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human rights

Congresswoman Nita Lowey to Be Honored at HHREC Virtual Annual Benefit: October 29

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Guest Speaker Derek Black, Godson of David Duke, to Discuss his Journey Away from a White Nationalist Movement

Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Virtual Annual Benefit:  Moving Generations Forward-

Honoring Human Rights Leaders Past, Present, and Future

Congresswoman Nita Lowey Inside Press Photo

Thursday, October 29, 7 p.m., from the comfort and safety of your home

Honoring U.S. Congresswoman Nita Lowey and Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Speakers Bureau Survivors and Liberators

Our guest speaker will be Derek Black.  Derek Black is the son of Don Black, the founder of the hate site Stormfront and the godson of David Duke, a former grand wizard of the KKK.  While attending a small liberal arts college in Florida, students discovered a white nationalist living in their midst. They showed him practicing extreme acceptance.  Coming from people he respected, their ideas had real merit to him.  Derek is uniquely smart.  That made him discover the flaws in white nationalism ideology.  He walked away from the white nationalist movement.  Join us and listen to his story.

Sponsorship opportunities are available.  For more information, please contact Millie Jasper, 914-696-0738 or mjasper@hhrecny.org

https://hhrecny.z2systems.com/np/clients/hhrecny/event.jsp?event=829

“I Had a Little Suspicion”

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Pre war, my uncle Wolf, with my grandmother and grandfather, before the Nazis separated he and my dad first from their parents. In time, Mengele separated him from my father too.

By Grace Bennett

As  I read of children and babies held hostage in cages–as little more than bargaining chips–my dad’s singularly monstrous experiences of separation and loss during the Holocaust have come back to haunt me.

 Whether you agree that the Holocaust comparisons to the current day madness are fair or not (I admit that I find the comparisons troublesome sometimes), I think when you read this, you might at least agree there are powerful lessons to be learned and that our despair over the abuse and indignities being inflicted on migrant families and especially to the children at our border is entirely warranted.
 
When any category of people are treated so callously, and our President lies so brazenly about ‘who created the situation,’  as the situation persists, yes, you damn well better question authority to the max, and do not stop.
 
To protect helpless children, I do beg you: please lose any moral qualms about assuming the worst.
 
We know full well that the worst is possible. It is all our jobs now to guard against the worst. The worst, the Holocaust taught us, also comes incrementally.
 
But I digress because my dad’s story as a victim of rock bottom evil speaks for itself…
 
After being separated from the rest of his family (all of whom–except for my dad and grandfather–were killed at Auschwitz), my father and Wolf (who was two years younger) had managed to stay alive during the Holocaust after being dragged away for ‘work details,’ i.e.,  slave labor. Together, they suffered and together they survived a series of smaller ‘labor’, i.e., concentration, camps. 
 
Through it all, what meant absolutely the most, what time and again would trigger their survival instinct and help the other through, was that they had each other. They looked out for each other, my dad told me. Being together meant everything.
 
But then they were sent to Auschwitz, too.
 
An excerpt (lightly edited) from my Poppy’s memoir.
 
“The Germans decided to send us to the concentration camp Auschwitz. Arriving there we were greeted by the S.S with the infamous Dr. Mengele. They lined us up and the Dr. was telling us that all injured or too young to do hard work will go to a special location for the injured and children, and will be taken care of.
 
I had a little suspicion.
 
He (Mengele) got in front of me, and for some reason, he asked my age.  I said 16, and added that we are very good workers.
 
My brother (Wolf) said nothing; he was younger than me but taller and a fiery red head.
 
He (Mengele) told my brother to step forward and told him that he will be better off being with children.
 
Our (Jewish) camp leader was a 6’ tall guy. He showed the S.S. officer his damaged finger, so he told him to also go with the children and take care of them.
 
In the meantime my brother came running back asking for half of the bread we still had.
 
I begged him to stay with me, but he argued I should go with him.
 
One of the soldiers noticed the commotion and asked what was going on.
 
I said that I have the whole bread, so he said to break the bread in half and give that to him.
 
They went one way, and we vent to shower, change our civilian clothing into striped uniform and we all got tattoos injected into our forearms.
 
My # was 141940 with an upside triangle underneath.
 
After arriving in the quarters assigned to us, we went outside of our building, meeting people from other buildings, telling them where we came from,
 
I mentioned that I came here with my brother who was transferred to a camp for children.
 
He told me to look at the smoke in the background, and said, “That’s were your brother and all the others are, being incinerated…”
 
 In Wolf’s memory, may the gross mistreatment, abuse, and human rights violations of children at America’s border–AMERICA’S border–STOP. We are better than this.
 
Grace Bennett is Publisher and Editor of the Inside Press.  She has been on the board and advisory board of the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center since 2007 and is a member of Women’s March for All. Her father (‘Poppy’) Jacob Breitstein is a 96-year old Holocaust survivor.
 
