February 25 – March 21

In Prague, on the eve of World War II, art student Lorelei Schumann has the world at her feet. But her whole life changes in an instant when she is sent with her friends and family to Theresienstadt, Hitler’s “City for the Jews,” where her survival depends upon her participation in the Nazi propaganda effort.

She risks her life to tell the truth and discovers who she is as a woman, a Jew, and an artist. Signs of Life is a musical drama of love, defiance, and the power of art.

The show runs from Thursday February 25 through March 21 at the
Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre, 5 West 63rd St.

Performance schedule: Tuesday at 7:30PM; Wednesday – Sunday at 8PM

For tickets call 212 352 3101 or visit https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/425

When ordering tickets, enter promotional code “SIGNS” for a discounted price of $40 per ticket.

For more on the show, visit terezinmusical.com.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

The Annual Gathering of Remembrance, organized by the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, is New York’s oldest and largest Holocaust commemoration ceremony. The gathering will be held on Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 3pm at Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue and 65th Street.

This program brings together political leaders, survivors, and members of the Jewish community with Holocaust survivors and their families to fulfill the sacred obligation of remembrance.

3GNY will have a presence, and we encourage all to attend so that the survivors can be assured that our generation will carry on their legacy.

Tickets are complimentary to the public, with a suggested donation of $36. Tickets are required, and are not available at the door.

Email agr@mjhnyc.org to get more information.

Sunday, February 28
Bronfman Center

Thanks for joining us in making Purim baskets and delivering them to survivors. It was a unique and meaningful experience.

We also thank co-sponsors The Blue Card and iVolunteer

January 27, 2010
49 Grove

We thank all who took part in launching “WEDU” (We Educate) – our new initiative to empower grandchildren of survivors to bring the stories and lessons of the Holocaust to school classrooms.

We offer a special thanks to Sara Greenberg, a grandchild of survivors, who screened her family documentary “B-2247: A Granddaughter’s Understanding”

On the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, we were happy to see such an amazing turnout at this celebration of life.

December 4, 2009
92YTribeca

Thanks to all members and supporters of 3GNY for joining us at what was a moving Shabbat dinner. Guest speaker and Holocaust survivor Bernard Gotfryd shared his story.

Mr. Gotfryd was born in Radom, Poland, and became interested in photography at an early age. When World War II broke out and schools were closed to Jewish students, Gotfryd found work as an apprentice in a photography studio. While working in the studio, he began aiding the Polish underground by passing on photographs taken by Nazi officers of war atrocities. After an unsuccessful escape attempt in October 1943, Gotfryd was apprehended and shipped to Maidanek. By the war’s end, Gotfryd had survived six concentration camps.

In 1947, Mr. Gotfryd emigrated to the United States, where he worked as a photographer and studied photojournalism. After being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1949 and going through basic training, Mr. Gotfryd was assigned to the Signal Corps as a combat photographer. In 1952, he married his wife, Gina. They settled in Forest Hills, Queens, where they raised two children, Howard and Eva.

Mr. Gotfryd joined the staff of Newsweek in 1957, where he worked for more than thirty years, photographing some of the most influential figures of the 20th century. It was while working for Newsweek, covering the Holocaust Survivors Gathering in Washington, D.C., in April 1983, that Mr. Gotfryd was moved to write about his own experiences. First published in Newsweek, his stories were eventually published as a collection, titled Anton the Dove Fancier and Other Tales of the Holocaust.

Copies of Anton the Dove Fancier are available by calling 1-800-537-5487 or visiting this website.

October 25, 2009
JCC in Manhattan

We were happy to see everyone at our Third Annual Intergenerational Brunch. It was a beautiful day, with so many of all generations meeting, connecting and commemorating their family history. 

The event featured a presentation by 3GNY’s leadership, and guest speaker Amira Kohn-Trattner, C.S.W Amira is an Israeli-born psychotherapist/psychoanalyst in private practice in New York. Amira works with individuals and couples and has extensive experience with survivors, 2nd and 3rd generation.

She has been a consultant to the German government in restitution cases as an advocate to survivors and volunteered at international conferences for the US Holocaust Museum and the Shoah Foundation.

Amira presented an excerpt from her forthcoming documentary film about an unusual small group of Holocaust survivors from Czechoslovakia, who emigrated to South America after the war. The film explores the lives of these close, life-long friends and the new threat they face.

