November 17, 2008

It was standing room only as we listened to Erin retell her story about the year she spent living in Poland, getting to know the family that hid her mother as a small child. In the book, The Pages In Between, Erin describes her time hanging out with young Poles who thought Jews were superstars, sported Chai tattoos, and packed huge, outdoor concerts of Jewish Klezmer music.

The book is a 21st century look at the ongoing consequences of the Holocaust these years later and an exploration of the way stories and histories we’ve all inherited may have been distorted by decades of memory and spin.

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Ira Glass is a 30-year veteran of public radio. He has been a reporter and host on several National Public Radio programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Talk of the Nation. Named Best Radio Host in America by Time magazine in 2001, Glass is creator and host of This American Life, one of the most popular and widely acclaimed radio shows in the U.S.

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We thank the Tenement Museum for co-sponsoring and hosting.

September 28, 2008

September 23, 2008

Human beings forget, it’s what we do. How do we ensure the Shoah is remembered, and not forgotten? By looking at Jewish text, and through discussion, writing exercises and poetry, we experimented with diverse and individualized ways of remembering.
 
Janet R. Kirchheimer is a poet whose work has appeared in a variety of publications both in the U.S. and abroad. Her moving collection of poems about the Holocaust, “How To Spot One Of Us” (CLAL, Nov. 2007)
has received endorsements from Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Sir Martin Gilbert, and Rabbis Harold Kushner and Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Chairman Emeritus of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council), as well as renowned poets Mary Stewart Hammond, Yerra Sugarman, and Jeanne Marie Beaumont.
 
Her work has appeared in journals, including Atlanta Review, Potomac Review, Limestone, Connecticut Review, Kalliope, Lilith, Natural Bridge, PoetryNZ, Main Street Rag, on beliefnet.com and babelfruit.com, in addition to a variety of Jewish publications. In 2007, she was nominated for a Pushcart Poetry Prize.
 
A Teaching Fellow at CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Janet conducts writing workshops including, “Changing the World with Words,” which teaches adults and teens about Judaism using
creative writing exercises and poetry. She also leads a “Poetry Shmooze” where participants read and discuss Jewish-themed poems.

Thanks to the Fifth Avenue Synagogue for hosting us.

July 30, 2008

All proceeds went to benefit The Blue Card, which provides financial assistance and day-to-day services to local Holocaust survivors in need.

We are proud to report that we raised $400 in this effort!

This money will finance Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERSYS) for 16 survivors for the month of August.

Some Background, from the Blue Card:

The Blue Card provides the system to Holocaust survivors in need, but who do not have the financial resources to pay for installation, service, and maintenance.

Many survivors live alone and have no one who can come to their rescue in an emergency. It is the highest level of tzedakah to help people to help themselves.

An alert button is worn around the wrist or around the neck. In an emergency, the client presses the button, activating a speakerphone. One of the key elements of the program is that the in-take operator speaks the native language of the survivor. This is crucial because it allows the client to communicate any instructions or answer questions that are essential to obtaining a quick response.

Another feature of the program is the installation of a safe lock box outside the client’s apartment. This becomes crucial when an ambulance comes and the survivor cannot get to the door. EMT has the code to the safe lock box which contains a set of keys, enabling the paramedics to enter without breaking down the door. If the survivor is taken to a hospital, the apartment is secure. The survivor is not faced with the added stress and cost of replacing the door upon return from the hospital.

A success story of one of our Holocaust survivors and how the system helped save her life:

Mrs. T was in a Romanian ghetto until the age of sixteen, after which she was deported to Auschwitz then Birkenau. As a Nazi slave laborer, she was forced to work in a munitions factory under hazardous conditions. After liberation, she had to march for two weeks, suffering from starvation and fainting, due to weakness. Now Mrs. T, a widow, lives in New York. She suffers from a heart condition, diabetes, colitis as well as poor dental health due to malnutrition in her early years.

Last month, when Mrs. T fell and broke her hip, she used our personal emergency response system to call for help. Within 15 minutes help was at her door, and she was taken to the hospital where she received immediate attention. Since Mrs. T’s English is limited, she was very grateful to have someone speak to her Romanian. Mrs. T is so happy with the system and attributes her survival to The Blue Card’s SOS program.

She says that she had suffered greatly during the Holocaust and knowing that she has this emergency response system helps her cope better with everyday stress and feel safer.

