VIDEO: Rep. Gillen Meets 100-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor, Leah Goldberg, to Discuss Harrowing Life Story and Holocaust Education

Watch the Full Interview HERE.

VALLEY STREAM, NY - Congresswoman Laura Gillen (NY-04) met with 100-year-old Holocaust survivor and Valley Stream resident, Leah Goldberg, to hear her harrowing story growing up in Poland and escaping the Holocaust, as well as the importance of improving Holocaust education across the country. Both discussed the urgent need to pass the Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Lessons (HEAL) Act in the wake of escalating antisemitic attacks and Holocaust denialism.

"Every student should know the stories of those who suffered in the Holocaust and how we all have a role in stamping out hate, bigotry, and antisemitism," said Gillen. "It was a privilege to have the opportunity to meet Leah Goldberg at her home and hear her life story. It is one marked by incredible courage and resilience in the face of modern history's greatest atrocities. We must share and preserve hers and other stories from the Holocaust to ensure these horrors never happen to anyone ever again."

Escaping the Nazis

Leah: [My father] read a lot, knew how to figure out for the Germans going from one city to the next, that's why he told my uncle that he shouldn't stay in his house, because he's afraid that tonight they might be coming into this town.

We all went into the cellar. Being in the cellar, we could hear the footsteps of the soldiers running in and around and in the house. The next morning, my uncle opened the lid from the cellar, and that's all he saw, he said, as far as you can see in any direction, there was not one house or business or anything, just sand.

Rep. Gillen: So the Germans came and burned the whole town down?

Leah: They were all burnt in their sleep… I constantly wonder, how in the world can these people live with themselves?

Fighting Back Against Hate and Antisemitism

Rep. Gillen: Why is it so important for people in Congress, in leadership positions, to fight back against hate and antisemitism?

Leah: Because they should look back from the past, because we don't want something like that to repeat itself in any place in the world.

Rep. Gillen: In Congress, we're making sure that we're sharing stories like yours to try to prevent this from ever happening again. Called the HEAL Act. It's Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Lessons, and it's to get a study done to show how we can make sure people know stories like yours.

Why do you think it's so important for people to hear your story and the stories of other folks who lived through the Holocaust?

Leah: I personally think that it's important that people should know to see the light in the distance and recognize it and not fall for it again, and should, God forbid, happen again.

And I'm not just talking about Jewish people. Hatred is not measured by the yardstick.

Holocaust Denial

Rep. Gillen: What would you say to somebody who said that the Holocaust never happened?

Leah: So I'd said, this is just the same as if I would say, you were never born.

Watch an abbreviated version of the interview HERE.

Goldberg is a beneficiary of Selfhelp Community Service's Holocaust Survivor Program, which provides comprehensive care and social services to more than 5,000 Holocaust survivors in New York City and on Long Island. Data from January 2026 shows just 196,600 survivors are alive worldwide, with a median age of 87 years - heightening the importance of Holocaust education as the last generation of survivors passes on.

Since taking office, Rep. Gillen has been a leader in advancing bipartisan action in Congress to address Holocaust education and rising antisemitism. The HEAL Act, legislation Gillen led as an original cosponsor, would require the director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to conduct an audit of Holocaust education programs nationwide, including which states require Holocaust education, the curricula and standards used and other information, and report to Congress on the results.

###