June 14, 2009

Thanks to all the volunteers who came to the Coffee House in Washington Heights.  It was a successful program.  We were pleased with the turnout and with the noticeably positive effect we had on those with whom we spent time.

This Coffee House is a program of Selfhelp (http://www.selfhelp.net/index.shtm), which is the oldest and largest provider of Nazi victim services in North America.  Selfhelp wanted to convey their gratitude for our presence and our efforts.

June 3, 2009

Thanks to everyone who came to our Happy Hour.  We are proud to report that we raised $400 to benefit the June 14 Coffee House for survivors.

April 24, 2009 

We thank Mrs. Claire Boren for being our guest, and telling us her story.
 
Claire Boren was born in a small Polish town that is now part of Ukraine. She was only five years of age when the Germans came and forced Jewish families into a ghetto. News of the Nazis’ liquidation of the Jews quickly spread and Boren’s father arranged for his wife and daughter to hide with a Christian family nearby. When the family they were staying with began fearing for their own lives, Boren and her mother retreated into the forest with several other Jews.
 
From there, they found a farm family that was willing to hide them in a hole they had dug beneath the ground. Boren describes this time as a living in a grave and it was there that she retreated into a silent fantasy world. Eventually they relocated once again in to the attic of another home until they were finally liberated by the Russian Army in 1944.
 
Boren was just a child when the Holocaust began and had repressed most of her memories of the war. It wasn’t until well into her adult life that memories began emerging. They were channeled through her art. Boren today is an accomplished artist, with some of her works’ themes evoking images and memories from the war.

March 18, 2009

David Gewirtzman was born in Losice, a small town in Poland in 1928. He was one of 16 out of 8,000 Jews to survive the Holocaust from this shtetl. 50 members of his extended family were murdered in Treblinka.

Jacqueline Murekatete was born in a small village in southern Rwanda in 1984. She was not yet ten when her immediate family was murdered, as well as most of her extended family, in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Jacqueline was granted political asylum in the U.S. in 1995, placed in public school and quickly learned English. One day David came to her school to speak. Listening to him, she was one of many kids who ended up weeping as he described his experiences. But she also saw a connection. She sent David a letter, which read in part:

“At one time I, too, like you, had a feeling of guilt for being alive. ‘Why was I left?’ I asked myself. I never really got an answer to that, but now I’m thankful that I was left because maybe I can make a difference in this world if I try, and maybe I can do my part in making sure that no other human being goes through the same experience as I did.”

David and Jacqueline have since teamed up to speak about their experiences, with the hope of preventing such acts from happening again.

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We thank Mr. Gewirtzman and Ms. Murekatete for telling us their stories. We also thank the Center for Jewish History for hosting us.

January 23, 2009

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.

October 18, 2007

It was a lovely evening of socializing, with a little learning too. Thanks to the Jewish Enrichment Center for hosting us.

September 9, 2007

For the third straight year, 3GNY had a booth at Jewzapalooza, part of the New York Jewish Music and Heritage Festival. Thanks to all those who came to visit and who signed up for our mailing list. We look forward to seeing you at future events!

August 14, 2007

We attended a performance of fellow member Joan Fishman’s one-woman play, “Walking in His Footsteps”. This very personal, semi-autobiographical play is based on Joan’s childhood experiences with her grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, who never spoke of the fate of his family during the war.

After the show, we joined Joan and other group members at a nearby lounge for a post-discussion.

More About the Show: The play was selected to be part of the NYC Fringe Festival that began August 10th. The play’s main content is about Joan’s looking into the past to find clues about her grandfather’s mysterious history: growing up as a Jew in Lithuania, escaping the fate of his family during the Holocaust, meeting her grandmother in a Displaced Persons camp in Munich, and coming to America to start a new life. Yiddish text and song, as well as evocative images projected on a screen are all part of the performance.

NY-based writer Malka Percal recently wrote on her blog “Jewess” about Joan. In the interview, they discussed the play, her other work and 3GNY. Jewess is a blog about Jewish women’s issues.

June 18, 2007

HIAS Young Leaders and 3GNY co-sponsored “Discover Your Roots”.

Valery Bazerov, Director of HIAS Location & Family History, gave us a backgrounder on genealogy research and shared with us anecdotes of his and others’ research – examples of success and frustration. We learned about what questions we need to ask and what tools are available to us. Providing a demo, several participants were chosen to conduct brief searches online for everyone to see. As this was a beginner workshop, we anticipate that the follow-up event will be more hands-on, and that we may need to come with relevant family info. We’re looking forward to the next one.

May 20, 2007

This was our first event to include three generations: Holocaust survivors, their children and grandchildren. The JCC’s Beit Midrash was filled to capacity as 3GNY’s Daniel Brooks and Leora Klein spoke to the gathering about the group’s beginnings, its mission, accomplishments and future. A PowerPoint presentation helped provide a vivid picture of our community’s first two years.

Following the presentation, a Q&A led to the emotional testaments of several Holocaust survivors expressing their gratitude and pride in the activism of this generation. Their sentiments were returned by the grandchildren, who expressed appreciation at having been inspired by their grandparents’ stories of courage and hope.

April 19, 2007

A group of us met up at Helen’s Restaurant in Chelsea to see a performance unlike anything we’ve seen: Kleynkunst! Warsaw’s brave and brilliant Yiddish Cabaret. As Generation X and Y’ers, we rarely experience Yiddish in forms like cinema, theater or Klezmer, let alone cabaret. The songs, in both Yiddish and English, offered us a glimpse of one of the most unique periods in Jewish history. Spanning the 20s and 30s, Yiddish Cabaret reflected the sophistication, as well as the politics and changing social status of Warsaw’s Jews.

In the Warsaw Ghetto, Jews, imprisoned, starved and faced with death, showed their will to live by clandestinely putting on cabaret shows. This was a form of resistance, alongside the armed resistance that began soon after. In fact, this show was performed in honor of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which began on the same date, 64 years ago. Following the performance, we were able to meet and talk with the performers, Rebecca Joy Fletcher and Stephen Mo Hanan.

For two wonderful reviews of Kleynkunst, please read 3GNY’s Rivka Schiller’s reviews in the Yiddish Forward, from February 16, 2007 and March 2, 2007.

March 16, 2007

We had another successful Shabbat dinner – our third! Our topic at this dinner was how the Holocaust fits into our identity. Makor’s rabbinic intern, Rachel Silverman, asked us to consider the different aspects of our Jewish identity and the influence on our lives — socially, professionally, politically, etc.

The sense of community at these dinners was apparent. Many friends, old and new, stayed around well after the dinner and talked and connected with each other in Makor’s Lounge.

February 25, 2007

We went on a guided tour of The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust (MJH). The group was big so we split up. One tour was led by Lori Kass, and the other by Dan Brooks, and as we all walked through the exhibits, everyone shared parts of their family stories. Afterwards, we discussed our impressions of the museum. We talked about the differences of message between MJH and Yad Vashem and the museum in DC. We observed that MJH is geared more toward a younger audience, and maybe leaves one with a message of hope, while the other two are much larger and more similar to each other than to MJH. .

We discussed how we, as a group mostly of non-educators, can make a lasting impact on Holocaust education. Some felt that if we talk about our connection to the Holocaust to younger people, the impression we make may be more enduring. We discussed state-mandated Holocaust education: how it’s taught, its importance and the influence individual teachers can have.

January 25, 2007

It was our first event of 2007, and our first at the JCC in Manhattan. We watched the PBS documentary “American and the Holocaust”. The film addresses America’s reaction to the plight of European Jewry, from Kristallnacht to the end of the war: American anti-Semitism, economic considerations, the politics of the State Department and White House and the conscious effort to cover up the evidence of genocide. The film also tells the stories of those in America, notably the Bergson Group, who worked to open doors for refugees and stop the Holocaust. German-Jewish refugee Kurt Klein is featured throughout the film. Klein managed to emigrate to the US from Nazi Germany in 1937. He unsuccessfully struggles against the U.S. government’s bureaucracy to bring his parents to America.

Afterwards, we discussed whether the film changed the view we had about America’s in the Holocaust as one of liberator. We felt it did, but minimally. Some of us had already known about the U.S. military choosing not to bomb the rail lines to the camps, and we debated what went into that decision. Some of us felt that this shameful episode further highlights how the Jews were, on a whole, left to their own fate. We ended up discussing whether some of these same social, political and bureaucratic problems during World War II have repeated themselves in subsequent genocides, with specific references to the Rwandan genocide in ‘94 and the one going on in Darfur since ‘04.

November 15, 2006

We had a productive meeting. We’d like to thank everyone for attending, and for sharing all of your ideas.

September 17, 2006

3GNY had a booth at Jewzapalooza, part of the New York Jewish Music and Heritage Festival. Thanks to all those who came to visit and who signed up for our mailing list. We look forward to seeing you at future events!

