Faith After Auschwitz: How Descendants Relate to Religion

Faith can be a source of comfort, but it can also be deeply challenged by trauma. In this episode of Chosen For What?, host Tommy Schnurmacher explores how the Holocaust reshaped the relationship between faith, identity, and belief for survivors and their descendants. The conversation looks at how people make sense of suffering, and how religion can both anchor and unsettle those navigating the legacy of unimaginable loss.

Rabbi Lisa Grushcow shares her perspective on how descendants of Holocaust survivors engage with questions of faith, spirituality, and moral meaning today. Her insights highlight the complexity of belief in a post-Holocaust world, where faith is not always straightforward and can evolve over time.

This episode also features Stacy Seltzer, a third-generation descendant of survivors, who reflects on how two members of the same family can emerge from the same experience with two completely different relationships to religion.

The conversation extends beyond faith itself to the role of community, memory, and shared experience. Shoshana Cenker recounts her participation in the March of the Living and the impact of connecting that experience back to her grandparents.

Together, these stories explore how Holocaust memory continues to shape Jewish identity, how people reconcile belief and doubt, and why these conversations remain relevant for future generations.

Chosen For What? is brought to you by the Foundation for Genocide Education, a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that every student understands the history and lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides. To learn more about their work, or to make a donation, please visit GenEd.org.

*Note: You will hear the terms 2G and 3G used frequently in this podcast. This refers to second-generation and third-generation descendants of Holocaust survivors.