FEBRUARY 6 • 2020 | 13
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P
aula Marks-Bolton
spent only four days
at the Auschwitz
concentration camp as a
teenager in Nazi-occupied
Poland. But that time still
echoed heavily in her head
on the 75th anniversary of
the camp’
s liberation.
“After many days and
nights of riding in these
cramped cattle trains, the
Nazis had finally stopped
for good,” Marks-Bolton
said. “They opened up the
doors and announced, ‘
We
have arrived at Auschwitz.’
”
Jan. 27 marked the 75th
anniversary of the liber-
ation of Auschwitz and
International Holocaust
Remembrance Day, and
Marks-Bolton, 93, took the
occasion to detail her story
of survival to a crowd of
around 50 people at the
Holocaust Memorial Center
in Farmington Hills.
“It is so important that
we must continue to teach
love and kindness,” the
West Bloomfield resident
told the attendees. “This
is what I have been teach-
ing for almost 30 years. It
should never make a dif-
ference what nationality,
religion or what color skin
a person has — we are all
brothers and sisters. We are
all connected and are all
God’
s children.”
Among the attend-
ees were a group from
Schoolcraft College in
Livonia and a group of
employees from a new
marketing firm in Detroit.
Throughout Marks-Bolton’
s
story, many in the audience
were overcome with emo-
tion, with some fighting
back tears.
In 1939, when the Nazis
invaded her home country
of Poland, Marks-Bolton
was just 13 years old. Her
family was torn apart by the
Nazis: While her middle
brother, Schmeral, escaped
to Russia, her two young-
er brothers were taken to
the Poznan concentration
camp, the first in the terri-
tory of Poland, and Paula
was separated from her par-
ents and taken to the Lodz
Ghetto, the second-largest
ghetto in German-occupied
Europe.
From Lodz, Marks-Bolton
spent three grueling days
traveling by a cattle train
car to Auschwitz. As she
climbed out of her com-
partment, she was met by
Paula Marks-Bolton
Local talk timed to 75th
anniversary of liberation.
CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER
Survivor
Remembers
Auschwitz
CORRIE COLF
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Linda Kovan has spent her life making things happen.
“I’m a problem solver, and I believe in action,” Linda
said. “I see things, or I hear things, and I want to help.
It’s my way of making a difference in the world, in a
way that’s meaningful, not just lip service.” For instance,
when Linda and her brothers were going through the
process of moving their mother from her home and into
senior living, the process was so daunting, Linda creat-
ed a business out of it, Peace of Mind Life Solutions.
Linda said she and her siblings felt like they covered so
much new ground, they wanted to save other people the
journey they had to make.
“That’s one of the reasons why I feel I fit right into
Hebrew Free Loan,” Linda said. “The HFL Board is so
participatory, and I can actively make a difference,
whether it’s helping an older person making a move, or
a younger person making a start. It gets my creative
juices going, finding that I’m one of a group of people
dedicated to give someone a jump start on a dream, or
make their future a little brighter.”
Professionally, Linda spent 30 years in sales, so she
also counts networking among her skills.
“I like to think I’m a resource person, a person who
can connect what people need with where to go to fill
that need,” Linda said. “It’s part of what makes me who
I am, I guess. I have always known that something I can
do well is share my knowledge and experience to make
things easier for others. HFL plays right into that. I want
to share my life, my community work and my experi-
ences with others, so people don’t have to walk the path
of their lives alone.”
STORY
My
STORY
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