A Pittsburgh woman is fulfilling her father’s wish by sharing the story of how he survived the Holocaust and came to America.

Lee Goldman Kikel presented on her 2019 memoir, “Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor’s Journey From Poland to America,” at the Butler Area Public Library on Wednesday evening, April 29.

The memoir follows the story of Kikel’s father, Melvin Goldman, from his prewar childhood in Poland to his experience during the Holocaust and life after the war in Pittsburgh.

Kikel’s presentation is part of a larger library initiative, “Between Two Worlds,” in collaboration with the Yiddish Book Center’s Public Libraries Program.

Throughout the year, the library has and will be hosting reading groups, presentations and other programs exploring the role of literature in conversations about religion, assimilation, identity and immigration.

Kikel was able to immortalize her father’s life story thanks to a number of audio cassettes he recorded in his mid-50s.

“It wasn’t until fairly recently that I realized how significant it is that my father recorded his story on his own initiative, and in the late 1970s. My father simply ‘talked to his tape recorder’ in snippets, when he had free moments at his (Pittsburgh) jewelry store, with no one asking questions for clarification or to shape his narrative. He worked alone,” Kikel wrote on her website.

On the recordings, Goldman told Kikel that he wanted his story turned into a book so “(people) can understand the inhumanity from man to man, what can happen when a people, no matter what race, is pointed out for religious, racial or ethnic discrimination, humiliation or persecution — and even annihilation.”

She said her father was born in 1923 in Łódź, Poland.

“The family had been in Poland for over 400 years. They lived a typical Jewish life in Łódź,” Kikel said.

She shared some photos from her father’s family at the time — including a number of uncles and aunts that she never got to meet. She said her great-aunt held on to these photos and returned them to Goldman after the war.

“When she found out that my dad was alive, she sent him the pictures. Otherwise, I would not know what any of my family looks like,” she said.

While Goldman faced antisemitism throughout his childhood, it began to boil over in the year leading up to the German invasion of Poland in 1939. When the Nazis arrived in Łódź, they turned an area of the city — including the Goldman residence — into the Łódź Ghetto.

“The Goldmans remained in their house after the Nazis looted and stole most of the contents,” Kikel said. “At that point, transports were sending people out, bringing people in and constantly, conditions worsened.”

Life at this time turned into a battle for survival. Jewish people were given no education, no medicine and little food. Every Jewish person was forced to wear a star patch and was not allowed to speak to anyone outside the ghetto.

Kikel said her father was just 16 at the time.

“I like to ask people if you can think about what you were doing when you were 16. I was attending high school and happily learning how to drive. My father, on the other hand, was making belt buckles and metal containers for hand warmers for the Nazis,” she said.

In 1944, the Łódź Ghetto was liquidated, and the populous was moved to concentration camps. The Goldman family was moved to Auschwitz.

“(Melvin) and his brother were sent one way, and the rest of the family the other way. That was the very last time my dad ever saw his family,” Kikel said.

During his time, Goldman faced beatings, dysentery and “sheer terror,” she said. He was eventually separated from his brother, leaving him entirely alone.

But in 1945, while he was being moved to Ravensbrück, he was rescued by the Allies. He was 21 at the time.

Recovery was hard, and doctors initially told him he may never walk again. However, he recovered and went on to work with orphaned children before emigrating to the United States and moving into Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

Kikel said with antisemitism continually rising, her father’s story is “just as important now as it was right after the war.” Despite losing his family and nearly losing his life, she said he never once stopped persevering.

Those interested any event in the “Between Two Worlds” program can find more details at www.butlerlibrary.info/between-two-worlds. More information on Kikel and her memoir can be found at www.leekikel.com.