Students and faculty gathered on Monday, April 6, 2026, for a powerful and emotional assembly as Holocaust survivor Rabbi Lazowski, his son Alan Lazowski, and the co-author to his book “Transforming Darkness into Light,” Suzanne Pinkes, visited the KO community to share his story.
Introduced by family members and community speakers, the event was not just a history lesson, but a deeply personal reminder of resilience, courage, and the importance of never forgetting the past.
Rabbi Lazowski’s story was narrated by Alan Lazowski and began in 1930 in a small village in Poland, where he lived with his family in a close-knit community. Before World War II, life in his village was peaceful. He recalled fishing, swimming, and forming friendships with both Jewish and non-Jewish neighbors. However, that life changed drastically when the Nazis invaded. His town was destroyed, and he and his family were forced into a ghetto and later faced unimaginable violence and loss.
At just 11 years old, Rabbi Lazowski experienced the horrors of Nazi “selections,” where individuals were unpredictably chosen to live or die. In one life-changing moment, he was saved by a woman who pretended he was her son, allowing him to survive. Later, during the final destruction of the ghetto, his mother made the heartbreaking decision to throw him out of a second-story window of a movie theater to save his life. Her final words urged him to survive and tell the world what happened.
Rabbi Lazowski spent the next two years hiding in the woods with his father and brother, enduring extreme conditions including freezing temperatures, starvation, and constant danger from the Nazis. Out of thousands imprisoned in the ghetto, only about 200 survived—he and his family among them. After the war, he eventually immigrated to the United States, arriving in 1947 with little money and no knowledge of English. Through determination and hard work, he completed high school and attended college in Brooklyn, New York, and later became a rabbi.
One of the most remarkable parts of his story is how it came full circle. Years after the war, he discovered that the woman who saved his life was connected to the family of the woman he would later marry, bringing him to Hartford, Connecticut, where he built his life and legacy.
During the assembly, Rabbi Lazowski emphasized the importance of education, perseverance, and moral choice. He spoke about turning “darkness into light,” a message also reflected in his book, “Transforming Darkness into Light,” which he co-authored with Suzanne Pinkes to help others learn from his experiences. He encouraged students to study history, explaining that understanding the past is essential to preventing future atrocities.
He also shared a message that resonated strongly with students: never give up. Despite losing his family and enduring unimaginable hardship, he stressed the importance of continuing to learn, group, and make-positive choices. “Life is not always easy,” Rabbi Lazowski explained, “but you must have the strength to overcome challenges.”
The assembly concluded with a discussion about human nature, where speakers emphasized that while people have the capacity for both good and evil, everyone has the choice to act with kindness and courage. Rabbi Lazowski’s life stands as a testament to that belief.
As Holocaust survivors lessen by the year, opportunities like this become increasingly rare and meaningful. Rabbi Lazowski’s visit served as a powerful reminder of the responsibility to carry these stories forward. For the KO community, his words were not only a history lesson but a call to action to build a more compassionate and fair world.
