Jenna Polivy, a granddaughter of two Holocaust survivors, was fortunate enough to spend much of her childhood with her loving grandparents. Her grandmother, Dina, was on the second transport of Jewish women to Auschwitz, where she miraculously survived for over three years. Her grandfather, Elias, escaped from a Dutch labor camp and spent the war in his native Amsterdam under a false identity, narrowly escaping capture multiple times.

Jenna will focus on Grandma Dina's story. Grandma Dina preferred to discuss her idyllic childhood in Poland rather than her experiences during the war. Although Jenna knew that Grandma Dina had been in a concentration camp during the war, she didn't fully appreciate the horrors that Dina had to endure until she read a book (Rena’s Promise: A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz) authored by Grandma Dina's sister, and heard Grandma Dina’s video testimony, which Jenna discovered by chance during a visit to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.

Jenna Polivy

Jenna became a 3GNY speaker in 2016 to share the lessons she learned from her grandparents about resilience, perspective, the importance of family, and the significance of small acts of kindness.

Jenna lives in Manhattan with her husband, who is also a 3G. She has a B.A. from Hamilton College and a J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She is currently a Business Development Manager at a large law firm in Manhattan.