Eighty years after the Hungarian edition of As the Lilacs Bloomed was first published, readers gathered around Anna Molnár Hegedűs’s words.
On October 27, 2026, at Soul Provisions in Toronto, the Azrieli Foundation’‘s Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program welcomed book lovers for the inaugural Giving Life to Stories Book Club.
The event marked the beginning of a new initiative to bring readers together to discuss Holocaust survivor memoirs, not only encouraging people to encouraging people to engage with these stories but also creating a space to reflect on them, ensuring the stories continue to be shared with new generations.
The evening opened with remarks from Dr. Naomi Azrieli, O.C., DPhil, Chair of the Azrieli Foundation and Publisher of the Azrieli Series, and Jody Spiegel, Director of the Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program.
The Foundation began publishing Holocaust survivor memoirs more than two decades ago with the awareness that many survivors had written their stories, yet publishers showed little interest in bringing them to readers. The Memoirs Program remains dedicated to publishing, sharing and preserving those stories. The strength of that commitment stems from the legacy of the Foundation’s founder, David J. Azrieli z”l, whose own experiences surviving the Holocaust and rebuilding his life inspired a profound belief in the power of personal stories to preserve memory, foster understanding and ensure history is never forgotten.
“These books are historical records, but they are also deeply personal stories; stories of families and communities, of lives interrupted, of loss and survival and of rebuilding,” said Naomi Azrieli. “Books are meant to be read. They come alive in the relationship between the person who wrote them and the person who picks them up years or even generations later.”
For Spiegel, the evening was about fulfilling a promise at the very heart of the Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program.
“We made a promise to our authors that their stories wouldn’t simply be published and then sit on shelves,” she told attendees. “Eighty years after Anna first published her story, we’‘re reading her words and talking about her life. I can’t think of a better way to honour the promise we made to our authors: that their stories would continue to be read, shared and remembered.”
Following the opening remarks, Stefanie Goldschmied, founder of Stefinitely Reading and the evening’s moderator, led a conversation with Spiegel and Arielle Berger, Managing Editor of the Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Program. Together, they offered a behind-the-scenes look at how each memoir comes to life, from historical research and fact-checking to careful editing that preserves each survivor’s unique voice. They spoke about how the Azrieli Foundation editors works closely with authors and families to ensure every memoir is both historically accurate and deeply faithful to the author’s lived experience.
The most energizing part of the evening, however, were the conversations among readers themselves.
