Mother fled the Holocaust alone at age 16

Used her mother's story to author a children’s picture book, Hedy’s Journey: The True Story of a Hungarian Girl Fleeing the Holocaust

Michelle Bisson tells the story of her mother’s journey from Budapest, Hungary, to Lisbon, Portugal, and then to America in the middle of the Holocaust in her children’s picture book, Hedy’s Journey: The True Story of a Hungarian Girl Fleeing the Holocaust (ages 8+). Michelle’s mother was only 16 when she traveled alone through Nazi Germany in 1941 in order to escape the fate of her cousin Marika and much of her extended family who perished in the Holocaust.

Michelle talks about how this dangerous journey alone, and the loss of one of her mother’s closest friends and relatives and many others affected the rest of her mother’s and uncle’s life - he was only 11 at the time. She also speaks about how other members of her extended family survived the Holocaust in Hungary, including an aunt who hid in the woods with her newborn son, now a lawyer in NYC. Michelle also talks about the impact on her life as the child of a mother who experienced such pain, and about the pain and pleasures of life in America after the Holocaust. Recently, Michelle visited Budapest for the first time, where she found her cousin’s apartment and her mother’s, which is now a Jewish history museum near the border in what was the Jewish ghetto in the last year of World War II. Michelle retired from her career as a children’s editor and publisher and still works with writers to hone their craft.

Michelle is a member of GenerationsForward, a group of second and third generation individuals sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center of White Plains, New York.She has presented to middle schooler students at the UJA in Cos Cob, CT, and to fourth grader students at the Hackley School.

To download an editable flyer, CLICK HERE