Maccabi Star Reporters: JCC Cares Stories

Star Reporters document stories of local Holocaust survivors

One Star Reporter tells the story of her JCC Cares interview subject, Holocaust survivor Hanni Kaplan

By Maya Arenson

August 6, 2018

Today, we met with Holocaust survivors in order to connect with the past history and members of Judaism. I had the pleasure to meet Hanni Kaplan, born in Berlin, Germany on December 26, 1921.

She grew up loving the arts and often performed in plays and shows. She loved school and learning and politics. Right before the Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, anti-semitic neighbors warned her father that the next day he would be hung in his own store.

It was at this time, that Mrs. Kaplan moved to Nashville, Tennessee with her mother and father. Unfortunately, 17 relatives, on her father’s side, decided not to move along with them. This sadly led them to be murdered during the Holocaust over the next few years by the Nazis.

As a young girl, she had to learn English to start her new life. While in Tennessee, she met her husband, and together they moved to California. They were married happily for 68 years until he passed from a heart attack.

She made sure to mention that we was a great man and was very funny.

Mrs. Kaplan raised two boys, and now, they have grown up. She has 11 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren living throughout the United States. She now lives alone in her home and says she lives a happy life.

She prides herself on how active she still is and how spotlessly clean her house is. She spreads her story to keep the future generations aware of this tragedy and to show how people can be strong, overcome any challenges and thrive.