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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

Click. Call. Give Now. 
www.hfldetroit.org 248.723.8184

Hebrew Free Loan Detroit

6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48301

@HFLDetroit

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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