Abraham Sabrin
Abraham Sabrin (Abrashe Szabrinski), or Abe–as his family called him–was born May 15, 1914 in Selz, Poland. He married Luba (Libby) when he was 27 years old. In 1945, after his heroic acts during the Nazi invasion of Poland, he left Vilna with his wife and newborn son, Joe, for a displaced person camp in Turkeim, Germany. On Dec 21, 1946 a second son, Murray, was born.
In 1953, Abe and Libby moved their family to the Bronx. A third son, Max, was born in Beth Israel Hospital on May 24th.
Abe worked three jobs to support his family before becoming a full-time Taxi Driver. He stayed with that career from 1961 until his retirement in 1982.
Joe gave his father a Yiddish Typewriter in 1974 for his 60th birthday and asked him to write what he remembered of his fighting days against the Nazis.
Abe lived to be 87 years old, died Sept 2001 in New Jersey, and lived to dance at his granddaughter’s wedding August 2011.
Joe Sabrin
Joe Sabrin was born 12/21/1942 in the Vilna Ghetto (Poland). After the liberation in 1945 with his parents, Libby and Abe Sabrin he migrated to a Displaced Persons camp in Turkheim, Germany.
On August 6th 1949 he arrived with his parents and younger brother, Murray (born 12/21/1946 in Turkheim) to New York City.
They were greeted by their dad’s cousin Sol Sabrin and his family. After a few days in a hotel, they found an apartment on East 8th St. on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. There was only one room for the four of them, but they managed.
Max Sabrin, Joe’s youngest brother, was born 5/24/53 in Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan. After the cousins, the Bains, moved to Colorado, we managed to get their apartment on Harrison Ave in the Bronx.
At 18, Joe left college to join the US Army. From 1961-1964 he traveled the World. He attempted college a second time in 1964, but it still did not keep his attention. He worked many different jobs and in 1968 got married to Sandy Stone and decided it was time to start a career. So, when his good friend, Lenny Bilgrei—an usher at his wedding—introduced him to the Recruiting Industry in 1971, it was perfect. He started his own company, Data Executives, that year and closed it in 1985 to start PC ETCETERA, a Personal Computer Training program, with a partner, Terry Steinberg. He left that company in 1996 to decide what his next venture would be. Got caught up in the dotcom rush in 1998 and started www.ehire.com, still exists but not as his start-up.
Joe is the proud parent of, Marcie Sabrin Berson, married to Yury Berson, and Ben Sabrin, married to Maddie Bird. He has three grandchildren: Alexy Berson, Nicolette Sabrin and Meadow Eva Sabrin.
After raising their family in Edison, NJ, he and Sandy moved back to Manhattan where they lived for 20 years. They are now in Delray Beach.
Carolina Simon
Carolina Simon- Educational Director
Ms. Simon recently completed our educational curriculum which takes students into deeper and more personal connections with the Jewish resistance and the Partisans of the Vilna Ghetto as students find correlations between Jewish history and their present (from the Maccabees to the state of Israel).
Carolina Simon holds a Master’s degree in Humanities with a focus on Literary Studies (Holocaust Literature) from the University of Texas at Dallas where she had the privilege of studying under the direct instruction of Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsvath. Since graduating in 2005 she has worked tirelessly to simultaneously continue to grow in her professional development as a Holocaust educator and incorporate interdisciplinary approaches to teaching the Holocaust in Literature and History courses at the secondary and college levels. In her pursuit of professional development and growth Ms. Simon has attended a variety of educator workshops, seminars, and professional travel opportunities including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC, Centropa Teachers Seminar, Centropa Summer Academy in Europe, Facing History and Ourselves (webcasts, workshops, and seminars) including a week-long event in Boston, various lecture series from FAU’s Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education and the prestigious Alfred Lerner Fellowship through the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous at Columbia University studying under the direct instruction of such notable Holocaust scholars as Peter Hayes and Edward Westermann, (being an Alfred Lerner Fellow is her most cherished personal accomplishment to date). Past professional accomplishments include a Tolerance Quilt Project (a part of the permanent Mosaics collection of the Jewish History Museum of South Florida in Miami Beach), Course Development for Miami Dade College in Doral, Interfaith Yom Hashoah event at Florida Memorial University, and a Holocaust Memorial Butterfly Garden at Loggers Run Middle School. She is currently teaching Holocaust studies in Atlanta.
Chris Moore
Chris Moore is a graduate of Columbia University. He is the author of several works of non-fiction and is co-author of Thea Rosenbaum’s poignant memoir of her life and travels as a war correspondent and White House Pool Producer in No Place for a Lady; and editor of the Holocaust memoir We Dared to Live: A Tale of Courage and Survival. He lives with his wife and three sons in Connecticut.