What is your connection to the Holocaust?

First of all, we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who either attend or helped with the luncheon yesterday!  It was a great success!

At our luncheon, we asked people to write down how they were connected to the Holocaust.  Below are just a few of the many diverse responses we received:

• My husband lost his entire family in the Holocaust.  I now help him tell the history of who and how this happened -- to educate the generations.
• I studied the Holocaust with my students.  I am drawn, with empathy and compassion, to that time.
• I have several friends whose families were living during the Holocaust.  My friend, George, left Czech. in 1939 and is here today.
• I get to work firsthand with the Speakers Bureau at the Holocaust
• I can think of 6 x 10^6 reasons...
• My Aunt Rivka Almeleh Avzavadel, sister of my father, "Pinky" Pirikas Almeleh, was taken by the Nazis from "Rhodos" -- the Island of Rhodes in the Greek Isles, in 1944.  I never knew my Aunt.
• Many were left behind.  I am grateful to be alive and to tell the story of my brave ancestors.  Both of my parents escaped, searately, and came to the US in 1938 from Germany.
• My grandmother's family, from Poland, were killed, as were my grandfather's parents. My husband also lost many family members.
• I am a survivor
• My mother, uncle, and grandmother were members of la Resistance in Paris and rescuers..
• I was a student of the Holocaust, and today I teach my students about this history.
• My father was in the Norwegian Resistance movement working to help Jews across to Sweden when the Nazis took over his country.
• I am a Jew and a human being
• I donated through my youth Mitzfah fund because I felt that they don't teach this in school.
• Those who survived and those who didn't are in my heart
• I teach my MS students about genocide and the Holocaust. Then my students teach the world!
• I lead tours to Rwanda
• Both my parents survived
• I am on the Board of the Center, and work for equality in my workplace for people of all races, gender, religion, and other areas of diversity.
• I was touched by a speaker!

Tattooed Remembrance: "Proudly Bearing Elders' Scars, Their Skin Says 'Never Forget'"

In a recent article from the New York Times, relatives of Holocaust survivors are sparking controversy by tattooing themselves with the number branded on the survivors in Auschwitz.  While many are shocked and appalled by this new phenomenon, those who have done it explain that it's a way "to live the mantra 'Never forget.'"

To read the full article, click here.


We received the following response from Ray B.:

I've had this thought myself several times. Not sure how Bubbie and Zadie would have felt about this -- I get the impression that they wouldn't have condoned it, that they wanted us to move on. I can imagine Zadie's horror seeing one of his grandchildren's bodies tattooed like this.

However, I think a tattoo like this could speak to more than Auschwitz memory. It would be a constant reminder to treat people with empathy and respect. It could encourage the wearer to always be critical of the increasingly disembodied and industrialized ways humans are treated now.

Thank goodness we have traded work camp labour and killing for Google analytics, but in a lot of ways that tradition of converting human lives to numbers continues. In 70+ years we have moved from labour camps and mass killing to repressing a new group of people -- only now we pay them $1.25/hour and say we are doing them a favour. Those unseen factory workers are the new numbers.

Interesting article, thanks.  – Ray B.

Donor Spotlight!

Thank you Davis Wright Tremain and Alphagraphics for being sponsors of the 2012 Voices for Humanity Luncheon.

Register Now - October 15, 2012 at the Westin Seattle. 

Introducing the new Education Outreach Assistant!

This morning I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself!  My name is Amanda Davis and I am the new Education Outreach Assistant here at the Holocaust Center.  I am a recent graduate of Pacific Lutheran University, where I graduated with a degree in Religion and a minor in History.   I am passionate about issues of social justice and about the importance of learning from and educating people about tragedies such as the Holocaust, so that we might strive to ensure that they never happen again. 

I am excited to start working here with Ilana and all the others and look forward to meeting you when you visit our center!

Donor Spotlight

Thank you to Barrier Motors and Richmark Label for being sponsors of the Voices for Humanity Luncheon!

