Frances Penney OF BLESSED MEMORY
Presented by The Foundation of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation
Frances Penney OF BLESSED MEMORY
Holocaust Survivor, Author Written by Geoffrey Tomb of The Miami Herald
“In the very beginning I was guilty that I didn’t go with my mother. She never believed she was going to be murdered. I felt I had abandoned her. Now I know that I am here to tell the story to as many people as I can. Even now my heart beats louder when I think about my mother.” Those words, spoken in a newspaper interview in 1988, remain, captured, frozen. The person who said them, Frances Penney, died on April 13, 1994 in her 80s. Other than a tearful sister and other bereaving family, she leaves little. Except her words, the words of a witness. Born Franka Zilberman in Wasaw, she was 32 when the Nazis invaded her homeland and World War II began. Life changed forever for millions. Frances Penney lost her home, fled, spent two years in prison labor camps and finally, her head shaved, in concentration camps. She lived through nearly 2,000 days of constant fear and consistent degradation, surviving what is now called the Holocaust.
In 1972, retired, she became a resident of Surfside, having come to a new life in the United States in 1954. A widow, alone with her memories, she was shocked one day while watching a television talk show featuring other victims of the Holocaust. Some in the audience denied the truth of the events of which the victims spoke. Angry, Penney began a catharsis of recollection that lasted more than 13 years, said her sister Zofia Griffen. The result was a book, published by Shengold Publishers of New York in 1988, called I Was There . I was opposed to it at first. It was very painful. I didn’t want to know the details of how our mother died,” Griffen said. “She carried that load for many years. I was afraid she would have a nervous breakdown. But she was so persistent.” Penney wrote in Polish. It took Griffen three years to translate the book into English. Every translation was a shared moment. The purpose was not to make the talk show circuit. It was this: “Simply so it doesn’t happen again,” said Griffen. “Her main worry was that the memory of the Holocaust would disappear. No matter what our heritage, our histories should be cherished,” she concluded. I Was There has been recorded on tape by The National Foundation for the Blind. Penney left an autographed copy of I Was There for her sister, who read the words out loud again. They remain captured, frozen. “I have kept my promise to bear witness. Now it is in
your trust,” Penney wrote. Zofia Griffen and her husband, Benjiman (both of blessed memory), established the Frances Penney Memorial Fund with The Foundation of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation in February of 1996 to support Holocaust education and ensure that the world never forgets.
Temple Beth Am AND Rambam Day School
Presented by The Foundation of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation
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