*** The system costs $25 per month. The contribution of $400 will help pay for 16 survivors for the month of August. ***

June 22, 2008

We hosted our second Family Brunch – with four generations in attendance. Members and their families heard from the group’s organizers about our past events. In addition they were presented with a slide show of two organizers’ recent trip to Poland and the Czech Republic.

We thank the JCC in Manhattan for hosting us.

July 15, 2008

On behalf of Sivan Raviv, we’d like thank you for attending our discussion in which Sivan presented her 30 minute radio documentary about grandchildren of survivors.

For those who could not attend, you can access the piece by going to www.sivanraviv.com and clicking on the “Audio” link.

If you would like to contact Sivan with any questions, please email her at ravsiv@gmail.com.

Background:

Sivan Raviv recently received her Master’s Degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. For her Master’s project, Sivan put together a three-piece radio documentary about grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.

Among the questions she addresses:

• How does our generation identify with our heritage, with Judaism?
• How do we form our political views in a post-Holocaust world?
• Do we struggle with the idea of passing on a legacy?
• How different are our experiences with our grandparents/parents?
• How has the Holocaust impacted our career choices?
• How do we react to Holocaust denial?

We had an informal discussion after listening to each of the three 10 minutes segments. Interviewees from Sivan’s documentary came and joined in the discussion.

We thank Congregation Ramath Orah for hosting us.

May 9, 2008

We heard from Martin Greenfield, a survivor of Auschwitz and a noted clothier. Since the war, Mr. Greenfield has made a name for himself as a noted clothier – manufacturing special-label suits for Brooks Brothers, Neiman Marcus and individual customers, such as Paul Newman and President Bill Clinton. Mr. Greenfield learned to sew while ironing shirts and placing buttons for the Gestapo as a teenager in Auschwitz.

For 60 years, since he came to New York as a teenager, Mr. Greenfield has been working as a tailor in a factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This is the factory Mr. Greenfield went to work in 1947 as a war refugee, and has since bought.

We thank Mr. Greenfield for sharing his story with us, as well as Manhattan Jewish Experience for hosting us and co-sponsoring the dinner.

A piece on Mr. Greenfield in the New York Times:

Public Lives: Helping Presidents and Others Look Their Best

March 17, 2008

We heard from two prominent jurists reflect on one of the most important recent cases involving the Holocaust. Two United States federal judges, the Hon. Edward Korman and the Hon. Frederic Block discussed their decisions in the landmark cases involving Swiss banks charged with profiting from the confiscated property of European Jews during World War II.

Justice Edward Korman presided over the $1.25 billion settlement with the banks as well as the distribution of payment to survivors while Justice Frederic Block handed down the decision in the settlement regarding attorney fees. Although the verdict against the banks was handed down in 1998, the decisions about the distribution of funds and attorney fees were not handed down until December 2007.

Controversy surrounds these recent decisions among Holocaust survivors and others, who feel their decision does not do survivors justice. During the Q&A, pointed questions were asked of the judges by Leo Rechter, executive director of the National Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. Some survivors in attendance also expressed to the judges their disappointment in their decision. Others simply asked detailed questions about the case. This event was evenly divided between all three generations.

We thank Professor Harry Reicher of University of Pennsylvania Law School, who served as moderator.

We also thank the JCC in Manhattan for hosting us.

For more background on the case:

Final Approval on Swiss Holocaust Claims

Deciding Which Wrongs to Right; Brooklyn Judge Has to Winnow Requests for Holocaust Fund

Holocaust Survivors in U.S. Say Settlement Slights Them

Survivors Ask Court To Alter Swiss Bank Settlement

Judge is Assailed Over Holocaust Fund

Judge Block Awards Legal Fees

January 27, 2008

We thank Mrs. Gene Meisner, grandmother of 3GNY member Justin Waiser, for sharing with us her inspiring and courageous story of survival.

Gene Meisner is an 87 year old Holocaust survivor born in Kalish, Poland. She is a survivor of the Lodz Ghetto, as well as several different work camps, including the notorious women’s concentration camp Ravensbruck. During the war, she was separated from her husband Sam Meisner and miraculously found him afterwards.

Mr. and Mrs. Meisner immigrated to the United States shortly after the war. They are the parents of a son and daughter: Michael Meisner, the first child born to Holocaust survivors in the United States, and Paulette Waiser. Gene Meisner is currently a Vice President of Investments at Smith Barney.

Thanks to the JCC for hosting us.