In My Mother’s Footsteps

Rebecca Barber is the author of In My Mother’s Footsteps: An Odyssey of Faith and Courage about her mother’s journey to freedom in 1939-1940 and her own journey in 2017 with the Sousa Mendes Foundation through France, Spain and Portugal. Using meticulous historical research and clues her mother left behind, Rebecca solves one mystery after another about her family history. Her presentation will include a dramatic reading from Leah’s exodus diary. She is a frequent public speaker to audiences at Holocaust museums and genealogical societies. Her book is available at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and at this link.

Robert Jacobvitz, who will be in conversation with Rebecca Barber, serves on the Sousa Mendes Foundation Board. For ten years he directed the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Greater East Bay, and it was in this capacity in the 1980’s that he began championing the cause of Aristides de Sousa Mendes. In 2005 he received the Aristides de Sousa Mendes Humanitarian Medal from the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation. He wrote a seminal article on Aristides de Sousa Mendes that can be read at this link.xxxxx