Advanced Holocaust Teacher Seminar - Aug 26-27

"What stood out for me was the great commitment of educators to work together on Holocaust education and the resources from the Holocaust Center to support them."

-Teacher, at the Advanced Holocaust Seminar

On August 26-27 the Holocaust Center hosted an advanced seminar for experienced teachers. an amazing group of educators from Washington, Oregon and Idaho attended the two-day program with presenters Dr. John Roth, Dr. Hubert Locke, Dr. Tatyana Tsyrlina-Spady, and Rivy Poupko Kletenik.  The program and discussions were thought-provoking and inspiring.

Special thanks to the Claims Conference, Shemanski Foundations, 4Culture, and Seattle University for making this program possible.   

More photos:

http://tinyurl.com/ct7o6sf

 

Goodbye Lauren!

Today is the last day of our intern, Lauren, who has been with us for the summer. We're so happy to announce that she won the annual photo contest of Teens In Public Service, the incredible program that placed her with us. Here is her submission - she is posing with local Holocaust survivors Klaus and Paula Stern.

A poetic "thank you"

After Peter Metzelaar, one of WSHERC's speakers, visited Wendi Fein's class at Tacoma Community College, student Joanne wrote this thank you to him in the form of a poem. More about Peter can be seen here.

Peter Metzelaar a boy with a memory of his life
His family members paid the price.
There was a couple who open their home wide
And took you and your mother on their side
German soldiers looking high and low
To capture those who hid below.
You used to trade shrapnel. Instead of cards
Since bombs were in your front yard.
Your mother was an angel in disguise So, she could save you for a better life.
You became liberated in 1945. Canada on one side
Netherlands on the other side
You lost your father by the fire, but he lived in you
Through dreams, hopes, and desires.
To hear you speak of this tragedy sent tears in my
Eyes and chills down my spine.
To see you now as an adult

Willing to share your story without any doubt
I never said it but, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.
To see you were willing, for sharing the challenges in your life.

-Joanne

Survivor testimonies

All of our survivor testimonies are now online! We added four sets of new videos to our website: Steve, Henry, Magda, and Eva. They can all be seen here on our website.

WSHERC featured on Lolo Diklo

A page for the curriculum binder made by our summer intern, Lauren Berry-Kagan, is being featured on activist blog Lolo Diklo: Rromani Against Racism.

This is an educational handout prepared by the WASHINGON STATE HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER. It will be included in their teaching of the Holocaust information and in their teacher training. We are so impressed and appreciative of the constant support and encouragement offered us by WSHERC. Thank you so much to all involved with the center. And we encourage everyone to check out the wonderful work they do.

The text of Lauren's handout can be read on their blog, and the page itself can be seen on our website here.

Anniversary

This Saturday, July 28th, marked the six year anniversary of the shooting at the Jewish Federation, in the same building as the Holocaust Center. Today we recited the Kaddish for Pam Waechter and paused for a moment of reflection here in our office.

Director Dee Simon addresses the group

Forget Me Not: Agnes Ringwald

Left and Right

They came during the night,

Forcing them from their homes

Shoving them onto trains,

Like sardines in a can;

Their destination unknown

The whimpers of strangers,

Screeching of wheels meant the ride was over.

One-by-one the train was emptied,

Lines seemed to stretch on for miles

Some go right; others left

Left they went

Agnes with her mom,

Gripping tightly, each other's hands

There were stalls, for bathing

And so they prepared.

The chiking smell of their demise,

The world slowly fading

Their lives short lived.

The potential is gone and so only memories remain.

Thank you so much to Kathryn Corprew, age 14, and her grandmother Mary Lou Maguess for sharing Kathryn's poem with us!

Some of our latest artifacts

Here are a few of our latest artifacts that we are in the process of archiving. They portray a human side of the United States liberators during World War II, something that should always be shown in history. They were donated to the Holocaust Center by Mallory McCray, and come from her father Frank Adams, a camp liberator of Buchenwald. Click image to view larger.

