Ullman Gives Lecture At Holocaust Center

Holocaust survivor and author Leo Ullman recently gave a moving lecture at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, located at the Welwyn Preserve in Glen Cove. During his Tuesday, Feb. 14 presentation, the longtime Port Washington resident spoke about his harrowing experiences as a very young boy hiding from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam during World War II and his family’s subsequent emigration to America.

During his lecture, he showed the audience a rug that was given to his father before his family went into hiding. The man who gave Ullman the rug believed that praying on it would protect his family. Ullman still has the rug in his home to serve as a reminder of the strength and sense of hope it provided to his family while they were in hiding in Amsterdam and for the decades that have followed.

“Leo Ullman is doing a tremendous service by continuing to share his family’s story of survival and perseverance in the face of evil,” Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D – Glen Cove) said. “It is always a privilege to hear my courageous friend speak and lend his powerful voice to ensuring that future genera- tions never have to endure the atrocities that the Nazis inflicted upon his family and so many others.”

Ullman is the author of a powerful book entitled 796 Days, which chronicles the remarkable strength and resolve that his family demonstrated during their more than two-year ordeal of evading capture by the Nazis. Previously, Ullman served as director of the Anne Frank Center USA for more than two decades. Located in Manhattan, the Center’s mission is to educate young adults about discrimination and the dangers of intolerance. Ullman’s family was in hiding in Amster- dam at the same time as Anne Frank and her family.

Visit hmtcli.org to learn more about the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center. Visit annefrank.com to learn about the Anne Frank Center USA.

—Submitted by the Office of Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton

Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (left) and Leo Ullman hold a rug his family prayed on while in hiding during the Holocaust. (Photo courtesy the Office of Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton