Karen Kirsten
Holocaust Educator and Award-winning Author

Karen Kirsten grew up among refugees who didn’t want to talk about the past. Her mother and grandparents, Holocaust survivors, silenced her questions about extermination camps.

After she discovered the grandmother she loved was in fact her mother’s aunt, Karen’s understanding of family was turned upside down. Determined to understand the generational trauma that cloaked her family in silence, and to help heal her mother’s pain, Karen meticulously reconstructed an extraordinary saga. Her family members had shared stories of the glittering days of pre-war Poland. They were more reluctant to talk about confinement in the Warsaw Ghetto, Auschwitz and Dachau, and the murder of their loved ones.

After several research trips to Poland, Karen reunited her mother with the heroes who had hidden her as a child, and then facilitated awarding them Righteous Among The Nations medals. She also uncovered love and betrayal, countless brushes with death, and her grandmother’s astounding negotiation with an SS officer who saved her mother’s life.

The millions killed during the Holocaust are hard numbers to grasp––as is the fact there are around 43 million refugees in the world today. Karen’s work brings to life individual stories that offer a connection to impersonal statistics.

Her riveting and emotional talk can complement an introduction to Holocaust education, or offer a much needed starting point for conversations about the complicated, multi-faceted truths behind human behavior, moral courage, and the power of empathy to bridge divides.

Bio

A former business executive, Karen Kirsten is an Australian-American author and Holocaust educator who speaks around the world on the topics of hate and reconciliation. Karen’s essay “Searching for the Nazi Who Saved My Mother’s Life” was selected by Narratively as one of their Best Ever stories and nominated for The Best American Essays. Irena’s Gift (Citadel 2024), is a 2025 National Jewish Book Award finalist and winner of two Zibby Awards. It was described by Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks as, “a disturbing investigation into the power of secrets to harm and to haunt.” Karen’s writing has also appeared in Salon.com, Huffington Post, The Week, The Jerusalem Post, WIĘŹ in Poland, Boston’s National Public Radio station, The Boston Herald, The Christian Post, The Sydney Morning Herald and more. Karen has lived in five countries across 3 continents and now calls MA, USA home.

Speaking Topics

Navigating nuance: Reckoning with complexities of history, identity & human behavior

Karen Kirsten grew up among refugees who didn’t want to talk about the past. Determined to understand the generational trauma that cloaked her family in silence, and to help heal her mother’s pain, Karen meticulously reconstructed an extraordinary saga. After several research trips to Poland, her mother with the heroes who had hidden her as a child, and then facilitated awarding them Righteous Among The Nations medals.

She also uncovered love and betrayal, countless brushes with death, and her grandmother’s astounding negotiation with an SS officer who saved grandmother’s astounding negotiation with an SS officer who saved her mother’s life. The millions killed during the Holocaust are hard numbers to grasp––as is the fact there are around 43 million refugees in the world today.

Karen’s work brings to life individual stories that offer a connection to impersonal statistics. Her riveting and emotional talk can complement an introduction to Holocaust education, or offer a much needed starting point for conversations about the complicated, multi-faceted truths behind human behavior, moral courage, and the power of empathy to bridge divides.

The Power of Story: Moving Beyond Binaries

This session will explore how to use personal stories to illuminate the complexities of history, identity, and human behavior. By focusing on connecting through empathy and non-binary thinking, participants will examine how individual narratives—whether historical or contemporary—can ignite curiosity, help us process the past and present, and challenge binary constructs that reduce human experience and events to simple categories. Through interactive reflection and discussion, attendees will leave with practical strategies for fostering deeper understanding and more nuanced conversations in classrooms.

How to help students transform history and family origin stories into compelling narratives that catch reader’s imaginations

How can we help students bring true stories to life in regions where most families have been impacted by war and political upheaval, especially if students weren’t present or living when those events occurred? What if those personal stories are a thread in a larger history? And what if there are gaps and discrepancies between history and the versions student’s families have told them or kept secret? In this workshop, Karen how to construct vivid scenes from archival material such as old film footage, letters, photographs and diaries. You will also learn how to insert fictionalized moments into scenes to address the ‘gaps’ without compromising history.