A Life Dedicated to Holocaust Remembrance and the Next Generation
BBYO has lost a beloved member of our community – a Holocaust survivor, teacher, friend, and ‘bubbe’.
Trudy Album shared her Holocaust story with thousands of Alephs and BBGs, accompanying March of the Living delegations to Poland and Israel, inspiring the creation of ‘Shabbat to Remember’ at International Kallah, attending dozens of regional conventions and IC, and speaking at schools across the country. A BBYO member recorded Trudy’s survivor story for the Shoah Foundation, and – for many teens – meeting Trudy was a highlight of their BBYO experience. She was inducted into BBG in 2015.
Gertrude ‘Trudy’ Album was born in Slovakia. The Nazis deported her family to Auschwitz in 1944. Just 14 years old, Trudy was separated from her mother, father, and two younger sisters – all murdered during the Holocaust. Trudy survived Auschwitz, the Plaszow forced labor camp, and other transfers before being liberated by American soldiers in the spring of 1945.
A year later, Trudy immigrated to the United States. With little money, limited education, and no knowledge of English, she began building a new life. She married Lou Album in 1950 and built a loving Jewish family.
In 2009, her granddaughter Hannah, an active BBG, had registered for BBYO March of the Living, and the group needed a Holocaust survivor to accompany the teens. Trudy volunteered. She returned for the next seven years, guiding teens through the barracks at Birkenau where she had suffered as a child, recounting the unthinkable details of Nazi cruelty that she had endured.
Initially reluctant to re-open the painful wounds of the Holocaust – but with a deep belief that teens needed to hear from survivors directly – Trudy dedicated the past 20+ years of her life to sharing her story and reflections with the BBYO community. Through her firsthand testimony, she helped generations of teens understand not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the human consequences of hatred, intolerance, and indifference.
With humor, quick wit, and warmth, Trudy mentored generations of BBYO teens over twenty years, answering their questions, sharing her experiences, providing advice and friendship, and helping them understand the responsibility they carried to “never forget.” She transformed the painful memories of her youth into powerful lessons for the future.
Trudy’s life was defined not by what she had lost, but by everything she built, nurtured, and gave to others. She exemplified resilience, courage, and the power of turning unimaginable tragedy into a meaningful legacy. She had her Holocaust tattoo removed, because seeing it evoked too many memories of loss and suffering. She reflected, “Although the number is no longer on my arm, it is still engraved on my heart.” She carried that history with her, transforming unimaginable pain into a lifelong commitment to education, remembrance, and the celebration of life.
May her memory forever be a blessing.