Holocaust survivor and former neighbor of Anne Frank, Pieter Kohstam, will be speaking to the JWST 470V class at 2:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, Nov. 9, via Zoom. This lecture is free and open to the public.

Please RSVP for this event.

Fundamental to exploring the ongoing effects of the Holocaust is hearing individual voices of those who were targeted and survived. Thus, human rights justice advocate and Holocaust survivor Pieter Kohnstam will share his story — an invaluable experience to connect with history.

JWST 470V, "How did the Holocaust affect …?", is made possible with donor support, allowing the Jewish Studies Program to fairly compensate the labor of the presenters. Such support is crucial for sparking new and underexplored approaches to this and other vital topics.

To learn more, please contact Jennifer Hoyer at jhoyer@uark.edu.

About Pieter Kohnstam: Pieter Kohnstam was born in Amsterdam in 1936. His parents, Hans and Ruth Kohnstam, were forced to flee from the Nuremberg/Fuerth area in Germany to Amsterdam, The Netherlands during the early days of the Nazi regime. Coming from a well-known upper middle class family, they left behind a lucrative toy merchandising company with sales offices and warehouses in cities throughout Germany and Europe.

It was by chance that the Kohnstam's apartment in Amsterdam was downstairs from the family of Anne Frank. Ruth became a close friend of Edith Frank, and Anne, the youngest daughter, became Pieter's babysitter. Both children attended the local schools in the neighborhood.

When Nazi persecution of Jews in The Netherlands became intolerable, the Franks went into hiding, but Pieter's parents decided to flee Amsterdam. After a year-long trek through Belgium, France and Spain, they reached safety and freedom in Argentina. Pieter relocated to the United States, becoming a citizen in 1968. He currently lives in south Florida with his wife, Susan.

More information about Pieter Kohnstam can be found at his website: www.pieterkohnstam.com.