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Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center

Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Announces New Board of Directors Chairperson

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HHREC new Board of Directors Chairman, Daniel Weinreb

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center  (HHREC) has elected Daniel P. Weinreb as their Board Chairperson. Weinreb is a Principal at Paragon Realty Group LLC, a real estate company based in Westport, CT that specializes in acquiring and developing retail and commercial properties.  Weinreb will serve a three-year term effective January 1, 2025.  He has been serving as a board member since 2005, and succeeds Michael Gyory, who served as Board Chairperson since 2021. Gyory will continue to serve as Vice Chairperson of the HHREC Board.

Weinreb is the son of a Holocaust survivor, Bernie Weinreb, who escaped from the Vilna Ghetto in Lithuania in 1943, fought with the Partisans, and eventually came to live in America in 1947. 

Reflecting the responsibilities, lessons and core values instilled in him by his father, he has, for over 25 years, helped spearhead a Yom HaShoah program designed to educate and enlighten the congregants and children , on behalf of his synagogue, the Jewish Community Center of Harrison; the Community Synagogue of Rye; KTI Synagogue of Port Chester; and Congregation Emanu-El of Westchester. He is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and has lived in Purchase, NY for the last 36 years with his wife, Wendy.

“I am who I am because I am the son of a Holocaust survivor.” said Weinreb. “Nothing has had as important an impact on me as the fact that my father lived through what he did and managed to survive the Holocaust. Along with my mother, he instilled in me the basic understanding of good and evil, what is important – and what is not.  I am truly honored to be elected as the new Board Chair of the HHREC and look forward to continuing working with our talented, diverse, and dedicated Board members. I especially want to thank Michael Gyory, Joseph Kaidanow and Millie Jasper for all their inspired work as well as the leadership they provide.  Rising antisemitism and hatred continue to remind us all how important the work of the HHREC is and, together with our Board, staff, and supporters, we will continue to carry on our mission – to teach the lessons of the Holocaust and encourage students to stand up and speak up for dignity and respect, and against prejudice and bigotry.”

“It has been a tremendous privilege to be Chairperson of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center for the past four years” said Gyory. “I look forward to working closely with Daniel and HHREC to share the lessons of the Holocaust, genocides and human rights crimes to teachers and students in Westchester County and the greater Hudson Valley area.” 

Weinreb previously served on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Center of Harrison and is a past Chairman of the Real Estate Executives Division of UJA. He and his wife Wendy were among the initial volunteers who worked with Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center to help with fundraising and the development of community awareness activities. They were also founding members of the Parent’s Advisory Council at the Children’s Hospital. 

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in White Plains New York that serves schools, synagogues, colleges, churches and civic centers in Westchester and the greater Hudson Valley area. The HHREC Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. HHREC works with teachers and students to help schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, the HHREC has brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights violations to more than 3,000 teachers, and through them to thousands of students. For more information visit www.hhrecny.org call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org

 

 

HHREC Selected by New York State Education Department To Revise Curricula For Teaching History of the Holocaust

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) of White Plains has been selected by the New York State Education Department to revise and update all curricular resources to teach the Holocaust and other genocides in order to meet the 1994 mandate. Steven A. Goldberg, the HHREC Director of Education, serves as the project manager. The Archives Trust under the leadership of Janet Braga is designing a unique platform to house the project.

HHREC will work with 29 active and retired educators from New York State to research and write materials for elementary, middle, and high school social studies and ELA teachers. One of the guiding principles is the notion of unique people rather than anonymity, reflecting the importance of case studies of individuals as lenses into a better comprehension of the enormity and complexity of these historical events. In addition to chronological segments on the Holocaust, the Resource Guide will also include sections on the Nature of Human Behavior, Literature and Art, The United States and the Holocaust, and “other genocides,” such as Armenia (1915-17), Holodomor (1932-33), Rwanda (1994), and Rohingya (2016).  A special template for the analysis of genocides will be included. The guide will contain glossaries of terminology, lessons, activities, primary and secondary source readings, with questions, visual documents (i.e. photographs, maps, political cartoons, graphs, and charts), and hyperlinks to both personal testimonies and films.

“We are very excited to share the news that HHREC has been selected by the New York State Education Department to work on this important initiative.” said Millie Jasper, HHREC Executive Director. “As we have seen a significant rise in antisemitism and a growing number of people questioning the history of the Holocaust and other genocides, it is important now more than ever to educate students about these historic events, and their relevance today in our schools and communities, here in New York State and across the country.

 

NEWS COURTESY of the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in White Plains New York that serves schools, synagogues, colleges, churches and civic centers in Westchester and the greater Hudson Valley area. The HHREC Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. HHREC works with teachers and students to help schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, the HHREC has brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights violations to more than 3,000 teachers, and through them to thousands of students. For more information visit www.hhrecny.org or call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org

 

Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center to Honor Author, Philanthropist at Annual Benefit on October 30

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) will hold their annual Benefit on Wednesday evening, October 30th starting at 6:30pm at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York. This year HHREC will honor R. Derek Black and Elisha Weisel.

Derek Black (they/them) is the author of The Klansman’s Son, a book that  shares the story of being raised to take over the white nationalist movement in the US. Their father, Don Black, was a former Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan and started Stormfront, the internet’s first white supremacist website.

