Name: From the Holocaust to Maine: Testimonies of the Survivors
Start: 2026-01-20T17:30:00-05:00
End: 2026-01-20T18:30:00-05:00
Location: 10 Library Drive, Freeport, ME, United States, Maine 04032

From the Holocaust to Maine: Testimonies of the Survivors

Join us for a heartfelt evening exploring and bearing witness to the stories of Jewish Mainers in Jack Montgomery’s new book, From the Holocaust to Maine: Testimonies of the Survivors.
In From the Holocaust to Maine are the testimonies of 20 remarkable people who survived the Holocaust. Most were children during the dark years of fascism in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. As the “Final Solution” gathered momentum, some were forced into ghettos and then on to the death factories of Auschwitz and other camps. Some fled to the woods where they survived with partisan bands resisting the Germans and others who hunted for Jews. One lived in hiding as a good “Catholic” schoolboy with a farm family in Belgium. All of them survived through a combination of great fortitude and good luck. They then made their way from the chaos and devastation of Europe to the United States and eventually moved to Maine, where they rebuilt their lives.
Jack Montgomery, a photographer by trade, began taking portraits of Holocaust survivors 30 years ago. At the outset of the pandemic, he set out to collect their first-person accounts as they had told them in interviews, books they had written and speeches they had given, letters and poems.
“The things we save," the author writes, "can become the means for our recovery. I am moved by every aspect of these stories… And I am forever grateful to the survivors for giving us this record, which no amount of denial or historical revisionism can ever erase. We are in their debt.”
A generous donor has funded the gift of a free copy of From the Holocaust to Maine to every school for grades 6-12 in Maine, as well as all Maine public libraries, a goal Jack is actively seeking to facilitate. A library lover himself, Jack happened to write much of his book at Freeport Community Library.
This event is free and open to the public. Copies of From the Holocaust to Maine will be available for purchase courtesy of Print: A Bookstore. For questions or directions, call the library at 207-865-3307.