Gilda Zirinsky Visits Glen Head School to Tell Her Story of Survival - Emphasizing Kindness and Tolerance

On Friday, January 5, 2024, Gilda Zirinsky visited Glen Head School and told her story of survival to older students, faculty, and staff. She was born in Belgium in 1935 and with her family was forced to leave behind the lives that they had worked hard to create and love, when she was only four years old. She could still remember the sounds of enemy planes flying overhead, as she sat terrified in her home. She is now in her late eighties.

When asked, “What is the most important message you want the children to learn from your story?” She said in her soft-spoken voice, “Be tolerant to one another because we all come from different backgrounds, and we should be kind to one another. And understand that everyone came from a different situation, and everyone is fearful of what happened before… It’s so important to remember that everyone has a story, and everyone has baggage, as they say. I was able to deal with it...If you take any message from here today, it is remember to be kind and be tolerant.”

Gilda Zirinsky explained to the Glen Head students that her Jewish family (consisting of at least 14 people) was forced to leave Belgium. They quickly packed a small bag each and left their kitten behind while desperately trying to seek refuge in neighboring countries to escape persecution by the Nazis. She told her story of survival as her father and male cousins were left to fight against the Germans while her mother, siblings, and cousins boarded trains to stay alive. Often the weather was cold, and they were hungry as they slept on floors unable to return home.

Remarkably, Gilda’s mother found her father at a train station and her family with many other Jewish people eventually were able to board a cargo ship filled with bananas to flee Europe. The heroic Captain discreetly took the people to Portugal where Gilda and her family were then able to board another ship to find a safe haven in Morocco. There she lived and attended school in Casablanca. Ultimately, two years later she was able to  
go to the United States.

Thank you to Gilda Zirinsky and the Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center for sharing this important story of survival, kindness, and tolerance to the students of Glen Head School. She has written her story into a children’s book for others to hear which will be available later this year. It is titled, “I Went to Kindergarten in Casablanca.”   

Article and photos by Shelly Newman with assistance from the biography of Gilda Zirinsky.