Voices Project
Juliette Courtine
My Message
I had the unbelievable experience of listening to and absorbing the tragic yet inspiring story of Holocaust survivor, Kati Preston, who was barely four and living in Transylvania when Hitler came to power. She describes the segregation of Jews as something that started slow: a rude remark in the street, a new law passed a month later... and then it happened all at once. I remember specifically that she mentioned only about 200 German soldiers came to Hungary, and that most of the rounding up was done by people of the town, her neighbors, which is something impossibly difficult to imagine. If it weren't for the quick and selfless decision of her family's milk woman to take Kati to her farm then she would never have survived the war. Although she suffered immensely through the death of her father and the persecution of her family and childhood friends, Kati Preston has arrived on the other side of history a better person. She continues every day to make her life worth saving, and it comes through clearly in her optimistic, wonderful personality. She is the unparalleled spirit of forgiveness, courage and resilience. It was an absolute honor to have been in her presence and see that, with love, we can all persevere as she has.