I recently travelled to the Netherlands where I was invited to give a series of four school presentations to hundreds of students age 14 – 17 to tell the story of my parents’ remarkable survival, love and triumph over evil. I shared how my parents experienced and witnessed the worst of humanity first-hand during World War II and were able to still find love and joy in the aftermath despite the trauma of their past.
My mother, Sonja Pagrach, survived the concentration camps of Nazi Europe. First, she was taken at 15 to Camp Vught in the Netherlands, the only SS concentration camp outside Nazi Germany during the Second World War, where she was imprisoned for a year before being deported to Auschwitz. She faced death in the gas chambers three times and survived. My father, John Franken, was 18 and in the Dutch Navy Air Force when he was captured at sea by the Japanese to become a prisoner of war. He survived the Nagasaki atomic bomb.
With rising teen depression and suicide, teens need to hear this story, now more than ever. They need to know that you can go through terrible things in life, but you can still find love and joy in the aftermath. My parents are incredible role models for all of us and especially for young people.
The presentation at Gymnasium Beekvliet school was covered by the media in the Brabant Dagblad DTV Niews television.
An important message for students I convey with this story is that at the end of the Second World War a global vow was taken by the United Nations that said 'never again'. These teens are the future, the next generation. They need to know that they can do things differently. They don't have to let things like this happen again and again. It all starts with them, and I want to teach them that they have the power of making their own choices in their thoughts, beliefs and actions.
I wrote an award-winning book about my parents’ story called Meant to Be: A True Story of Might, Miracles and Triumph of the Human Spirit.
"A daughter's moving tribute to her parents, full of heartbreak that leads to uplift" - Kirkus Review
"A beautiful, moving book that will touch the heart" - NFAA Book Awards Program Review
My book is featured in the collections at the prestigious Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, National Museum of American Jewish Military History in Washington. It is also available for purchase on site at the museum store of the Florida Holocaust Museum of St. Petersburgin Florida and the Camp Vught National Memorial in the Netherlands. It is also available on my website, Amazon and other major online book retailers.
The book is being made into a feature film currently in development.
