How a Christian Got Hooked on the Holocaust
Book Signing with Award-Winning Author, Nancy Wright Beasley
Saturday, June 17, at 6:30 p.m. in the Large Auditorium
Author Nancy Wright Beasley was so moved when she attended a Kristallnacht ceremony  (Richmond, VA, 1997) that she began researching the Holocaust, eventually writing about the Virginia Holocaust Museum and the  Israel “Izzy” Ipson family and members of four other Jewish families who lived in Lithuania during World War II. Their story is recreated at the museum. Beasley documents how 13 Jews (seven having escaped Kovno Ghetto) survived the Holocaust by living in a 9’x12’x 4’ underground hole, their lives sustained by a poor Catholic farm family in her book Izzy’s Fire. Along with extensive interviews of the Ipp (now Ipson) family, Beasley helped research and document the reunion of that family with Stanislavas Krivicius, who as a teenager, helped his parents shelter the Ipps, as well as 10 other Jews. This information, supported by documents from the Virginia Holocaust Museum, was used to declare Krivicius and his parents Righteous Among the Nations, an honor reserved for non-Jews, who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.  Her graduate thesis, The Little Lion, a young adult historical novel, also set in Kovno Ghetto during World War II, was published in 2015. Swift Creek Mill Theatre optioned the book for the stage, with the world premiere debuting in January 2016. Both books will be available for purchase, and signing opportunities will take place beginning at 6 p.m. as well as after the program.