 

Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders: Nov. 14 & 16

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3rd Annual Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders

hosted by:
The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

DATE: November 14 and November 16, 2017

LOCATION: The New York Medical College, Valhalla

The Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders is intended to further the mission of The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center by laying the foundations to encourage students to become Upstanders rather than bystanders.

Seventh grade students from invited middle schools will be attending our Third Annual Middle School Institute. A keynote presentation establishes the focus of the program: the importance of confronting prejudice and discrimination. Small group workshops examine the two central themes through activities and discussions. Then, students in their own school groups with their teacher meet to develop two activities to use in their school reflecting the themes of Respecting the Individual and How to Be an Upstander.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER


Sheila Arnold, CEO and Lead Performer of History’s Alive!

The Institute will be attended by students from these schools:
Public Schools include: Ardsley, Brewster, Croton-Harmon, Dobbs Ferry, Greenburgh, Elmsford, Mahopac, Mamaroneck, Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle, North Rockland, North Salem, Pleasantville, Scarsdale, Somers, White Plains, and Yonkers. Private Schools include: Solomon Schechter School, French-American School, and the German International School.

For more information please contact Julie Scallero, Co-Director of Education at The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center – Jscallero@hhrecny.org or (914) 696-0738

Download as a Microsoft Word Document

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.”

Human Rights Conference Teaches Middle Schoolers: How to Become an Upstander

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Students from the Paideia School 15 in Yonkers with Sheila Arnold PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIELLE MCCAFFREY
Students from the Paideia School 15 in Yonkers with Sheila Arnold PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIELLE MCCAFFREY

“Betsy Costner” sings a spiritual hymn about freedom as she walks out into the audience of seventh grade students from all corners of Westchester in the auditorium of the Yonkers Riverfront Public Library. Dressed in slave garb, Sheila Arnold who plays “Betsy Costner” a slave from Gastonia, North Carolina, recounts her story working on tobacco and cotton plantations.

Although her story is full of heartbreaking pain, she is able to capture the audience’s attention immediately and relate it to discrimination or struggles that these students might be facing today. Her story kicks off the Second Annual Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders, which students from 19 public and private middle school students attended earlier this month.

The conference is organized by the White Plains-based Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center (HHREC). The conference’s central themes are respecting the individual and how to be an upstander.
humanrights_2The conference for middle school students was conceptualized after the HHREC noticed that their high school conferences were very well-received, and they felt there was a need to target a younger population. In its inaugural year in 2015, the conference was attended by ten middle schools and 100 students. This year the conference had more than doubled to 200 students participating.

In an election year when racial tensions were at an all time high, a conference like this seems like it should be a mandatory requirement for all students. Millie Jasper, the Executive Director of the HHREC explains the genesis of the conference:

“Why run a day of human rights workshops for middle school students? We feel that students imitate prejudiced and bigoted behavior, and often do not recognize this behavior in themselves. If they see an injustice, they often don’t want to speak up. The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center wants to lay the foundation for encouraging students to be upstanders rather than bystanders.”

Steve Goldberg, HHREC Co-Director of Education and the Social Studies Chairman in the New Rochelle School District, helped tailor the program to a younger audience; he hopes the conference will help students be “catalysts in their school buildings,” and learn to be upstanders when they see injustice rather than passive bystanders.

After the presentation by Arnold, students broke out into small-group workshops which were designed to open conversation regarding the themes, “Respecting the Individual and How to Be an Upstander.” The workshops are facilitated by middle school teachers and high school juniors and seniors who were past participants in the HHREC Human Rights Institute for High School Leaders. The conference for the high school leaders is now in its 15th year.

Sami Davidson, a facilitator who is a junior at Somers High School felt it was an honor to be chosen as a facilitator by HHREC. Davidson attended a day-long training session at HHREC and worked on a lesson plan for her workshop which focused on civil rights with a social studies teacher. Davidson “hopes to show kids that there is more than one side to each story and that they need to think of things in a historical context.” At the conference’s conclusion, the students regroup and develop action plans to address injustices.  For example, some schools have started Amnesty International chapters or created anti-bullying programs.

Students at Seven Bridges Middle School in Chappaqua also got to see Arnold perform at their school earlier. Arnold has been performing in Chappaqua schools for the past five years and will be at Bell this spring. She said she considers herself a “hors d’oeuvres” that helps to get kids interested in history and humanize it for them.“If I’ve done my job right, there are kids that will leave my performances and start talking and want more information. They will never be able to look at a textbook the same way again because they are now seeing history through a person’s perspective.”  For more information about the HHREC and membership, please visit www.hhrecyny.org

Stacey Pfeffer lives with her husband and three young children in Chappaqua. She has written for New York Family Magazine, Westchester Parent, Westchester Family Magazine, Kveller.com and Inside Armonk.