The Briefcase: The Story of the 222 Transport Holocaust Survivors

Program Type:

Lecture

Age Group:

Adults
  • Registration is required for this event.
  • Registration will close on April 15, 2026 @ 7:00pm.

Program Description

Event Details

Discover a powerful and little-known story of survival and resilience. In this moving, storytelling-based presentation, Monika Jalili shares her family’s firsthand experience as part of the 222 Transport, a rare prisoner exchange that freed inmates from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and Westerbork transit camp during World War II. 

Blending historical context with personal narrative and archival images, this talk illuminates a little-known chapter of the Holocaust while exploring survival, displacement, and the lasting effects of trauma across generations, offering a story that fosters empathy, connection, and hope.

About the Presenter 

Monika Jalili (born Bergenthal) was born and raised in New York City, and is a first-generation American on her father’s side and second-generation on her mother’s side, and is also a Dutch citizen. She’s a musician specializing in Persian music, a French educator, and editor, currently based in Montpellier, France. 

Need to Know

Reminder: Evening Parking

Parking is available in Darien Library's parking lot. If the lot is full, there may be parking available behind Nielsen's on Thorndal Circle (view parking map).

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