Elizabeth Kong

Who is Elizabeth Kong?

Elizabeth is the daughter of Nanette Blitz Konig, Dutch Jewish survivor of the Holocaust and schoolmate of Anne Frank. Elizabeth, her husband and two children have lived in several different places around the world, including Sao Paulo, Brazil, Zurich, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Midland, Michigan and Chicago. Her global perspective and Holocaust heritage are her source of motivation to actively promote education in tolerance between different cultures and religions.Elizabeth has been actively involved in Jewish and non-Jewish organizations around the world. Some of the organizations in which she participated include: The National Foundation for Jewish Culture, The International Women’s Club, The American Women’s Club, Women’s International Zionist Organization, and the Jewish Women’s Historical Society of Hong Kong, which she founded.Elizabeth was awarded a trophy from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, an organization that helps shape Jewish Culture in America through the arts. This gift was in recognition of her tremendous work in organizing a screening of the “Anne Frank: The Biography” miniseries, based on “The Biography of Anne Frank” by Melissa Mueller, at ABC studios in Chicago before it was nationally aired to the public. At this event, her mother, Nanette, one of the last to see Anne in Bergen Belsen, spoke about her war and concentration camp experience and life in Amsterdam where her father was a widely known banker at the then Amsterdamsche Bank, today ABN AMRO Bank. The film’s director, Robert Dornhelm, scriptwriter, Kirk Ellis, Tatjiana Blacher, actress who played the role of Edith Frank (Anne’s mother), and Melissa Mueller, all came to support the efforts on teaching about the Holocaust and the need for tolerance. A panel discussion was held with a group of Chicago Public School students, and a signed copy of Melissa’s book was donated to all the Chicago Public School libraries.