Schindler’s Listed: The Search for my Father’s Lost Gold. Lunch Meeting

This is a lunch meeting,  please pre-register here.

Randi Biederman Is co-author of the book, Schindler’s Listed: The Search for my Father’s Lost Gold.

Randi is a widow, mother, horticulturist, teacher and now a writer and a speaker. Randi is a native of Toronto, and resides in Victoria.  

Randi’s father-in-law, Hirsch, was a teenaged deportee from Poland who ended up as the third person named on Schindler’s List.  His family had a treasured coin collection that they buried to keep out of Nazi hands, and which was not recovered for over sixty-five years. Part of the book is the story of the treasure hunt, which Randi and her husband, Mark, embarked upon after Mark related the story that his father had told him about the coins.  Mark only knew that the coins were buried somewhere in Poland. Mark’s dad died in 1981, so it was no longer possible to ask him any details.  Mark eventually, along with Randi, started what ended up being a 20-year quest to discover when and where the family managed to bury the coins.  Additionally, the book is the search for answers as to what happened to Hirsch and the rest of his family all of whom disappeared during the Holocaust.

Randi’s mother-in-law, Sally, was a survivor of several concentration camps, including Auschwitz, where she stood up to the Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele and lived to tell the tale.  She eventually ended up working as a cook in Dr. Mengele’s kitchen.

The book tells a story of the very dark days of the Holocaust and their impact upon two teenagers, who, against all odds, survived, met and fell in love and somehow found the strength to emigrate and thrive in their new American life. 

Our speaker will have copies of her books for sale, with ALL the proceeds towards The Legion

Randi says "One of my goals is to humanize a global event. My story shows the effect of war on one family which can change the perspective. The quote attributed to Joseph Stalin that "one death is a tragedy, a millions deaths are a statistic"  suggests that immense suffering can desensitize people.  By presenting my family's story, there is the potential to both individualize and humanize the suffering."