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Lecture

Varda Yoran and Trudy Gold
From China with Love: The Varda Yoran Story

Thursday 20.02.2025

Summary

A fascinating discussion with Israeli American sculptor Varda Yoran (b.1929), who will share her memories of growing up in the Jewish community in China during the 1930s and 40s and the early years of life in Israel.

Varda Yoran

An image of Varda Yoran

Artist sculptor Varda Yoran was born in China to Jewish parents who left Russia after World War I. After 20 years in China, surviving the Japanese occupation of her town, Tientsin, during World War II, her next 30 years were spent in Israel. She was 50 years old and living in the US when she began her life as an artist/sculptor. In her 60s, she created five large outdoor sculptures in Israel for institutions such as Tel-Aviv University and the Ghetto Fighters Museum of Resistance. In her late 80s, she created a monument which stands in Lima, Peru, honoring Magdalena Truel, a Peruvian Christian hero of the Holocaust. At age 89, she published her second book, Al: The Israeli Prometheus. At 90, she was invited to speak at two United Nations conferences on aging.

Trudy Gold

An image of Trudy Gold

Trudy Gold was the CEO of the London Jewish Cultural Centre and a founding member of the British delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). Throughout her career she taught modern Jewish history at schools, universities, and to adult groups and ran seminars on Holocaust education in the UK, Eastern Europe, and China. She also led Jewish educational tours all over the world. Trudy was the educational director of the student resources “Understanding the Holocaust” and “Holocaust Explained” and the author of The Timechart History of Jewish Civilization.