Marie Kaufman: In Memory’s Garden, a Life of Beauty and Truth, Deeply Lived

Marie Kaufman, who as an unborn child survived trauma in her mother’s womb; who as a very small child survived the ravages of the Holocaust; who as a refugee and emigre to America endured the challenges of a newcomer in a foreign land; who as a daughter survived abuse and intergenerational trauma; who as a young woman became a loving mother, wife and social worker, who as a middle aged woman sought to reconstruct her traumatic past, knit from the memories of her rescuer’s children; who as the President of Child Survivors of The Holocaust Los Angeles shepherded an anthology of her own and her fellow survivors’ stories; who as an adult survived for 14 years with the chronic assaults of what would eventually be diagnosed as a rare and mercurial disease, died in her sleep, on the second day of the new year, the day after she watched the televised flowers of the Rose Parade bring beauty to her hospital room under yet another COVID surge. Everyone who knew and loved Marie knew how exquisitely she loved the beauty of the natural world.

Marie, who as a child loved to dance and create, grew into a woman who felt deeply and left an everlasting imprint on the firmament of Holocaust memory and the family and legions who loved her and looked to her for healing, for transformation and for connection. A woman who used her voice and exercised her principles as she pushed back against injustice, unafraid of the consequences. A woman who stood firm on the picket lines for Caesar Chavez and the farmworkers, rallying her peers to stand up, too. A woman who worked in community to help integrate local schools. A woman who loved music in all its varieties, who hosted formidable house concerts and filled her home with warmth and vibrancy. An exquisitely beloved Wife, Mother, Bubbe, Friend, Teacher, Therapist, Outspoken Community Leader, Writer, Editor, and Wise Elder with the enchanting soul of a flower child. Marie Kaufman, a life exceptionally well lived, died after a long, long harrowing battle with AL Amyloidosis.

Marie Kaufman was born in Albi, France, to Michel Kaufman and Anna Zadjner, two Poles thrust into each other’s arms by the circumstances of war and genocide. Her journey began in crisis and weathered an early childhood of fear and ultimately survival in hiding in Milhars, a French village that surrounded her family in what Marie called a rare “conspiracy of goodness” where the townspeople, mayor, priest, gendarmes and local cement factory owner, her father’s boss, conspired with good will to protect her family in hiding from the Nazi occupiers. Marie, when talking to students, liked to point out that “if there had been more brave people like that, more families like mine would have survived.”

 After the war, Marie’s family emigrated to Los Angeles. Marie grew up in the Fairfax district, where dance classes at the Westside JCC were her after-school sanctuary. Family life was complex for many of the traumatized survivor émigré parents. And their children, like Marie, were forced to nurture themselves. Early on Marie looked, optimistically, to human connection, music, poetry, the beauty of the creative and natural world and the advancement of social justice as the pillars of the life she would build.

Marie’s life was dedicated to beauty, righteousness, relationships and the legacy of Holocaust memory. 

Marie’s life was dedicated to beauty, righteousness, relationships and the legacy of Holocaust memory. She understood the significance of witnessing the human condition and the individual dignity of her fellow women and men. As a social worker, she ministered to the transformation and emotional health of others; as a music lover, her house concerts were a hub for leading musicians of the time to gather and share their gifts; as a wife, mother and grandmother, Marie sought to shift her childhood paradigm of pain into one of love, joy, nurturance and support.

In the world of Holocaust education and remembrance, Marie leaves lasting imprints and a legacy of her own goodness. Marie’s compassionate heart and skilled experience created safety and possibility for her traumatized community, including her work as an interviewer for the Shoah Foundation Survivor Testimonies. As an early board member of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (now known as Holocaust Museum LA). As a frequent, beloved speaker at the Museum of Tolerance, Marie shared her story of the goodness of one village and a small group of teens to inspire righteous action in our world today. As an active participant and advisory board member at Remember Us and the Righteous Conversations Project, Marie collaborated with students on such contemporary issues as gun violence and human dignity for refugees.

As managing editor, with her husband Ken Johnson and a committee of dedicated peers, the publication of the anthology “How We Survived; 52 Personal Stories by Child Survivors of the Holocaust” was her crowning achievement. First published in 2011, it had its second printing by popular demand, in addition to the moral demands of the contemporary landscape as the dangers of antisemitism re-emerged. In the foreword to “How We Survived,” Marie wrote “This anthology is a gift for you, the reader, the student and the teacher. You are now the keepers of our story. You are our witnesses and the guardians of our legacy.”

Marie, all of us who you inspired, we are your witnesses, and the precious book you edited and brought to this world will travel the generations as a living Torah that bears witness to the agonies and triumphs of the children who survived the Shoah and the million-and-a-half more who were never able to tell their own stories, in whose memory your book is dedicated. 

Marie is survived by her devoted husband Ken Johnson, her children Deena Poll Goodman and Mitch Poll (Rosemary) and her beloved grandchildren Trevor & Matthew Goodman and Eva & Gibson Poll. She is also survived — and preceded in death — by so many in the Child Survivors of The Holocaust community where she was part of the connected and caring family-by-choice she helped to build. She lovingly wove together communities of musicians, artists, activists, therapists, readers, students, family and friends for whom her memory shall resonate as a tender blessing and a forceful call to action in the days, years and generations to come.

In accordance with her wishes, donations in memory of Marie Kaufman z”l can be made to Museum of Tolerance.

Samara Hutman is the former director of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust under E. Randol Schoenberg and director of Remember Us and the Co-Founder/Director of The Righteous Conversations Project.