Jamie Aaron is the Assistant Director of Towson Hillel. She is also a 3G, the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor. For Jamie Aaron, the experiences of her grandfather and his escape of the Holocaust over 80 years ago through the Kindertransport, still affect her to this day.

Jamie’s grandfather, born Alfred Rohde in 1928, was from Vienna, Austria. Like Germany, Austria was experiencing its own rise in antisemitism in the 1930s, which reached its peak in the Anschluss, when Germany annexed Austria.

After Alfred’s family was forced to scrub graffiti, with Jamie’s Grandfather, around 9 years old, forced to watch by a Nazi soldier, the family knew they had to get out.

Jamie tells us that her family knew how incredibly lucky they were. Taking advantage of three available methods at the time, the family was able to flee Austria, with her grandfather, Alfred, escaping to London through the Kindertransport.

In 1940, Jamie’s grandfather and his mother were able to make passage to New York, where he lived out his remaining years in the United States. He attended high school, joined the military and raised a loving family.

That is why, Jamie says, it hurts to see the recent rise in antisemitism sweeping the country and around the globe.

“He truly lived this idea of ‘Never Again,’” said Jamie, “And when I- when we see it, I hear him. And it hurts.”

Together, we stand up to Jewish hate. The Associated and its agency, the Baltimore Jewish Council, have partnered with the ADL to establish a tracking system to monitor incidents of antisemitism in the Baltimore Metropolitan area. If you have experienced or witnessed verbal comments, antisemitic symbols or other forms of antisemitism, we encourage you to report the incident.