The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Genocide

Diane von Furstenberg to Emcee U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum 2020 New York Virtual Tribute Event

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Chappaqua residents Stacey Saiontz and Howard Unger will be honored by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum tomorrow evening and iconic fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg will be the master of ceremonies for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s 2020 New York Virtual Event on October 14 at 6 p.m.

She will join a lineup of passionate speakers featuring Benjamin Ferencz, the last surviving Nuremberg prosecutor and the Museum’s partner in the Ferencz International Justice Initiative, and NBA All-Star Ray Allen.

The event will also include celebrity guests, including Jason Alexander, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Morgan Freeman, who will participate in the Museum’s pledge to Holocaust survivors–and to the future–to never forget.

Stacey Saiontz and Howard Unger at last year’s 2019 NY Tribute Event. Photo credit: Michael Priest for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

At a time of enormous challenges, the Museum’s mission to put this memory and its lessons to work in the world has never been more crucial. Just yesterday, the the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum issued a statement on Facebook’s new decision to ban Holocaust denial and distortion.

Stacey Saiontz of Chappaqua is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivor, Jack Feldman, who was featured in the HBO documentary “The Number on Great Grandpa’s Arm” with Stacey’s son, Elliott.

Stacey has championed the cause of Holocaust education through her support of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum by serving as a member of the Museum’s Education Committee and as a founding member of the Museum’s New York Next Generation Board.

Howard Unger, Chappaqua resident and Founder of the investment firm Saw Mill Capital, grew up hearing the story of his father’s survival of the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps, which inspired him to become involved in bringing awareness to modern-day genocide. Unger serves in many roles for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum including as: member of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council’s Executive Committee, Chair of the Audit Committee, member of the Museum’s Committee on Conscience, Museum Benefactor and member of the Museum’s Strategic Advancement Committee.

Link to register for this free event: https://www.ushmm.org/online-calendar/event/nytrbutedinner1020

News courtesy of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

HHREC Student Contest In Progress during April which is Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month

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The 20th Century is often referred to as the “Century of Genocide.” Unfortunately, this trend has continued into the 21st Century. Many of these genocides either began in April or include significant events which occurred in April.

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) would like students to raise awareness about these genocides and remember those who were lost as a result of “man’s inhumanity to man.”   To this end, we are sponsoring a special student contest.

Student Contest:

Create an original project in visual arts, poetry, music, or other media of artistic expression that commemorates some aspect of a genocide which has occurred in the 20th or 21st centuries. Examples include the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide, the Bosnian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, the Genocide in Darfur, and many others.

Deadline for submission of projects: April 30, 2020.  Projects, with the simple information sheet, need to be submitted by email to Julie Scallero, Co-Director of Education at jscallero@hhrecny.org

All projects will be evaluated by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center’s Co-Directors of Education, Steve Goldberg and Julie Scallero.

We will select 3 winners (one for grades 7 and 8, one for grades 9 and 10, one for grades 11 and 12) who will receive a certificate and will  have their projects announced on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

Additionally, we will make a donation, on the winners’ behalf, to the AFYA Foundation, whose mission is to improve global health by rescuing surplus medical supplies and delivering them to underserved health systems around the world. Not only is this organization working to provide medical supplies during the COVID-19 crisis, they were a past keynote presenter at our Human Rights Institute for High School Student Leaders.

We look forward to viewing your submissions and hope you stay well during these uncertain times.

Questions:
Email Julie Scallero jscallero@hhrecny.org
Steve Goldberg sgoldberg@hhrecny.org

Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month Student Contest
Name _________________________________________________   Grade ___________

Email address __________________________________________
School________________________________________________
Social Studies teacher ___________________________________
Project Title ____________________________________________

Brief Description of Project (4 or 5 sentences)

 

 

 

Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center Responds to White House Statement on Int’l Holocaust Remembrance Day

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As Elie Wiesel said, “Not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims.”  Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center

Editor’s Note: Westchester’s Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) has issued a strongly worded statement pointing out the shortcomings of the Administration’s statement acknowledging International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Here is the HHREC statement in full:

“This statement fails to acknowledge the historical fact that the Holocaust was a deliberate and well-calculated state-sponsored effort to systematically eliminate the Jewish people. In other words, to commit genocide.*

This omission undermines the significance the United Nations Resolution that designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp—an annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.
Obviously, we should remember with reverence all victims of Nazi terror.

As Elie Wiesel said, “Not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims.”
 
We urge President Trump to reissue the statement, recognizing that the purpose of Hitler’s Final Solution was to exterminate the Jews of Europe.”