reconstruction exhibition at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles chronicles the work of 129 survivors from 14 different countries who were brought together as part of a unique workshop experience in which they produced artistic renditions of their stories. The process of creating these pieces generated pure magic, not just because of their visual beauty, but because of the  family bonds that were revitalized, and the promise that second, third and fourth generations would ensure the continuity of the story. 

Visit the web site to learn about the project

The Human Element Project Video

   Learn more about the project

   CLICK HERE to see Bob's Element

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20141100.jpgBob's interview with Richard Rozman on LA Talk Radio - All Thing CHARITY Radio & it was broadcast live to the LA area and other cities in California. The interview lasted 45 minutes and was a major fund raiser for charity.  The interview questions were spontaneous and there was no rehearsal for the program.  This was the second radio interview for Bob. His first was on NPR which was broadcast nationally
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Bob with students from United Education Institute (UEI), El Monte, 2013

2013, Bob was selected to be member of The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH) board of directors, www.lamoth.org. The museum was established in 1961 and 2010 opened it’s new building in Pan Pacific Park. Bob joins a very select group of dedicated and committed group of people that want to continue the great work that the museum does in assuring that the memory of the six million will never be forgotten.Bob is a regular speaker at the museum to the many school kids that come to visit and on special days like Yom HaShoa

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Jacob Poncher, 13, of Congregation Ner Tamid in Rancho Palos Verdes donated $600 he had received during his April bar mitzvah to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH). He made the donation in honor of Holocaust survivor and family friend Robert Geminder being named a LAMOTH board member. Donations like Jacob’s help make it possible for the museum to maintain free admission for the public, a LAMOTH spokesperson said. The museum’s exhibitions include an archive of documents, relics and other primary source material related to the Holocaust.
Jacob Poncher presenting a check to Bob for becoming a member of the LA Holocaust Museum board of directors. Also shown from right to left are:  Sheila Poncher, grandmother; Yelena Poncher Shaw, mother; Sam Poncher, brother; and Jeff Poncher, father.
 

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New exhibit entitled "Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration and Complicity in the Holocaust" at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. Looking at all of the areas occupied by Germany, and the choices faced by those populations in deciding whether to comply with Germans or to help their Jewish neighbors. The exhibit includes Bob’s video testimony is one among eight Jewish survivors sharing their experiences; some found help throughout the entirety of the war, while some were denounced by their neighbors or friends.
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Bob’s friends who visited the museum wrote:“It was there that we watched video testimonials by various survivors including, as you probably guessed, your testimonial!  It was very moving to hear your story about your father trading apartments for hiding places for you and George and the unfortunate story of George putting on his hat in the Church.  Just think of the millions of people who will hear your important story and those of others.”

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Click HERE to read a review about the exhibit in the New York Times

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Click HERE to watch survivors video in the exhibit

 

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On Holocaust Memorial Day, Bob led a walking tour in Pan Pacific Park. Afterwards his daughter Mindy wrote:

Yesterday, my sister and I were fortunate to hear my dad, Bob Geminder , speak at The Los Angeles Holocaust Museum. He led an intergenerational walk as a holocaust survivor, stopping at memory markers, with thoughtful stories, history, and questions to ponder. It was really wonderful, all outside in the park, with a large group of people of all ages, and they were very interested. There was a soldier group from the UK too. My dad is such a wonderful speaker, full of vigor, and I felt the awe and sadness of the Holocaust, once again. I never get tired of hearing his stories, nor any survivor.

Click HERE to read article about the event in the Jewish Journal

Click HERE to see pictures from the event

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Adding up life's many gifts In retirement, Holocaust survivor teaches math in South L.A  By Sandy Banks

Bob's life story was published in the LA times: Geminder spends his days in what some might consider another sort of ghetto - a classroom in inner-city Los Angeles - where he passes along what he knows, about mathematics and survival.

Click HERE tread the article    

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