Tribute to a Survivor
Photo HarperCollins

Tribute to a Survivor

She’d hide behind

a new identity — that was it.

She wouldn’t be Zhanna.

She’d use an alias.

She’d drop the Zh from her name

become Anna —

smaller, plainer,

more able to blend in.

She’d begin again.

A for Anna.

A for alive.

 

In 1941, Nazi Germany launched a surprise invasion of the U.S.S.R., bombing buildings, executing political prisoners, and causing a mass exodus of Ukrainian evacuees who fled for refugee camps for the remainder of Germany’s occupation and the duration of World War II. Among the survivors was American journalist Greg Dawson’s mother, Zhanna Arshanskaya Dawson, who as a child was able to hide her Jewish identity and wound up as a piano performer in a German variety act. She and her sister were eventually rescued by a U.S. Army Lieutenant and she was enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. This stranger-than-fiction story was turned into a lyrical nonfiction story-in-verse for children by Greg Dawson and author Susan Hood with “Alias Anna: A True Story About Outwitting the Nazis” published last year by HarperCollins.

On Sunday, July 16, Greg and his wife Candy Dawson will appear at Music Mountain in a pre-performance talk before The Chamber Music Sunday concert to discuss the life of Zhanna Dawson, who often played at Music Mountain in the 1950s and 60s. This will be followed by a concert Penderecki String Quartet with pianist Anya Alexeyev performing selections by Johann Sebastian Bach, Béla Bartók, who protested against the Nazis in Hungary, and Erwin Schulhoff, a Jewish composer who was blacklisted during World War II.

Latest News

Copake’s PICKLEMANIA tournament scores 2nd year

Sixty-four pickleball players from the the Tri-state region competed in an all-day tournament in Copake on Sunday, June 1.

Photo by John Coston

COPAKE — After a day of heavy rain that forced the cancellation of the second annual Copake PICKLEMANIA pickleball tournament, the games were back on Sunday, June 1, at Copake Memorial Park.


Keep ReadingShow less
Burial ground Mass at St. Patrick’s

Mass celebrating Feast of the Ascension was held May 29 at St. Patrick’s Church.

Photo By Christine Bates

MILLERTON — The sun broke through on a cloudy evening at 5:30 and a bagpiper played for a Mass celebrating the Feast of the Ascension in the graveyard of closed St. Patrick’s Church in Millerton on May 29.

The cars of about 50 former parishioners and town residents were parked on the side streets and lot across from the church. Some were clever enough to bring their own folding chairs.

Keep ReadingShow less
School budgets pass amid strong turnout in May 20 polling

With robust voter turnout throughout the region, proposed 2025-26 education budgets passed handily, along with their additional propositions, in the polling held on Tuesday, May 20.

Webutuck Central School District

By a margin of 173 to 103, voters approved the 2025-26 budget totaling $28,665,850, an increase of 5.96% over the current year. After expected revenues are factored in, the amount to be raised by local taxes is $19,403,307, a 5.27% increase over the current year.

Keep ReadingShow less
Amenia gathers at Fountain Square

A traditional Memorial Day observance to honor the fallen was held Fountain Square on Monday, May 26. The ceremony included an Honor Guard from the Wassaic Fire Company standing by the Veterans’ Memorial Wall.

Photo by Leila Hawken

AMENIA — The community gathered at Fountain Square under sunny skies on Monday, May 26, for a Memorial Day ceremony to honor the fallen who bravely served their country. Remembrances, tributes, prayers and music combined to create the fitting annual tribute.

An Honor Guard from VFW Post #5444 of Dover Plains presented the colors at the start of the ceremony that began promptly at 11 a.m. with a welcome from VFW Commander Nick Woodard to the more than 100 who had gathered.

Keep ReadingShow less