Judith Meisel, a long-time Santa Barbara educator, civil rights activist and Holocaust survivor — who spent much of her life retelling her harrowing story in hopes of improving the world — died Nov. 3, 2020, at her home in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. She was 91.
Born Judith Beker Cohen on Feb. 7, 1929 to Mina and Osser Beker in Lithuania, Meisel survived the Holocaust in the Kovno ghetto and later the Stutthoff concentration camp, where her mother died in the gas chamber. Meisel and her sister, Rachel, escaped during a death march in 1945 as the Russians advanced toward the camp.
Meisel was 16 when she was liberated in Denmark. More than 75 years later, she provided key witness testimony in recent German indictments and trials of SS guards from Stutthoff.
Meisel’s story is included in Portraits of Survival – Life Journeys During the Holocaust and Beyond, a permanent exhibit at the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara.
Her life story as a Holocaust survivor, educator, speaker and activist also was chronicled in a book and subsequent documentary film Tak for Alt — Survival of a Human Spirit.
“One hundred and forty-six members of my family in Lithuania did not survive (the Holocaust), Meisel wrote in her Portraits of Survival autobiography. “They were all shot in a mass grave.”
As a result of her horrific experiences with prejudice and hostility during World War II, “Meisel was steadfast and outspoken in her pursuit of justice, sharing her story as a lesson to fight hatred, bigotry and indifference,” her obituary states.
“I hate hate,” she was often quoted as saying.
“I spend much of my time now going to high schools, colleges and teacher-training seminars all over the country where I show the documentary about my life, Tak for Alt, Meisel wrote for Portraits of Survival. “I speak in memory of those who did not survive.
“What I went through during the Holocaust empowered me do something to make the world better.”
In 1949, Meisel traveled by ship to Canada, and later moved to Philadelphia, before coming to Santa Barbara.
“I became deeply involved in the civil rights movement in the U.S. after watching on TV a mob of people taunting an African-American couple who in 1961 had moved into Folcroft, an all-white blue-collar neighborhood (in Delaware County, Pennsylvania),“ Meisel wrote in Portraits of Survival.
“I participated in and helped to organize the March on Washington, at which time I met and spoke with Dr. Martin Luther King,” she said.
In 2008, Meisel was recognized by Santa Barbara’s Congregation B’nai B’rith for her 20 years of contributions to the Beit HaYeladim preschool, the first Jewish preschool in Santa Barbara. She earned her degree in early childhood education from Temple University in Philadelphia.
On her 85th birthday, the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara honored Meisel by creating a scholarship in her name.
Meisel, who in 2014 moved to Minneapolis from Santa Barbara to be near her son, received the FBI Minneapolis Division’s 2018 Director’s Community Leadership Award.
Contacted by the FBI on behalf of German authorities in 2017, Meisel had offered her eyewitness testimony about the guards from Stutthof concentration camp.
Every year, each of the 56 FBI divisions around the country honors someone who has demonstrated outstanding contributions to his or her community through service.
“Ms. Meisel’s cooperation and involvement with the FBI and other law enforcement partners has been extraordinary and significant,” the Minneapolis FBI Division stated.
There will be a private graveside service due to COVID-19, with a larger memorial tribute post-pandemic. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Judy Project on her website, which will continue to share her story. Click here to make an online donation.
Contributions also can be made to the Anti-Defamation League of Santa Barbara, where Meisel was a lifelong supporter, or to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
— Marcia Heller is a Noozhawk copy editor.