Holocaust Survivor Shares Story At Remembrance Event In Bucks

FURLONG, PA — Temple Judea of Bucks County marked Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) on April 17 with a moving community service centered on remembrance, resilience, and testimony.

The evening featured an extraordinary presentation by 95-year-old Holocaust survivor Sarah Meller, who shared the amazing story of her life as a young teenager in Split, Yugoslavia, who was forced to hide from the Nazis with her mother and younger sister while her father and brother fought for the resistance.

Drawing from her memoir, "Sarah’s Survival," Meller spoke about her family’s harrowing experience, including the separation they endured, her time hiding and surviving in the forests and climbing mountains with partisan fighters, and the resilience required to endure years of hardship.

Her account also reflected the long and difficult path toward rebuilding a life after liberation.

Clergy from across the Bucks County faith community participated in the program, sharing the bimah with Temple Judea’s rabbi, Andrew Sklarz, and its scholar-in-residence, Rabbi Peg Kershenbaum.

Joining them were elders Paul Bean and Leslie Collins of the Presbyterian Church of Deep Run; Monsignor Joseph Gentili of Our Lady of Guadalupe; the Very Rev. Nancy Dilliplane of Trinity Church; Pastor Philip Krey of Saint Andrews Evangelical Lutheran Church; the Rev. Becca Bateman of Doylestown Presbyterian Church, and Josh Phillips, a parishioner from Salem United Church of Christ.

The program also highlighted Meller’s affiliation with the Holocaust Remembrance Museum, underscoring the importance of preserving and sharing survivor testimony through education and outreach. Six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

Temple Judea is the only Reform Jewish congregation in Central Bucks County. It is located at 38 Rogers Road in Furlong.