Ellen Einstein honors her father, Jerry Krause, who was born in Lodz, Poland, on March 21, 1924. He was sent to the Lodz ghetto along with his family, and was later transferred to Kaufering, Leitmeritz, and Theresienstadt. When he was liberated in the spring of 1945, he found that he had lost most of his family. After the war, he met his wife Esther, and moved to Marburg, Germany. Eventually, the family settled in the United States in Savannah, Georgia, where Krause opened a number of businesses, including a grocery store, liquor store, chicken farm, and a bar. Ellen has written that her father “never thought he’d live beyond fifty” and he “considered every day of his life after that as a bonus.” Einstein has visited to Poland and the Czech Republic several times, and vows to never forget the legacy of the Holocaust.
The Nashville Holocaust Memorial