Out of Broken Glass

Born in Germany, Sel Hubert's tranquil childhood was shattered by the Nazis during Kristallnacht, expulsion from his village and separation from his parents at age 13. He escaped to England on the Kindertransport, lived briefly with a Jewish family, then a Christian couple and in a hostel before joining relatives in New York in 1945. After years of anguish, he received conflicting reports on how his parents perished in the Holocaust. Sel served as sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps and earned engineering degrees from CCNY and Columbia University. He joined ITT management at its New York and then European headquarters where he dealt with unique professional and personal challenges, especially in Germany. Back in the U.S., he grew professionally, taught graduate courses for Adelphi University and served as president of his congregation. He ended his distinguished career in human resources as senior consultant with Hewitt Associates. Sel attended the 1981 reunion of Holocaust survivors in Jerusalem and later was invited as "guest of honor" to his Bavarian birth village where he spoke and recited Kaddish for his parents in public during a solemn ecumenical worship service, with surprising results. He and Hilda, married 46 years, have two grown children and five grandchildren. He is a Board member of the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center, is featured in two educational films on the Holocaust and is a sought-after speaker at schools and colleges.