By Kevin Greer
Lakeside Communications Manager
Holocaust survivor Irene Miller will visit Lakeside for the first time when she presents a lecture about her horrific experiences during one the darkest times in history. She will speak in Orchestra Hall as part of the Chautauqua Lecture Series “Women to Revere” Week on Thursday, July 24 at 3:30 p.m.
“I want every seat to be taken,” Miller said.
Miller has been touring the country doing speaking engagements since the release of her powerful 2012 book, Into No Man’s Land: A Historical Memoir, published by the University of Michigan. The book is a firsthand account of survival told through the eyes of a young Jewish girl. Miller’s story is unique because she and her family stayed alive by fleeing eastward across war-torn Europe.
“I survived very different circumstances in different places,” Miller said. “I’ll explain what happened in Germany during the Holocaust, how it evolved and what we can learn from it.”
Born in Warsaw, Poland, Miller was just a child when the Nazis invaded in 1939. Her family narrowly escaped the Warsaw Ghetto by fleeing to the Soviet-occupied eastern part of Poland. However, they were eventually arrested by Soviet authorities as “foreign elements” and deported in cattle cars to Siberia, where they endured brutal cold, forced labor and lived in a tiny hut without heat or sufficient food.
Miller’s survival depended on resilience, cleverness and her parents’ desperate efforts to keep the family together. After Stalin allowed Polish citizens to leave the Soviet Union to join the newly formed Polish army in exile, the family made a dangerous journey south to Uzbekistan, where they faced more hardships, including disease and poverty.
Throughout her harrowing journey, Miller’s determination and ability to adapt in the face of unimaginable conditions were key to her survival. After the war, she spent years as a refugee before eventually emigrating to the United States, where she built a new life.
After moving to the U.S., Miller earned a bachelor’s in psychology and master’s in social psychology from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA with a major in hospital management from Xavier University. She also received an honorary doctorate from Oakland University during the school’s 2025 spring commencement ceremony. Miller is a retired healthcare executive who held positions as a hospital administrator, planner and developer.
Miller has resided in the Detroit area since 1971. Over the last 13 years, she has been a highly sought-after speaker in the U.S. and Canada at labor unions, churches, schools, universities, theaters and the NASA Space Center. She said it’s not therapeutic for her speak about her horrendous and terrifying experiences. She feels it’s a moral obligation to help people understand what went on and to learn from it.
“In order for us to prevent such horrors from happening again, we need to teach what happened,” Miller said. “We need to teach what hate and prejudice did and what hate and prejudice can do again.”
