Who Is Esther

On October 14, 1943, Esther Tenner and the other six-hundred inmates of Sobibor, a secret Nazi death camp in eastern Poland, revolted. She dodged bullets and ran past exploding mines until she reached the edge of the forest surrounding Sobibor. For the next year, she was forced to remain in hiding because anti-Semitic Polish partisans roamed the forest and most of the local peasants weren’t sympathetic to the plight of the escapees. By the time the Red Army reached eastern Poland, only forty-eight Sobibor escapees, including Esther had survived the war.

Sobibor Survivors

During her interment in Sobibor, Esther pledged that if she endured the ordeal she would be the voice of the martyred victims who couldn’t speak for themselves. She kept the promise and shared her brutal story with frank honesty with school children. It was never easy for her to talk about her war experiences. For Esther, speaking about the past meant she had to re-live and re-endure all those awful moments all over again, but she was propelled forward by the belief intolerance and hatred could be transformed into hope and love by sharing.

School children were so affected by Esther’s story that more than a thousand wrote to her, sharing their own hardships, griefs, concerns and compassion through letters, poems and drawings. Esther was overwhelmed by the response, and dedicated herself to responding to each and every difficult question posed.

Esther Raab speaking to a boy after her presentation.

In 1997, Richard Rashke wove the letters into a poignant play, Dear Esther, which explores issues of death, belief in God, revenge, hatred, justice, luck, guilt and memory. Dear Esther premiered in 1998 at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and since then, it has been produced in over 200 theatres and schools, and it has touched more than 100,000 children.  At the Godwin Holocaust Museum and Education Center (GHMEC) alone, it is estimated that 50,000 students have been reached. But this isn’t enough.