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The 98-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Who Evaded Nazis By Assuming Fake Identities: The last time he shared his story before his death ...
NEXT: Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter shares how he survived the Warsaw Ghetto and 6 Nazi concentration camps: “Remember the other person is the same as you.”
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Someone can take away your job. But no one can ever take away your mission.
So, what's my mission? What's next? And how did they get the caramel inside the Caramilk bar? I answer two of those three questions on the Sound Off Podcast. I've been included amongst former Secretaries of State, a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Noam Chomsky, political leaders, philanthropists, and artists from around the world ... as official supporters of the world's first International Treaty to Ban the Political Use of Religion: BPUR. Religion has been used politically by extremists to justify the worst violations of basic human rights for far too long. So, essentially, this will help fight terrorism recruitment, improve basic human rights and equality, and emphasize respect for ALL religions. Governments from around the world are signing on to support this Treaty - which is a massive step for human rights by liberating those who suffer from religious repression. BPUR International selects a broad range of global influential figures to help support this. So, either they went too broad by inviting me - OR - I've been mistaken all along and I really am an adult???  Why Does It Matter That I Feel I Can Go To Work Without Make-Up During The COVID-19 Pandemic?3/22/2020 Why does it matter that I feel I can now go into work without make-up? Well, today, 79-year-old Margaret-Barbara called into my radio talk show. It took her a few tries, because she says she's "handicapped" and has "tremors." Dialling is difficult. "I need help. I don't know what I need," she says.  This is how I get to wake up - with Fozzie Bear - every day She has beaten cancer THREE times. Still, this is THE hardest thing she's ever had to go through.
She doesn't have anyone taking care of her. Within minutes, I had too many people offering their help. Another woman calls in. She's taking care of her 100-year-old mother. She needs a very specific bandage for an ailment on her foot. Within 60-seconds, I have a medical professional offering his help. A man who suddenly finds himself without money or hope reaches out. A few minutes later, I have people reaching out to him. And these are but A FEW of THE MANY people we were able to find help through a radio talk show. So why does it matter that I went into work without make-up? He's chatted up some of the biggest names in media and entertainment on his show, now he's chatted up the shortest one! Toronto Mike asked me to join him on his popular podcast to talk about my 10 fav jams.  How can anyone pick their 10 favourite songs? I couldn't. So it's more like the 10 songs that made me. And I wallop you over the head with my first choice. Consider yourself warned ...
The man I'm about to introduce to you has affected millions of Canadians’ lives – and they don’t even know it. He's also affected my life, tremendously. Because this man is my father. Back in 1976, my father, Arnie Kurtz, and another Montrealer, Arnold Wollman, fought discrimination in Quebec. My dad may have lost the 10-year battle, but it was a big win for Canada: It was the catalyst to change our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. My Father Shares His Story For The First time: PART IIt was a decade-long court case, in which my father, the plaintiff, would go up against Canada's future Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Mulroney represented the defence – future Quebec separatist leaders.
Despite numerous requests, never would my father talk to media about this – until I invited him on my radio show. He would be my last guest on my afternoon talk show in Western Canada, and he had no clue it would be his first time discussing his incredible contribution to Canada.
When I made this announcement: "Move Over Tinder And Dating Apps, I'm Now Crowdsourcing My Next Relationship," people thought I was crazy. Don't get me (or them) wrong, I am. But I also may be on to something way saner than online dating.
Tinder and dating apps have conditioned us to treat others as though they are disposable. This social dating experiment is changing that. The Breakdown's Allison Dore and Jay Brody invited me into the SiriusXM studios for an update on my story - based on 100% honourable intentions. So, here it is. Please don't let my father listen to this. Thank you.
This is either entirely brave or entirely stupid. Then again, perhaps it's both.
While it may appear as though I share so much of my life publicly, I don't. I've created a hard line between personal and private information. So I'll tell you personal things about me and the silly or embarrassing things I do. But I never share private stories ... Stories about my relationships ... Specifically, romantic ones. 
And while my intuitive, empathetic nature and ability to network professionally have been boons to my career, these same qualities have led to boondoggles with guys.
Since the proverbial definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, what I'm about to do could quite possibly be the sanest thing I've ever done. So here's the deal ... I wrote this piece on the fear of cancer - carcinophobia - for Huffington Post. But here's what I couldn't include in it: When I was six I thought I was going to die. This wasn't just a passing thought, it was an all-consuming fear and fixation that severely affected my life and my parents' lives. To the rest of the world, I looked like a happy little girl, but that just masked my monster - my master.  Even as a baby I was just like my Bubby - or a little bubby, as it were. Because of this insidious anxiety, I'd throw up every single night before I went to bed. Every pain, every twinge, everything I didn't even feel - I felt was cancer.
My Bubby - my maternal grandmother - died when I was six. Not from cancer, but I think that's what led to this horrible phobia. So, to avoid an uncertain death, I created numerous self-imposed rules. Just a few days ago, the world lost one of its greatest Holocaust heroes - and you've probably never even heard of him: Felix Opatowksi. Today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, it's only fitting that I share his memory - and introduce you to the memories he has shared to prevent another Holocaust.  Me at the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. This is the lookout after the final exhibit. Anti-Semitism has vehemently returned to Europe within living memory of the Holocaust.
Amid a sense of siege and emergency, there is talk of a mass exodus of Jewish people – Europe's oldest ethnic minority. Look at Paris. And Brussels: Four people murdered in the Jewish museum ... a synagogue ... firebombed. In London, a major supermarket forced to remove kosher food from its shelves for fear that it would incite a riot. These are but a few examples. But after what happened during the Holocaust, I shouldn’t have any examples. So let's use Felix's book - and his resiliency and perseverance - as an example to set moving forward. |