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For more information, please contact Susan Silverman at or 917.865.5188.
Born in Hungary, Gabriella Major is a child of the Holocaust. Her transport to Auschwitz was mistakenly diverted to the Strasshof Concentration Camp in Austria, where she, her mother, and her grandmother faced disease, hunger, and extreme hardship. Tragically, her grandmother perished in the camp, but miraculously, Gabriella and her mother survived. Most of Gabriella’s extended family was murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.
Gabriella and her mother reunited with her father — who had survived another slave labor camp — in Hungary, where they lived under Communist rule and again faced persecution for their Jewish beliefs. At the outbreak of the Hungarian Revolution, Gabriella prevailed on her family to flee the country: “If you want me to marry a Jewish boy, live a Jewish life, and go to medical school” she said, “we cannot stay here.”
They escaped to Austria and were eventually able to enter the United States, where they began a new life, Gabriella at the helm. She became a social worker, helping people with mental, physical, and emotional disabilities, and worked at a UJA-Federation network partner for more than 30 years before retiring as one of the organization’s vice presidents.
She married Dr. William Major, a psychiatrist and fellow survivor. Together, they raised four beautiful children on Manhattan's Upper East Side and became pillars of the Ramaz/KJ community. Gabriella has served on numerous UJA committees, including the Community Initiative for Holocaust Survivors. She attended two UJA planning missions to Israel and participated in Witness Theater, a program that brings high school students and survivors together to retell the survivors’ stories. Gabriella is passionate about educating students and adults about the horrors and the lessons of the Holocaust and has been telling her story widely over the past eight year including as a docent at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.
Gabriella is grateful to have a large family of children and grandchildren and now a great-grandchild, who bring her much joy and happiness.
Virtuoso violinist Niv Ashkenazi has captivated audiences with his heartfelt musicianship and emotional performances. Praised for his “extremely colourful interpretations, characterized by maturity and authority” (Pizzicato Magazine), he has made several Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center appearances and has performed in Europe, the Middle East, and across North America. His conviction that the impact of music serves people beyond the concert stage motivates him to collaborate on projects that create a strong emotional bond with his audience.
In the 2019-2020 season, he was the first ever Artist in Residence at the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts. His debut album, Niv Ashkenazi: Violins of Hope, was released in March 2020 on Albany Records to international critical acclaim and was named one of the 10 best classical recordings of 2020 by the Chicago Tribune.
Niv holds both a B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School, where his teachers included Itzhak Perlman and Glenn Dicterow.
From One Life is a compilation of five families' Holocaust stories told from the perspective of the descendants of the survivors. The book includes historical photographs as well as current photographs of the descendants and hopes to encourage others to keep telling their families’ Holocaust stories. The author and photographer of the book, Lauren Pantzer, is an 11th grade student at The Trinity School in New York City, whose great grandmother was a Holocaust survivor. Through this book Lauren recognizes the importance of her generation learning and educating others about the Holocaust, as her generation is the last who will have been able to know a Holocaust survivor personally. This book, authored by Lauren Pantzer, was generously donated by Tricia and Jason Pantzer.