Ginette Ashkenazy, born in Sofia, Bulgaria survived as a child the prosecution of the Jews by the Nazis and the dictatorship of communism. As a teenager she decided not to consider herself any more a victim and she went to work in a bookshop to support her independence. Then she succeeded in escaping to Israel, where she found it difficult to balance the old and the new world. Finally she moved to England, where she met Josh Kutchinsky, whom she married. I met them at the world conference of the International Ethical and Humanist Association (IEHUA) at Oxford in 2014, where they introduced me to Kato Mukasa, chairman of the Uganda Humanist Association IEHUA and moderator of the HUMMAY humanist support network for sub-Sahara (black) Africa. We became friends and I am pleased to be able to support HUMMAY.
Ginette told de story of her youth in Thracian Princess. Portrait of a women in extraordinary times, 2009. Once she discovered her independence she started to paint and make sculptures. I bought Encounters, oil on wood, in 2015. The painting epitomizes the humanist spirit.