July 26, 2006

Thanks to everyone from the group who made it to this performance of “A Jew Grows in Brooklyn”.

Also, thanks for taking part in the special Q&A with Jake Ehrenreich after the show. We look forward to seeing everyone at future events.

May 5, 2006

Thanks to everyone who made it to 3GNY’s second Shabbat Dinner. We’d like to thank Makor for hosting us and offer a special thanks to our guest speakers:

• Donald Cohen-Cutler from the Union of Reform Judaism’s Commission on Social Action
• Arielle Cahill from the American Jewish World Service
• Rachel Silverman from Makor, who led our Shabbat service (She also headed the Makor contingent to the Save Darfur Rally in Washington.)

On the heels of the successful Save Darfur Rally on April 30, the evening’s theme was social justice. Specifically, how Jewish tradition and social justice are connected.

The evening began early with a screening of “Paperclips,” the inspirational film documenting a Tennessee middle school’s efforts of commemorating the Holocaust. After the meal, 3GNY led a panel discussion with Donald, Arielle and Rachel. Each described the work they’ve done in helping to end the Darfur genocide and whether they felt their Judaism led them to their positions serving the cause of social justice. They also shared with us their impressions of the Darfur Rally.

April 30, 2006

There were many interesting and memorable images at the Save Darfur Rally in DC on April 30. Local residents of the Fur tribe mingled with the crowd, thousands of young children carried signs of protest and Elie Wiesel, Al Sharpton and George Clooney all spoke at the same podium. For me, what stood out most were the widespread references to the Holocaust.

When survivors Elie Wiesel and Nesse Godin finished their remarks early in the program, a young lady walked to the microphone and addressed the crowd of more than 75,000. She identified herself as a grandchild of Holocaust survivors and mentioned that this nation was silent when the Holocaust was taking place. “Today, we have no excuse,” she said, followed by thunderous applause. Echoing her sentiments, a nearby sign stated “Last time we couldn’t stand up. This time we will.” This sign stood out, as it was immersed in a sea of signs reading “Never Again.”

All of the Holocaust imagery was an unfamiliar sight in such a public setting. While the Holocaust was primarily a Jewish experience, the lessons of the Holocaust are universal and should be applied that way. At the rally, the Holocaust’s lesson of silence was rightfully held up as an example of how humanity, through its silence and passivity, failed those in need before and since. Tens of thousands at the rally loudly declared that humanity would not be silent again. This brought to mind the words of Albert Einstein, himself a refugee from Nazi tyranny, who said, “the world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

On April 30th, the memory of the Holocaust could not have been honored more appropriately. When the Holocaust is spoken of, people listen. For many, hearing from Holocaust survivors and descendants of survivors about Darfur might have heightened their awareness of the crisis and if anything, added to their urgency in helping to stop it. There seemed to be no better venue than our nation’s first anti-genocide rally that we helped to shape one aspect of our unique legacy.

April 26, 2006

3GNY’s discussion, “Defining the Legacy,” followed Makor’s “Asking the Survivors” program. Makor’s program was a panel discussion led by two journalists (Liel Liebowitz with the Jewish Week and Gabrielle Birkner with the New York Sun) who interviewed two survivors who have recently written their memoirs: Aharon Golub, author of the memoir “Kaddishel: A Life Reborn”; Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, author of “Love in a World of Sorrow: A Teenage Girl’s Holocaust Memoirs.”

After the program ended, we moved to Makor’s reading room to discuss the program we had just seen, as well as a range of other issues dealing with the legacy.

March 29, 2006

Our group discussion was a success as everyone had their voices heard on several important issues. We’d like to thank the Jewish Enrichment Center for hosting us. Please view the attachment for a full event summary.

February 21, 2006

3GNY would like to thank everyone who made it to the Darfur Action Meeting. We’d also like to thank Makor for hosting this meeting and offer a special thanks to our guest speakers Ira Horowitz from American Jewish World Service and Elise Keppler from Human Rights Watch.

