Nelly S. Toll (1932–2021)

Nelly S. Toll, née Mieses, was born to an affluent Jewish family in Lwow (Lviv), Poland. She was a child during Nazi Germany's invasion and occupation of the country in World War II. Her father, five-year-old brother, and other relatives disappeared — presumably murdered. Nelly spent 1943-1944 with her mother Rozia in hiding in a small secret room in the apartment of Polish Catholics. Her mother encouraged her to paint, write stories, and keep a diary. They survived the war, and stayed in Europe for several years while Nelly studied art. Then they emigrated to the USA. Nelly married Ervin Toll, an accountant, with whom she had two children. She earned a bachelor’s degree and teacher and guidance counselor certifications from Rowan University, a master’s degree in education from Rutgers University, and, at age 67, a doctorate in reading, writing, and literacy from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Toll worked as an elementary school teacher, guidance counselor, and adjunct professor at Drexel University, Rutgers, and Penn. Her diary was published in 1993 as a memoir, Behind the Secret Window, illustrated with her own watercolors, and later adapted into a play. She also published When Memory Speaks: The Holocaust in Art (1998), and Without Surrender: Art of the Holocaust (1978). Her artwork, to which she added for the rest of her life, was displayed around the world, including at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, and the German Historical Museum in Berlin.