Dora Sorell, a Holocaust survivor, spoke to more than 400 students at Berkeley High School on Thursday.
Berkeley High teacher/librarian Ellie Goldstein-Erickson facilitated two assemblies with the 90+-year-old Sorell, who has visited the school before. She said she comes back because, “It is important that young people know what happened so long ago, and those who already know should not forget. I worry about that.”
Dora Apsan Sorell was born in Sighet, Romania, in 1921 where she spent her pre-war years. Sorell was taken to Auschwitz as part of a wave of Hungarian transports in 1944. After a year in Auschwitz, Dora was moved to a second camp, Weisswasser. She was liberated two days before the end of the war and returned to Romania to medical school. She eventually immigrated to New York where she practiced medicine.
Sorell retired and moved to California with her husband to be closer to their children and grandchildren. She is also the author of Tell The Children: Letters to Miriam about her experiences in the Holocaust.
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