The Stephen Nasser Papers (1992-2018) mainly contain letters written from school children to Nasser who travels to schools, churches, and organizations around Las Vegas, Nevada to share his story of surviving the Holocaust during World War II. Materials in this collection document his captivity in various prison camps and includes photographs, awards, and newspaper clippings. Also included are speeches given by Nasser and book reviews and a teacher's guide of his book My Brother's Voice written by students of Dixie College, St. George, Utah. This collection includes a copy of Pista, a documentary film profiling Nasser's life. The collection also includes a script, flyer, and newspaper clippings about the stageplay (Not Yet Pista) adaptation of the documentary.
Oral history interview with Stephen Nasser conducted by Barbara Tabach on January 17, 2018 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Nasser discusses being whisked away with his brother from their Hungarian home and sentenced to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland at the age of 13. He also talks about moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1993; and being an international speaker, author, and educator on the Holocaust.
At the age of thirteen, the incredible life journey of Stephen “Pista” Nasser (b. 1931 - ) is preserved in his heart. His ordeal begins when his family are ripped from their home to be interred in a Nazi concentration camp in 1944. Fifty years later, he sits in his Las Vegas home and reflects on his calling to write and speak about his survival and losses. His ordeal is preserved in his book My Brother’s Voice (2013) and in his follow up stage production Not Now Pista. He is also the author of a companion memoir, Journey to Freedom. Stephen and his wife Francoise are tireless in their travels throughout the United States and the world. At the time of this 2018 oral history interview, Stephen had done over 1092 presentations about his harrowing life story to thousands of people of all ages and denominations. Each presentation fills a spot in his heart as he honors his brother and reminds listeners that such devastating episode in history should not be forgotten, and should never occur again. The timing of this interview also coincided with the premiere of a 20-minute documentary based on his writings and the play production. It was shown at the 2018 Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival. Note: the photo above of Stephen and Francoise Nasser was taken shortly after this interview on their next cruise. (2018)
The Shoah Survivors Project Oral History Interviews (2020 October) consist of four oral history interviews conducted in October 2020 and a project video created for the Shoah Survivors Project led by Roberta Sabbath and Shahab Zargari. The project interviewed four Holocaust survivors now living in Las Vegas, Nevada: Alexander Keuchel, Sabina Wagschal Callwood, Stephen Nasser, and Henry Kronberg. The collection also contains brief notes and partial transcripts for the video oral history interviews.
Author, speaker, and Holocaust survivor Stephen Nasser was born in 1931 in Hungary. As a child he was known as Pista, which translates to Stephen in English. He and his family were forced into a ghetto in 1943. They were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau shortly after, where Nasser witnessed the murder of several relatives. He was liberated from a death train on April 30, 1945 by General Patton’s Third Army.