Geoffrey Buck: West Hollywood’s Own Leopoldstadt Story, Secrets Revealed – A Personal Reflection on a History Uncovered

With meticulous detective work, Geoffrey Buck discovered his Jewish roots after finding documents about his father Harry Buck.  West Hollywood is home to its own real-life version of “Leopoldstadt”, and that story will be told by Geoffrey Buck, son of a Viennese survivor of the Holocaust, whose own life reflected the arguments played on in  the stage version by Tom Stoppard.   Buck will explore the secrets that survivors of the Holocaust in his own family kept from their children. Why did some hide their Jewish roots even for decades after Hitler was in the dust of history?  Buck will present actual historical documents from Nazi Germany, the Israelitsche Kultusgemeinde (Jewish Community) in Vienna and the City Archives of Antwerp to tell his family’s story.

Biography:
Geoffrey Buck, a member of Hollywood Temple Beth El, has served for many years as a math teacher at Hollywood High School.
Like the late Madelaine Albright and others, Buck discovered his Jewish heritage only as an adult. With meticulous detective work, he discovered his Jewish roots after finding documents about his father Harry Buck.

*There is ample free street parking on Sunday on surrounding streets.  Limited handicap parking is available in the rear of the synagogue.  If you need to park in the synagogue parking lot, please let us know RSVP. The entrance to the synagogue is from the alley behind the building. Ring the buzzer on the parking lot gate.