For those unable to attend, Ira and Elise shared with us valuable info and insights about Darfur. Of note:
Ira provided us with some background:

• Darfur is a region in the far west of Sudan — Africa’s largest nation.
• Darfur is about the same size as Texas and is home (”Dar” in Arabic) to the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa tribes.
• Since February 2003, a government-backed Arab militia known as janjaweed has been engaging in a brutal campaign to wipe out communities of these African tribal farmers in Darfur.
• The perpetrators and victims are primarily Muslim, and black in skin tone, but the victims identify as African and the perpetrators identify as Arab.
• Some say this is really a competition for land and resources between nomadic cattle herders (the janjaweed) and sedentary farmers (the tribes). However, both race and land are contributing factors.
• Up to 90% of all villages in Darfur have been destroyed.
• Government air raids frequently precede or follow these militia attacks.
• The reason some feel it’s not genocide is because some are unsure if there’s intent to kill or destroy all (or part) of the African tribesmen.

Some numbers (since February 2003)…

• 1.83 million IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) in Darfur
• 3.5 million Conflict-Affected Persons in Need of Assistance
• 400,000+ Deaths — men, women and children

Elise described the reaction of the international community and the difficult effort in prosecuting those responsible:

• Since brokering a deal to end the two-decade old civil war in the South of Sudan, the US and other powers were initially reluctant to pressure the Sudanese government on Darfur, for fear of disrupting the peace in the South
• The most effective vehicle for prosecution is the ICC (International Criminal Court). Many proposed that the UN Security Council pass a resolution referring this crisis to the ICC. However, due to perceived political leanings of the court, there was concern that the US would most likely veto such a resolution.
• However, the resolution referring Darfur to the ICC was able to pass with the US abstaining in March 2005.
• There are continuing challenges though. It will be difficult to obtain evidence and ensure witness protection in Darfur, given the role the Sudanese government has played in perpetrating abuses.

The most realistic action we can still take to save Darfur…

• Put on the ground a UN force, which would be better able than the smaller, existing African Union force, to intervene to stop the killing.
• However, putting UN forces on the ground would take a year, at least, and that’s if the Sudanese government doesn’t obstruct the effort — which it most likely will.

To get the UN moving on this, our government needs to apply pressure. By showing our strength in numbers, we can stir our government to push aside its politics and act. Here are several things we can do to make our voices heard:

1. To sign the Million Voices postcard click here
2. Phone Calls (most agree these are more effective than letters)

• US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton: 212-415-4050
• President Bush, 202-456-1111
• AJWS has been a leader — on the ground and behind the scenes — in the effort to save Darfur. To learn how to host your own Darfur Awareness event, order “Not On Our Watch” wristbands, donate to relief efforts, and more, please visit the AJWS website.
• The Human Rights Watch website, provides excellent background about Darfur and also offers information on what we can do.
• The US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience, is a great resource for us to learn more about genocide around the globe and how we can help fight it. The Committee on Conscience was the first to point out that what’s going on in the Sudan is genocide. The committee has been vigilant in raising awareness about Darfur since it first issued a “genocide warning” for Sudan in October 2000.

January 20, 2006

3GNY would like to thank everyone who was at the Shabbat Dinner on the 20th. The turnout was incredible — our largest yet – and we’re very excited about the continued and growing interest. This was also the first event of what will be an important and productive year for our group.

We’d like to thank Makor for hosting and organizing the dinner, especially Rachel Silverman, Makor’s rabbinic intern who lead the service.

We’d also like to offer a special thanks to Thane Rosenbaum for giving a novel and thoughtful talk about his book “The Golems of Gotham”. He read a chapter from “Golems” and he also brought up several Holocaust-related issues we have yet to discuss as a group. Of note: the use of the Holocaust in works of fiction, how and where it’s been trivialized (Thane touched upon Anne Frank’s diary and how the version most of us know was watered down for public consumption – by her father) and how suicide among Holocaust survivors is extremely rare. This fact came up as Thane discussed the book’s main character, Ariel, trying to bring back to life her grandparents – survivors who committed suicide before she was born. These topics got people talking. To continue discussing these issues and others, please visit the discussion boards on our website.

November 29, 2005

We had fun learning a little Yiddish — about its roots and how mainstream it’s become. Some of us also shared the Yiddish we heard growing up. A special thanks to our guests, Myra Mniewski of Yugntruf (Call to Youth), and Corey Breier of the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance.

We learned about its background, place in American culture, place in our lives, and briefly discussed its future.

You can download a full meeting summary by clicking here.

October 27, 2005

Thanks to everyone who made it out to the 3GNY Launch Party at Black Door last Thursday. It was great seeing so many new faces along with many familiar faces. It was the first of many fun social events to come.

