Internationally known photojournalist and writer B.A. Van Sise traveled the United States for four years documenting the lives of more than 150 Holocaust survivors with the aim of highlighting their individual experiences and the paths they forged in their new country after World War II.

“No matter how it might seem,” he writes, “this is not a book about the Holocaust. This is a story of overcoming.” Van Sise – joined by Holocaust survivor Allan J. Hall and the Library’s Kaite Stover – discusses what that means and how he worked with his subjects to reflect their “overcoming.”


The event coincides with the exhibition Invited to Life on display at the Central Library through October 21, 2023. Featuring selected black-and-white portraits from the 90-photograph, four-essay book Invited to Life: Finding Hope After the Holocaust. The portraits were originally shown at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City and are now featured in Kansas City for the first time.