A Third-Generation Story: Carrying it Forward

For Jess Gill, a Baltimore resident and third-generation Holocaust descendant, the responsibility of sharing her grandfather’s story feels especially urgent in a moment when historical truth is increasingly challenged and antisemitism is once again visible in daily life.

“We seem to live in a time where people are saying the Holocaust didn’t happen,” she said. “That living memory has to be carried on by the second generation, the third generation and the generations that come after.”

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Jess moved to Baltimore about 15 years ago for work at the University of Maryland and now co-runs Sunnyside Creative, a local agency. Her professional path eventually intersected with The Associated through Jewish Community Services, one of her firm’s early clients.

And recently, Jess participated in the second cohort of the Rekindle Fellowship. This program, a partnership between The Associated, The Elijah Cummings Youth Program, Associated Black Charities, the Baltimore Jewish Council and Na’aleh: The Hub for Leadership Learning, brings together Baltimore’s Black and Jewish leaders in face-to-face dialogue to promote a deeper understanding between communities.

Jess Gill with her grandfather, Sabba, and his grandkids

What It Means to Be Third Generation

For Jess, being a third-generation descendant is not just about a lesson from history.

“I have a personal connection to the aftermath of prejudice,” she said. “It’s not something that was just experienced by my grandfather. That trauma still lives within all of us.”

Her grandfather and his parents moved through displaced persons camps after surviving the majority of the war in labor camps.

That awareness has shaped her worldview, from a deep skepticism of scapegoating to a strong instinct to question injustice when she sees it.

“It makes you ask, why did this happen? How did this happen? How could this be allowed to happen?” she said. “And then you start to recognize when injustice is happening again, whether it’s real or whether it’s another form of scapegoating.”

As living survivors become fewer, Jess feels a growing obligation to speak up.

“I wouldn’t be here if my great-grandfather didn’t have the foresight to say, ‘We’re getting out of Poland now,’” she said. “So saying ‘this happened’ matters.”

Rekindle and Reconnection

Jess joined the Rekindle Fellowship in the aftermath of October 7, amid a rise in antisemitism and growing polarization. She was looking for something that allowed her to honor her ancestry while thinking constructively about the future. Rekindle offered that balance.

While the fellowship did not change how she tells her grandfather’s story, it prompted her to think differently about connection.

“How do I bring this to a level that feels accessible to someone who has no connection to the Holocaust at all?” she said. “If you know my story and I know your story, I can do more for you and you can do more for me.”

Jessica Gill's grandfather, Sabba, with Savta in his IDF uniform

Carrying it Forward

Jess hopes future generations will understand not only what was lost, but what endured. Her grandfather taught her to look for joy in different ways when there is none.

In her grandfather’s memoir, he recalls knocking icicles off buildings for entertainment and crafting chess pieces from potato scraps.

“That inventiveness, that innovation,” Jess said. “Not waiting for someone to bring something to you but figuring out what you’re going to do for yourself is what I learned from him.”

She also hopes people understand that there is no single Holocaust narrative.

“A lot of people only hear about concentration camps in Germany and Poland,” she said. “But there were people in Siberia. There were people in Shanghai. There isn’t just one story.”

Through the broader work of The Associated and the Baltimore Jewish Council’s Speakers Bureau, those stories continue to be shared, not only as history, but as a call to responsibility.

“Memory doesn’t preserve itself,” Jess said. “We have to carry it forward.”

Learn about our work combatting antisemitism through our Center for Countering Antisemitism and Hate.

A Third-Generation Story: Carrying it Forward

A Third-Generation Story: Carrying it Forward

What It Means to Be Third Generation

Rekindle and Reconnection

Carrying it Forward

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