Jean Hoff­mann Lewan­da was born in NYC in 1954, short­ly after her par­ents arrived in Amer­i­ca. Wit­ness to His­to­ry: From Vien­na to Shang­hai, her dad’s mem­oir, was released in 2021. Sha­la­ma: My 96 Sea­sons in Chi­na high­lights her mom’s Jew­ish Russ­ian com­mu­ni­ty in Chi­na. Retired from teach­ing, Jean research­es Jews in Chi­na and par­tic­i­pates in Holo­caust programs.