Virtual Coffee Encounters
Upcoming Virtual Coffee Encounter
Topic: A Mother’s Courage – The Story of Erika Heymann
Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Time: 12:00 p.m. Central Time
Location: Online (Zoom – registration required)
Join us for a moving Virtual Coffee Encounter featuring Dr. Dieter Heymann, Professor Emeritus at Rice University and son of Erika Heymann, who was honored by Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations. At just 16 years old, Dr. Heymann witnessed his mother’s extraordinary bravery in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, where she sheltered Jewish men in defiance of the law—an act that cost her freedom and ultimately her life.
Through his story, we’ll explore the moral courage that defines true Upstanders and reflect on how her legacy continues to inspire the mission of the Holocaust Remembrance Association and the Holocaust Garden of Hope—to educate, heal, and build bridges of understanding in our world today.
☕About the Event
Join Holocaust Remembrance Association founders Rozalie and Mitch Jerome along with Holocaust Garden of Hope author Dr. Susanna Kokkonen, and other guests for this timely and thought-provoking Virtual Coffee Encounter.
🔗Save Your Spot
Spaces are limited—reserve your seat today for this important conversation!
Your Hosts:
Rozalie and Mitch Jerome
HRA18 Founders
Dr. Susanna Kokkonen
Author of Holocaust Garden of Hope and former Director of Christian Friends of Yad Vashem
Claudia Kiesinger
Claudia Kiesinger serves as the National Coordinator for March of Remembrance in the USA.
Watch these Videos of Previous Virtual Coffee Encounters
Confronting Antisemitism: Holocaust Memory and the Garden of Hope
Islam in America: Exploring the Issues with Dr. Craig Considine
Tamar Hirschl: A Conversation with an Israeli Artist and Holocaust Survivor
Bob Horowitz: Resilience & Remembrance (Audio), coming soon!
The Attack at Kibbutz Nahal Oz with Pirjo Karttunen and Jekaterina Sumrova
With Joseph Krygier
With Dr. Gabriela Benner
With Rosian Zerner
With Shaya Ben Yehuda
With John McTernan
With Dr. Susanna Kokkonen
With Mary Pollak, widow of child Holocaust survivor Alex Pollak
First aired Thursday, March 25
With Croatian partisan, artist, and Holocaust survivor Eva Deutsche Costabel and March of Remembrance USA Coordinator and Nazi descendant Claudia Kiessinger.
First aired Thursday, February 25, on Purim
With Hungarian child Holocaust survivor Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsvath and renowned Israeli filmmaker Emanuel Rund.
First aired Thursday, January 27, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
VCE Notification
Receive Notification of the next Live Virtual Coffee Encounter (VCE) with Dr. Susanna Kokonnen and Rozalie Jerome