September 25, 2005

3GNY had a booth at Jewzapalooza, part of the New York Jewish Music and Heritage Festival. Thanks to all those who came to visit and who signed up for our mailing list. We look forward to seeing you at future events!

August 24, 2005

 Thanks to all those who made it to Makor Wednesday, August 24. For those unable to attend, we watched video testimony of Serena Farkas. Serena is a survivor of Auschwitz and the grandmother of member Gabe Farkas.

In the four-part video, produced by the Shoah Foundation, we learned of Serena Farkas’s experiences. Of note:

• Born in 1922, she is originally from Tirgo Mares in the Transylvania region of present-day Romania.
• In 1940, the Hungarian army moved her and her family to a ghetto in the forests of Romania.
• In 1944, they were sent to Lodz, Poland where she worked making munitions.
• Soon after, she and her family were deported to Auschwitz. With her were her parents, four siblings, aunt, uncle, grandmother and grandfather.
• She was the only one of her family to survive when Auschwitz was liberated by the Russians in ‘45. She soon returned to Romania.
• In 1961, Serena and Jacob (Gabe’s grandfather) left Romania for America. Gabe’s father was 14 at the time.

Watching the film prompted some questions:

1. Should there be criteria for the label “survivor”? We reached a consensus that the term survivor does and should include anyone who was in Nazi-occupied Europe (or nations allied with Hitler) and lived through it regardless of whether they saw a camp, or a ghetto or a Nazi.
2. What and when did she know of her family’s fate? How did our grandparents cope with not knowing the fate of family members for so long?
3. Why did the Nazis tattoo numbers on inmates they were sending to the gas chambers? Serena told how the Nazis would mark a “K” on those destined for the crematorium, to ensure that they “wouldn’t get lost” along the way. Serena then showed her tattoo. She had an “A” for “arbeit” (work).

Towards the end, we discussed what’s coming next for our group:

3GNY’s September event will be a little different. We will be a part of “Jewzapalooza” on Sunday, September 25th. We have reserved a booth and will have members there to meet, greet and answer questions.

July 27, 2005

Thanks to all those who made it out to the museum Wednesday, July 27. It was great to see so many new faces. For those unable to attend, we went on a guided tour of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

Meeting Summary:

• Before the tour started, we all met and introduced ourselves in the lobby. We were greeted by our guide Inge Oppenheimer. Inge grew up in Cologne, Germany and survived Theresienstadt and Auschwitz.
• The tour spanned three floors. The first held beautiful relics of Jewish cultural and religious life from last century. One that struck me was an ornate wedding dress, made in Bombay, that a recent emigre to Palestine had ordered for her wedding. There were also photos of old synagogues from such diverse locales as Turkey, Afghanistan and Cologne (the same shul Inge attended as a child). There was also a section devoted to the influence and inspiration Jews brought to political movements such as Socialism and Liberalism.
• The second floor was devoted to the Holocaust. There were sections, or panels, focusing on lesser known themes such as the war against children, the pattern of deception the Nazis used and the difficulty that many faced in trying to escape before the war. Throughout this section, tv monitors played survivor testimony. The impact of seeing and hearing lived evidence throughout the floor is tremendous. This is what truly makes this museum a “living memorial”.
• The third floor was a helpful reminder of the hope and optimism that exist in a post-Holocaust world. A large part was devoted to the founding of Israel, the fight to save Soviet Jewry and the contributions that Jews have made to the modern world.

June 15, 2005

We met with Dubby Arbell, Director-General of the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel.

Meeting Summary:

• We went around the room and briefly exchanged family stories. Specifically, Dubby wanted to know where our grandparents/parents were from. Latvia, Poland, Romania and Russia were some of our answers. Dubby told us how his father, a Danish Jew, had been saved from deportation by being secretly ferried, under cover of darkness, over the straits to safe and neutral Sweden.
• Dubby talked about Israel’s survivor community: The not-so-warm response they initially received from the natives; The events that led to the gradual change in the way Israel views its survivor citizens: The Eichmann trial, the Yom Kippur War and the more recent John Demanjuk trial. He also mentioned that Israel’s current Chief Rabbi, Israel Meir Lau, is a survivor and has recently put out his autobiography.
• Dubby described his organization and the challenges it faces: The several channels of aid they offer survivors, from home nursing care, to an individual grants program to the “Flower for a Survivor” program, which provides survivors visits from teenagers, an enriching experience for both. He discussed the problem of solitude in particular. He noted that at least 20% of survivors in Israel have not rebuilt families since the war and survivors with families are, nevertheless, in need of special services. We also discussed the reasons why some survivors in Israel live below the poverty line, and how that’s being addressed.

