Western CEDAR

In loving memory of Noémi Ban (1922-2019)

Beloved community member and Holocaust survivor Noémi Ban passed away in June, and we are dedicating this page to her life’s commitment to Holocaust Education.

Linked below are numerous resources intended for public use to keep Noémi’s story and memory alive.

Noémi Ban’s story is one of loss, tragedy, resiliency, hope, and inspiration. A survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Mrs. Ban lost her mother, grandmother, and younger sister and brother to the horrors of the death camps, and worked as a slave laborer at the Allendorfer Verwertchemie, a munitions’ factory also known as Münchmühle camp, a sub-camp of Buchenwald. After the Holocaust, she was witness to the 1956 Soviet repression of the anti-communist uprising in Hungary. And, later in life, Mrs. Ban experienced her husband’s Earnest attenuated struggle with aphasia, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. Despite the many tragedies she faced, this extraordinary educator spoke out against hate and praised tolerance, hope, and love of life. In 1995, Mrs. Ban began speaking publicly about her Holocaust experience. She spoke all over the globe, from Bellingham to Taiwan. Her belief that sharing is healing sustained her. Mrs. Ban is the winner of the 1997 Golden Apple Award, a recipient of honorary doctorates from Gonzaga and Western Washington University, winner of the 2003 Washington Education Association Human and Civil Rights Award in the category of International Peace and Understanding and the recipient of the 2011 Daughters of the American Revolution Americanism Award. She is also the author of Sharing is Healing (with Prof. Emeritus Ray Wolpow). Noémi Ban’s experiences are documented in the 2007 DvD “My Name is Noémi.”