My Brother\'s Voice

Stephen Nasser was recently invited back to Budapest, Hungary, to witness the installation of plaques memorializing the house built in 1872 by his grandfather, Samu Nasser. German artist Gunter Demnig created the six plaques (Stolpersteins) and with permission from Hungarian Mayor, Dr. Molnar Szabolcs, who also attended the ceremony, he laid them in front of the house on September 28, 2012, and a local television station was on hand to interview Mr. Nasser.

Above is the Nasser House as it looked in 1944, when the family was taken to concentration camps by the Nazis and to the right is the “Nasser House” today.

Below is Gunter Demni installing the 6 Stolpersteins and watching are Stephen Nasser and his wife, Francoise, and the TV crew.

The Stolpersteins, from left to right across the top: Dezso Nasser, Stephen’s father, Georgia Nasser, his mother, Bozsi Nasser, his aunt who was murdered front of him in Birkenau, Auschwitz.

The bottom three Stolpersteins are engraved with the names of: Andras Nasser, Stephen’s brother who died in his arms March 30, 1945, and to whom My Brother’s Voice is dedicated; Stephen Nasser (Istvan is the Hungarian version of Stephen); and Peter Nasser, Stephen’s cousin, who was also murdered.

Some of the attendees at the installation included from left to right: German friend, Milena Finus (with red scarf) and her husband Wolfgang behind her, who made it possible to have the Stolperstein installed; artist Gunter Demnig and behind him, Eugene Lebovits, a friend from Florida; Stephen Nasser (Istvan aka Pista) and his wife Francoise.

On March 20th, 2012, Stephen Nasser was invited to be a keynote speaker at the International Boy Scout Museum in Las Vegas, where he shared his own Boy Scout plaque from 1943. It was quite an honor; Mayor Carolyn Goodman attended the event and introduced Nasser to the crowd.

Stephen Nasser appeared recently at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Las Vegas – and wowed the crowd once again. Young and old, teachers and students, parents and their children, all were captivated by the compelling story of My Brother’s Voice.  This boy’s smile with author Nasser is proof; his tale of woe and triumph speaks to us all.

“I think that it definitely taught us not to take life for granted.”

Jeff Mosier, staff writer for the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s View, reported on a powerful experience:

Holocaust survivors speak to students as part of conference

Stephen Nasser was 13 when the Nazis broke into his home and forced him and his family on a train to Auschwitz. Of the 21 people in his family, only he survived the Holocaust.

Nasser told his story to a class full of middle and high school students and teachers. Four other survivors also spoke to students in packed classrooms Feb. 15 at the Northwest Career and Technical Academy, 8200 W. Tropical Parkway, as part of the Holocaust Education Conference.

“This is the last generation that’s going to get to hear from survivors,” said Victoria Gildner, an art teacher at Mack Middle School, 4250 Karen Ave. “We’re losing our primary sources to time. It’s a precious resource that we need to expose as many kids to as possible.”

Nearly 240 students from 35 schools attended the event. Teachers accompanying them went through Holocaust education professional development training to be able to give specialized instruction to students.

At Mack Middle School, teachers are working together as part of a cross-curricular, schoolwide effort to teach the Holocaust. Clark County School District teachers teamed with the Governor’s Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust to create a series of lessons that could be incorporated into traditional curriculum.

“We really just want our kids to truly put things in perspective,” Mack geography teacher Monica Pienta said.

About 200 Mack students plan to visit the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles in March along with students from O’Callaghan Middle School, 1450 Radwick Drive. The Governor’s Advisory Council is paying for the trip.

Nasser described his life in a concentration camp in grueling, gory detail. His story got gasps, tears and sniffles from the audience for an hour. He wore a black T-shirt given to him by students from Faiss Middle School, 9525 W. Maule Ave., that read “NEVER AGAIN.”

Nasser kept a diary on discarded cement bags that he hid under the straw on his top bunk. He waited more than 50 years to publish it because he did not want his uncle —- who lost his wife and child —- to know how his family died.

“I watched them being massacred six feet away from me,” Nasser said.

Nasser kept the secret until his uncle’s death in 1996. Nasser, a Summerlin-area resident, published his diary, My Brother’s Voice, in 2003 and has given nearly 700 lectures across the country.

He plans to give his 700th lecture to students at Las Vegas High School, 6500 E. Sahara Ave., in March to coincide with the opening of the school’s Holocaust museum, which will not be open to the public.

After hearing from the five survivors, students spent an hour doing a lesson about “hidden children,” reading from primary sources of young people who recorded their histories during the Holocaust. Students were asked to put themselves in the place of those children and write short essay answers to questions.

Students, teachers and survivors had dinner and heard from a hidden child, keynote speaker Myra Genn. She and two family members hid in, among other places, a 7-foot-by-3-foot attic space for 10 months.

Mack eighth-grader Laura Castillo said the experience was better than reading from a textbook.

“I thought that hearing from a survivor is really special because most people don’t get to,” Laura said. “Hearing from the actual person, it’s more realistic.”

Laura’s classmate, Ashley Cruz, walked out with a renewed outlook.

“I think that it definitely taught us not to take life for granted,” she said.

Each year, Stephen Nasser speaks to the students at Faith Lutheran, sharing stories from My Brother’s Voice. This year, the school had tee shirts with his motto, “Never Again,” for the students, who all insisted he sign their shirts after the presentation. Nasser tirelessly gives his time for the students, who love hearing him speak and vow that a Holocaust will never again happen.

Stephen Nasser, author of My Brother’s Voice, recently returned from a month in Germany commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp at Seeshaupt. Nasser traveled across the country,  speaking and signing books at almost twenty different venues, often two or three locations in one day, telling the story of his struggles and survival in a concentration camp as a young boy, and sharing the story of his brother, who did not survive.

As part of the festivities, Nasser participated in the launch of the German version of his book, Die Stimme meines Bruders, by Wolfgang Maximoser. In addition, German filmmaker Walter Steffen premiered his ninety minute documentary, Endstation Seeshaupt, reenacting the route of the Death train from the Muhldorf concentration camp to Seeshaupt, the point of liberation by General Patton’s third army on April 30, 1945. Mr. Nasser’s visits were also recognized in German newspapers, with local dignitaries and other concentration camp survivors. His tireless dedication to telling his story, his brother’s story, and to Holocaust education is remarkable.

Stephen Nasser was featured in a documentary by filmmaker Walter Steffen made at Endstation Seeshaupt, as part of the 60th anniversary celebration of the liberation of Seeshaupt. Author Nasser read from his book My Brother’s Voice, to a rapt audience. Click here for a link to the German film and interview.

Recently, the German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, published a nice article about Stephen Nasser  in both an online and printed edition in commemoration of the April 30th - 60th anniversary of his liberation from the concentration camp at Seeshaupt. If you can read German, here’s the link to the  full article!

By Stacey Fott

Author and Holocaust survivor Stephen Nasser was invited to meet with students at Northwest Career and Technical Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 2. This assembly was held in response to remarks by a teacher at the Academy denying the existance of the Holocaust.

Read article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal

Certificate of Recognition presented to Stephen Nasser.

November 7th, 2009 marked the 500th time that author and Holocaust survivor Stephen Nasser has spoken to groups about his experiences since the publication of his book My Brother’s Voice. The occasion was celebrated at the Vegas Valley Book Festival with a presentation of certificates from Senator Harry Reid and Congresswoman Dina Titus.

Well done Stephen! Looking forward to the next 500!