Join us for an informal and reflective gathering, two days after Tisha b’Av. We'll begin with dinner (since the fast has passed), followed by a short study of Eicha and a powerful sharing from second-generation Holocaust survivor Dianne Schafer. This evening will offer space to sit with difficult emotions—around antisemitism, trauma, and the fragile yet enduring hope we carry for a better future.

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Meet our Speaker

Our speaker is Dianne Sabina Schwager, child of a Holocaust survivor, Erwin Schwager. Erwin was born in Munich, Germany on July 24, 1913. In late October 1938, when he was 25, Erwin emigrated to the U.S. He arrived days before Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass), when Jewish businesses and synagogues were attacked and many Jews, including Erwin’s father, were sent to prison for about a month. It was only then that Erwin’s parents (Leopold and Sabina) understood that they needed to leave Germany.  

For three years, while living in Pittsburgh, PA, Erwin saved as much money as he could and pursued every option possible to get his parents to safety. Sadly, although he nearly succeeded, his parents were deported to Lithuania and murdered in November 1941 in the Ninth Fort Massacre with nearly 5,000 Jews from Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Vienna, and Breslau. This was the first systematic killing of German Jews during the Holocaust.