Thanksgiving dinner, 1944

A beautiful and clear shot of a soldier working outside

An outside meal in France, 1944

Royal Air Force vs American Officers volleyball game

Books to check out

In Our Hearts We Were Giants by Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev
The Ovitz family--seven dwarfs and three normal-statured siblings--traveled through Transylvania and neighboring lands singing songs for enthusiastic audiences in the 1930s and early 1940s. Then in 1944, they were shipped with thousands of other Jews to Auschwitz, where the infamous Dr. Mengele took an interest in them. Saved from immediate murder by Mengele, they were treated far better than the average resident of Auschwitz. Although forced to suffer through painful and humiliating medical tests, they kept their own clothes and were better fed than others at the camp. They survived Mengele's experiments, eventually moving to Israel and going on a successful reunion tour before retiring to run a cinema together. Employing information culled from interviews with friends and the last surviving Ovitz sister, Koren and Negev explore with considerable depth the Ovitzes' complicated relationships with their size, one another, and their awful savior, Mengele. This is a quirky, illuminating, and unique addition to Holocaust history.

Just when I thought I knew all the big stories from the Holocaust, I come upon this. Tender, raw, and real. -Reader

The Children of Willesden Lane - Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir of Music, Love, and Survival by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen

 

Based on the true story of her mother, Mona Golabek describes the inspirational story of Lisa Jura Golabek's escape from Austria to England on the Kindertransport. Jewish musical prodigy Lisa Jura has a wonderful life in Vienna, but when the Nazis start closing in on the city, life changes irreversibly. Although he has three daughters, Lisa's father is only able to secure one on the Kindertransport. The family decides to send Lisa so that she may pursue her a career as a concert pianist. Lisa bravely endures the trip and a disastrous posting outside London before finding her way to the Willesden Lane Orphanage. Her music inspires the other orphanage children, and they, in turn, cheer her on in her efforts to realize her musical potential. Through hard work and sheer pluck, Lisa wins a scholarship to study piano at the Royal Academy. As she supports herself and studies, she makes a new life for herself and dreams of reconnecting with the family she was forced to leave behind. The resulting tale delivers a message of the power of music to uplift the human spirit and to grant the individual soul endurance, patience, and peace.

The Children of Willesden Lane is a remarkable, transporting story, at once upllifting and heartbreaking. I'm a better person for reading it. -Reader

 

 

 

 

The Abuse of Holocaust Memory: Distortions and Responses by Manfred Gerstenfeld

In an increasingly uncertain world, the Holocaust is likely to continue to play an important role as the metaphor of absolute evil. This is all the more so as threats of genocide again appear in public statements. Fighting the main manipulations of the Holocaust requires first understanding the nature of the abuses. This must be followed by exposing the manipulation of the perpetrators, who should then be turned into the accused. Preserving Holocaust memory correctly requires documentation, education, the establishment of monuments, museums, and memorials, ceremonies and remembrance days; as well as commemorative projects. Legislation and art are other spheres that have made important contributions.This book analyzes the categories of distortion and the responses to them. Also included are case studies that analyze Holocaust distortion in several European countries and the Muslim world.

Written with exemplary tenacity, research and courage, this volume's urgency is proven by its resolve to unmask and denounce the nefarious ugliness of Holocaust abuse and denial.   -Elie Wiesel

Local Holocaust Survivor Profiled in New Book

Paul Zilsel is the founder of Left Hand Books in Pike Place, Seattle. At the onset of the Nazi occupation in 1938, Paul fled to England along with other Jewish children. He and his parents ultimately obtained refugee status in the United States, although other family members perished in the Holocaust.

Rude Awakenings: An American Historian's Encounters with Nazism, Communism, and McCarthyism, a new book by Carol Sicherman, describes Paul's resistance to McCarthyism. Sicherman writes that, "Of all the people whom I came to know in the course of my research for the book, he was one of the ones I most wished I had had known. He was, for me, an emblem of moral purity; his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee is a moving example of American idealism." This book has been praised as a must read for people interested in political history.