Her work has taken many forms, including championing women in STEM education, combating violence against women, and addressing modern genocide and atrocity prevention, antisemitism and Holocaust denial through the U.S. “I understood that the stereotyping of any group of people was no different than what had happened to my family, and I knew where it could lead,” she said.Īt that time, Taylor made a personal vow to do what she could to fight against hatred and bigotry. The resulting unrest highlighted the discrimination against the gay community in San Francisco. When Taylor was 12 years old and living in the San Francisco Bay Area, an openly gay San Francisco politician named Harvey Milk was killed. Devastatingly, my mother was fundamentally broken and never really able to properly care for me or for herself.” I can see from old photos that they had once been happy and adventurous people. “My grandparents were good, kind people who gave a lot to their communities, but they were also palpably sad and profoundly cautious (I called my grandfather ‘Grandpa-be-careful’). Taylor said she only heard stories from them of what had happened to her extended family.Īmbassador Taylor’s mother, Hanne Susi Trnka (later Susi Hanne Nichols), center, and her mother’s parents, Edith and Leo, on the ship to the United States in 1939. Understandably affected by the trauma, neither her grandparents nor her mother talked about their own experiences other than a few scattered details. Taylor’s mother’s paternal grandparents were murdered by the Nazis in Riga. “But, like many other families, I will likely never know the brave people who hid them or how they were eventually able to get visas and emigrate to the United States,” she said. Taylor’s understanding is that her grandmother eventually joined her grandfather in hiding and her mother was taken elsewhere for safety. (Courtesy of Ambassador Michèle Taylor)īut there was violence, and from that night forward, Taylor said, her mother, then 3 years old, was terrorized by memories of a family member being shot in front of her. Taylor assumes her mother was wearing it when a family member was shot and that her parents kept it as evidence. Ambassador Taylor’s mother’s outfit with what appears to be blood spatter. “Thankfully, my family had been warned and he was hidden and escaped certain death, though my grandmother was threatened that they would come back looking for him until he was found,” she said. She said that on Kristallnacht in November 1938 in Vienna, the Nazis came looking for her grandfather. In that role, she shines a light on human rights abuses around the world and fights against bigotry. permanent representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in February. It also pays tribute to the survivors and their descendants who keep their legacies alive through public service.Īmbassador Michèle Taylor, the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, began her term as the U.S. Holocaust Remembrance Day, on April 28, honors the 6 million Jews and millions of other victims killed by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust. The Nazis murdered him in Riga in 1942, when he was 12. Her mother’s cousin Herbert Grün (center) did not. So did her mother’s cousin, Luise Lise Grün (left), who was sent to London alone as part of the “Kindertransport” at the age of 5. President Joe Biden Tel Aviv, Israel October 18, 2023Īmbassador Taylor’s mother, far right, Hanne Susi Trnka, escaped the Holocaust.for Eligible Israeli Citizens and Nationals DHS Announces Start of Applications for Visa-Free Travel to U.S.Remarks by President Biden on the Release of Hostages from Gaza.Statement from NSC Spokesperson Adrienne Watson on Travel of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to Israel.Embassy Jerusalem Special Passport Application Event Citizens Considering Travel to Uman, Ukraine for Rosh Hashanah Embassy is pleased to announce that applications are being accepted for the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program! Apply Now! S Trip Announcement to Jerusalem and Amman.Citizens in the West Bank Needing an Emergency Passport or Assistance to Depart
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