Hephzibah Rudofsky (Kohn)

Hephzibah Rudofsky is a Holocaust educator, public speaker, and custodian of her family’s Holocaust archive who has dedicated more than two decades to education and remembrance. As the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, she is committed to ensuring that personal testimony continues to connect new generations with one of history’s most profound and enduring human stories.

Her work in Holocaust education began in educational theatre, bringing powerful, story-led learning into schools and prisons across the UK. Building on this experience, she collaborated closely with her mother, Lady Zahava Kohn, to create ’Surviving the Holocaust’, an educational programme based on Zahava and her family’s wartime experiences.

Since 2009, Hephzibah has delivered Surviving the Holocaust to hundreds of schools, reaching more than 50,000 pupils, as well as university and adult audiences across the UK, Germany, and the United States. Through testimony, storytelling, and historical artefacts, she creates deeply personal encounters with history, bringing a personal perspective to events and making them accessible and relatable for students, while encouraging reflection, engagement, and deeper understanding.

As custodian of an extensive family archive, Hephzibah preserves and shares letters, photographs, documents, and artefacts collected by her grandmother during and after imprisonment in Westerbork, Bergen-Belsen, and Biberach camps. These objects offer a rare and tangible connection to individual experiences of persecution, survival, and resilience, creating a personal record of history across generations.

Following Lady Zahava Kohn’s passing in 2022, Hephzibah assumed responsibility for carrying forward and safeguarding her mother’s remarkable story, ensuring its messages of remembrance, resilience, and hope continue to reach future generations.

Her work has received national recognition. In 2015, she appeared on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour' and was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. In 2019, she received the Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award for her contribution to Holocaust education, and she is a regular speaker for 'Speakers for Schools’.