Max Friedman and Renee Bronner Pessin
Holocaust Second-Generation Survivors Join HHREC’s Speakers Bureau
The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) of White Plains has announced Max Friedman and Renee Pessin have joined its Speakers Bureau.
Max Friedman’s parents were Polish/Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in Sweden (where he and his sister were born) after their liberation from Bergen-Belsen. Friedman tells the story of how his parents survived five years of ghettos, slave labor, and concentration camps and the loss of everyone and everything they had ever loved. Emigrating to the U.S. in 1952, his parents spoke very little about their past – though their physical and psychological wounds were apparent every day to Max and his older sister.
Friedman has worked as a journalist, publicist, corporate editorial director, and memoir ghostwriter. His family memoir, Painful Joy: A Holocaust Family Memoir tells the story of a journey that began when he was nearly 70 years old. Early in his career, he worked in journalism and has had articles featured in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and TV Guide. He also served as Director of Editorial Services at PBS’s Channel 13 and as unit publicist for Bill Moyers Journal. Most recently, he held the position of Vice President, Communications at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Max holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Asian Studies from Columbia College and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.
Renee Bronner Pessin, a Connecticut resident, is a descendant of two Holocaust survivors. Pessin’s mother Helen was the only survivor of her immediate and extended family of more than 50 people In Poland. Her father Sam, along with one brother were the only survivors of their large immediate and extended family.
Pessin feels it is more urgent than ever to share her parent’s story, especially with community listeners, to ensure that history does not repeat itself. She is able to do so through excerpts from her mother’s video testimony to the Shoah Foundation and family pictures saved through the horrors of the Holocaust.
Originally from Brooklyn, Pessin has worked as a registered nurse, editorial associate for scientific journals, and most recently, for over 20 years, as a freelance biomedical grant and manuscript editor.
Visit www.hhrecny.org for more information about Friedman, Pessin, and other HHREC GenerationsForward Speakers.