 Elisha Weisel is Chairman of the Board of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, a philanthropist and former Wall Street executive. Since retiring from a 25-year financial markets career at Goldman Sachs at the end of 2019, he served in 2020 as one of the lead technologists in Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign. Elisha became philanthropically active through his board service with Good Shepherd Services, where he raised millions of dollars for New York’s neediest by convening “Midnight Madness”, inspiring hundreds of finance professionals to stay up all night solving elaborate puzzles on the city streets. When his father passed, Elisha realized how many others missed his voice––and so, when opportunities for impact arise, Elisha shares his father’s message and continues his legacy by standing up for persecuted communities.

In the last few years, Elisha has spoken at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum about the need to protect the LGBTQ community; shone a light while speaking at Auschwitz on the plight of Syrian refugees being denied Western asylum; written for the Financial Times about the urgency of upholding DACA; organized a Washington DC rally against antisemitism – including anti-Zionism; spoken at the United Nations about the persecution of the Uyghurs, and taken his son to peacefully march for Black Lives. https://eliewieselfoundation.org/about-elisha-wiesel/

The program will feature the annual presentation of the HHREC Eugene M. & Emily Grant Spirit of Humanity Awards. To register for this event, or for more information visit hhrecny.org email benefit@hhrecny.org or call 914.696.0738.

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in White Plains New York that serves schools, synagogues, colleges, churches and civic centers in Westchester and the greater Hudson Valley area. The HHREC Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. HHREC works with teachers and students to help schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, the HHREC has brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights violations to more than 3,000 teachers, and through them to thousands of students. For more information visit www.hhrecny.org call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org

 

Holocaust Second Generation Survivors Join HHREC Speakers Bureau

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center  (HHREC) of White Plains, NY has announced Max Friedman and Renee Pessin have joined their Speakers Bureau.

Max Friedman’s parents were Polish/Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in Sweden (where he and his sister were born) after their liberation from Bergen-Belsen. Friedman tells the story of how his parents survived five years of ghettos, slave labor and concentration camps and the loss of everyone and everything they had ever loved. Emigrating to the U.S. in 1952, his parents spoke very little about their past – though their physical and psychological wounds were apparent every day to Max and his older sister.

Friedman has worked as a journalist, publicist, corporate editorial director and memoir ghostwriter. His family memoir, Painful Joy: A Holocaust Family Memoir tells the story of a journey that began when he was nearly 70 years old. Early in his career, he worked in  journalism and has had articles featured in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and TV Guide. He also served as Director of Editorial Services at PBS’s Channel 13 and as unit publicist for Bill Moyers Journal. Most recently, he held the position of Vice President, Communications at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Max holds a BA in English and Asian Studies from Columbia College and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Renee Bronner Pessin, a Connecticut resident, is a descendant of two Holocaust survivors. Pessin’s mother Helen was the only survivor of her immediate and extended family of more than 50 people In Poland. Her father Sam, along with one brother were the only survivors of their large immediate and extended family. Pessin feels it is more urgent than ever to share her parent’s story, especially to community listeners, to ensure that history does not repeat itself. She is able to do so through excerpts from her mother’s video testimony to the Shoah Foundation and family pictures saved through the horrors of the Holocaust. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Pessin has worked as a registered nurse, editorial associate for scientific journals and most recently, for over 20 years, as a freelance biomedical grant and manuscript editor.

For more information about Friedman, Pessin, and other HHREC GenerationsForward Speakers, visit their website at HHRECNY.org  

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in White Plains New York that serves schools, synagogues, colleges, churches and civic centers in Westchester and the greater Hudson Valley area. The HHREC Mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. HHREC works with teachers and students to help schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, the HHREC has brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights violations to more than 3,000 teachers, and through them to thousands of students. For more information visit www.hhrecny.org call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org

 

Agi Keleti: The Jewish Olympian’s Story of Survival and Triumph – Exhibit and Speaker Michael Gyory on July 18

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On Thursday, July 18th the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) in partnership with the Desmond-Fish Public Library in Garrison, NY will host a talk and presentation on the oldest living Olympian Champion and Holocaust survivor. Agi Keleti: The Jewish Olympian’s Story of Survival and Triumph will be presented by HHREC Board Chairperson and GenerationsForward Speaker Michael Gyory.

Born in Budapest, Hungary on January 9, 1921, Keleti’s journey is a tale of courage, survival and historic accomplishments. She survived the Nazis and outlasted the Communists to become the greatest female Jewish Olympian of all time winning 10 medals in women’s gymnastics for her native Hungary. The program will also feature an exhibition that illustrates the story of a young girl’s survival during the Holocaust and drive to leave a legacy of courage, strength and will to win. This exhibit of 6 individual panels chronicle her life story.

“I am looking forward to sharing the amazing story of survival and success of my father’s cousin.” said Gyory. “With the upcoming Olympic Games this summer, I hope to shine a light on how she set an example for generations of aspiring athletes to pursue their dreams and overcome any hardship or hurdles they meet along the way.”

The program will commence at 6:30 pm, and the event is free and open to the public. Registration is required. For more information visit the HHREC events page at hhrecny.org