About
Speaker: Zohara Boyd
Date: March 2025
Location: Boyd's Home
Description: Dr. Zohara Boyd was born in Poland in 1942 during the height of the Holocaust when the “ghettos and gas ovens were at their busiest.” She grew up in post-World War II Poland, during a time when anti-semitism remained rampant. At age 7, her family fled to Paris, France, from where they immigrated to Canada and later to the United States. Dr. Boyd's story is as remarkable as it is at times chilling and almost unfathomable, as her family faced the threat of persecution during the war and decades of discrimination afterwards. There were times during this interview when I was utterly at a lost for words, as the story of how her family evaded the threat of death under the Nazis by hiding in plain site left me completely amazed and at times horrified, as many of her family members were not as fortunate as her mother and father. Dr. Boyd is a pioneer as an educator, as she is one of the co-founders of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Peace studies at Appalachian State University, and help advocate for Holocaust education within the UNC System and beyond. This interview would not be possible with out the help and support of the Center.