In closing, Dubby stressed the importance of being close with our grandparents. We should take advantage of the fact that many survivors are more open with our generation and would be more than willing to meet with us and share their stories. Dubby urged that we all keep in touch with him and one day soon we’ll all meet together again in Israel.

May 19, 2005

We watched the 2G documentary “Then and Now: Children of Holocaust Survivors Speak”.

(Thanks to Shoshana Romer for bringing her father’s film.)
In the film, 2Gs speak about their family history and the experience of growing up a child of survivors. Many of their experiences were similar, such as feeling different from their peers and their parents’ pervasive silence about the Holocaust. Now, as part of a 2G community in Colorado, they have found solace and comfort in connecting with people like themselves.

Afterwards, we discussed:

• The film and the differences between us and the 2nd generation. We agreed that the generational gap won’t seem as large with the arrival of the fourth generation, most of whom will never have known our grandparents.
• Our sense of community and how we may have more in common with each other than we think, even though we’re two generations removed from the Holocaust.
• How we and our families view intermarriage
• The role ordinary citizens, particularly Poles, played in helping to carry out the Holocaust. This topic stemmed from an astounding figure cited in the film — the Jewish survival rate in Poland was 1.5%.

There was interest in seeing the documentary “I’m Still Here”, which aired on MTV earlier this month. I’m working on getting the video. If there are other relevant films or tv programs anyone would like to see, just let me know.

I wrote the group’s mission statement on the board and received some helpful feedback. I’ve attached a current draft. Your comments would be most welcome.

We had a nice turnout Thursday — 16 were there. I want to encourage even more people to come to our fifth meeting, since we’ll have a very important guest.

April 18, 2005

 After everyone introduced themselves and shared a little of their family history, we discussed the following:

• Yom Hashoah and our past participation. There were also announcements of upcoming commemoration events.
• Holocaust Denial, which included a reading of Deborah Lipstadt’s letter to the Times about C-SPAN’s coverage of her book “History on Trial”. We talked about deniers, delegitimizers and their motivations.
• What’s the meaning of 3G Activism? We did try to define what activism would mean to this group. Is it enough to meet once a month and talk about issues or should our goals be more broad? There was a consensus not to rush into group activism until we have a well-defined purpose and message.

March 23, 2005

Sorry you guys couldn’t make the meeting Wednesday. It was a great turnout. We discussed a lot of issues and everyone was eager to speak. I’ve attached some materials which I handed out at the meeting: a copy of the group’s agenda/outliine, which was discussed briefly, and a survey which everyone filled out. Information for two upcoming events can be found on pages 3 and 4. One event is a fundraiser for Yad Vashem and the other a film screening and discussion for “Anew Generation,” a 2G-3G group in Manhattan.

When you have the time, please fill out the survey (make bold your selections) and email back. Or you can print and bring them to our next meeting.

I’ll soon email everyone a summary of Wednesday, and info on the next meeting.

Have a great weekend,
Daniel

February 23, 2005

I want to thank those who participated in Wednesday night’s meeting. I look forward to meeting those unable to attend, and others. It was nice to take in a piece of everyone’s family story, even if it was in condensed form. It was also gratifying to finally hear our generation’s perspective on, among other issues, the current meaning of the Holocaust and the effects it has had on our families.

We exchanged ideas on adopting a mission statement, but ultimately agreed that right now it is not vital. Goals and objectives — even the group’s name — should evolve as the group does. We should eventually assume an activist role, but we’ll start by coming together to explore the significance of our being grandchildren of survivors. Just by getting together Wednesday, we realized an immediate and fundamental purpose for the group:

A forum dedicated specifically to the grandchildren of Survivors; a place where 3rd gen. can come to be heard and connect with each
other.

At the end of the meeting, the group agreed to move forward in three areas:

1. Outreach — We all volunteered to help increase awarenes of the group, either through word-of-mouth, email forwards or phone calls to local orgs and Hillels.
2. Support — Several of us, including myself, will inquire with Jewish/Holocaust orgs about potential sponsorship and promotion.
3. Communication — I am in the process of setting up a group website.

I’ll pass along the address when complete.

FYI: Our next meeting is scheduled for March 23, 7:30pm, at Makor.

Have a great weekend,
DB