More Than a Survivor: Holocaust Survivor Fred Amram
History Instructor Anita Gaul is bringing to the community a large part of history with one of the few remaining survivors of the Holocaust, Fred Amram.
Fred M. B. Amram is a retired award-winning professor of communication and creativity at the University of Minnesota. He has authored books and articles about creativity, inventors, robotics, and communication. In presenting Professor Amram the Patent and Trademark Office’s prestigious Excellence in Education Award, the Commissioner of the PTO referred to Amram as “excellence in education personified.”
Born in Nazi Germany in 1933, Fred and his family experienced Kristallnacht and other acts of violence directed at Jews. He escaped with his parents to New York City in 1939. Although the transition to a new language and culture was difficult, the alternatives were worse. Consequently, his adopted country truly became a land of opportunity where one could build a new life and become more than a “survivor.” The loss of uncles, aunts, a grandmother, and many more relatives has motivated him to share his story and to speak against genocide everywhere.
His 2016 memoir We’re in America Now: A Survivor’s Stories is his transition from scholarly writing to storytelling. He recently co-authored Lest We Forget with his wife, artist Sandra Brick. This visual memoir explores his childhood experiences in Nazi Germany and then as a refugee in the United States.