Goodkin
will present a lecture about her memoir on Thursday, March 2. at
MCCC's Communication Building, Room 110 on the West Windsor Campus.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Call 609-586-4800 ext.
3324 for further information.
Now in her 70s,
Goodkin said it was time for her to write her memoirs so they would
not be lost. “I wanted to celebrate and commemorate the lives
of those who perished in the Holocaust,” Goodkin said of her
book. “I also wanted to celebrate the rescuers, especially
my family’s rescuer.”
Much of Goodkin’s
family history came from her mother, who lived to be 92. “My
mother is the reason for this book,” Goodkin said. “We
were very close and we talked a lot.” Goodkin’s father
was a physician, and her family lived a very comfortable life before
the Holocaust. “My essential purpose was not only to speak
about Holocaust experiences, but also to show that families like
mine were part of a vibrant society. We were essentially not born
to be victims."
The rescue of
Goodkin’s immediate family is a gripping, dramatic story.
Before she and her parents were sent separate ways during the Holocaust,
they managed to live together in the attics of rescuers, who helped
move them from house to house. Just ten weeks before their liberation
by the Russians, the three of them were reunited by Raoul Wallenberg.
Having worked
for many years as an educator with the New Jersey Commission on
Holocaust Education, Goodkin has a special interest in working with
students of all ages. “I want my book to communicate with
those who are the future of humanity—the young people to whom
I have been speaking since 1983,” she said.
Goodkin earned her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University,
and her master’s degree in French from New York University.
She earned her Ed.D. in English from Rutgers University and began
teaching at Trenton Junior College in 1963, which became Mercer
County Community College in 1966. She retired from college teaching
in 1997.
While her book
will be useful for the educational market and will be accompanied
by a teacher’s handbook, it was also designed for the general
public. Published by Comteq, the book may be ordered at the publisher's
website.
|