By Deb Silverthorn
March 12, 2026

Ann Tarkieltaub Stein lived almost all of her life keeping her story of surviving the Holocaust within. “Almost,” because late in life she wrote a letter to her granddaughters — a letter which, years later in the hands of the next generation, became the inspiration behind “Auntie Ann’s Letter,” a graphic memoir published by 17-year-old Sarah Moskowitz.

Thanks to Moskowitz, a senior at The Hockaday School, Stein’s story and — “Auntie Ann’s Letter” — will live on. The book traces Stein’s childhood in Poland — her family’s separation, work camps, Auschwitz, Dr. Mengele, beatings, grave digging, liberation by the Soviets — and the lifetime that followed. 

“I leaned into the letter and thought about what it could mean to my teachers and my peers. How much it could teach so many,” said the author. “In the back of my mind, I kept thinking it had to be more than my original project to do her justice,” said Moskowitz. 

She viewed it as more than an assignment: “an opportunity to make real-world impact.”

Stein ultimately lived in Dallas until she passed away in 1985. She was the wife of Jack Stein, whom she met at a train station in Poland. They reunited with Ann’s brother John, who had gone to Russia, and learned that her sister Hedy had met and married Fred Reisberg and moved to Dallas in the United States. Stein’s other brothers were lost during the war.

Sponsored to join them in America by the Reisbergs — Moskowitz’s great-grandparents — Stein and her husband built a life in Dallas. Jack Stein opened Jack’s Loans and she worked by his side. Although she did not reveal her story for years, she became a founder of the Dallas Holocaust Center when it was located at the Jewish Community Center.

They were the parents of Paul (formerly Eugene) Stein (Kathleen), Marilyn Levin (Leon), and Marty Stein; the grandparents of Rabbi Holly Levin Cohn and Tracy Mintz (Marc); and the great-grandparents of Jacob Cohn and Hilary and Averie Mintz.

During Moskowitz’s freshman year, an English class assignment was to create a family narrative and a podcast. Moskowitz had long known about the letter written to her second cousins Holly and Tracy nearly 40 years earlier.

“A year after I became a bat mitzvah, when my family was living in Okinawa, Japan, my grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer and she felt it was time to tell her story,” said Cohn, rabbi at Congregation Beth El Binah and hospice chaplain and bereavement coordinator for The Legacy at Home Hospice.

“I’ve been with Sarah along this journey and I’m very proud of her,” said Cohn, who has shared the letter and her grandparents’ story with many schools and groups. “She’s done so much family research and poured so much of herself into her work.”

Once Moskowitz’s school assignment was completed, she knew she was not finished with what she felt was a dedication to the family member she had never known. Taking the project further, she was determined to create a complete book.

The artist behind the book’s colorful illustrations is Yael Atzmon, also a comedienne and scriptwriter. Moskowitz’s parents and brother connected with Atzmon while on a trip to Israel. 

Atzmon lives in Tel Aviv. During their collaboration, she and Moskowitz discovered several unexpected connections. For example, Atzmon’s grandmother, Sara Atzmon, was also a Holocaust survivor who only shared her story after being treated for breast cancer.

“My grandmother, from Hungary, survived Bergen-Belsen and a death march. Safta Sara is the one who taught me to paint, and it’s through art that we told her story in our book ‘Despite it All, I Won,’” said Atzmon, noting the book is currently available only in Hebrew and German. “Through art, it’s an honor for me to help Sarah tell Auntie Ann’s story.”

“The process wasn’t easy because I wanted it to be realistic and true to fact, but not too visually horrific even though of course the history is very scary,” she said. “These are terribly difficult facts and issues, some very violent, but we were able to portray Ann and her experience through Sarah’s beautiful writing of the story and also, I believe, my understanding through my painting.”

Moskowitz’s words, concept and design, combined with Atzmon’s art and — on page 33 — a QR code allowing readers to hear Stein’s voice singing, something she would not surrender in the camp, create a powerful experience.

Atzmon came to Dallas to support Moskowitz through a mini book tour. The duo appeared at Bird’s Bookstore, with Congregation Shearith Israel’s Sisterhood, Texas Hillel at The University of Texas at Austin and, by Zoom, spoke to congregants of Congregation Beth El Binah.

Due to the January 2026 ice storms, Atzmon took a short leave to return to Israel — by way of Germany, where she was presenting the book she wrote with her grandmother.

“It was a packed and exciting week,” Moskowitz said. “We read the letter, we shared about the process of putting the book together, told our stories and I look forward to continuing to do so.”

Moskowitz, the daughter of Erika Bruce and Gary Moskowitz and the sister of Zachary, was raised at Temple Emanu-El and now Congregation Shearith Israel. President of Hockaday’s Social Impact Board and a member of her school’s Jewish Student Union, she is also an athlete on the school’s varsity softball team.

She serves on the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum’s Junior Board, volunteers as a tutor at Anne Frank and Tom C. Gooch elementary schools and plans to attend Dartmouth College in the fall.

“I hope by sharing Auntie Ann’s story, and what we’ve done with it, people will be inspired to tell their own stories,” said Moskowitz, whose book is available at Bird’s Bookstore, on Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com. “Not just of the Holocaust but all of our histories through our generations so that they can be lasting, appreciated and honored.”