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Speakers Bureau

Holocaust Survivors Join HHREC Speakers Bureau

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) of White Plains, NY has announced three Holocaust Survivors have joined their Speakers Bureau.

Dr. Victor Borden (lower right above) is the son of Holocaust survivors Rywen (Roman) and Mina Bornsztajin (Bronstein), who were born and raised in Lodz, Poland from prosperous families. Victor tells the chilling story of his parents’ journey that started in Poland, as they survived imprisonment in the Soviet Union and eventually immigrated to America, where their son enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and served as a physician.

Ernest “Ernie” Brod (upper left) is a Holocaust Survivor who was born in Vienna, Austria in 1938. As a young boy he had to confront the grim realities of his father being among the first Jews killed in the early days of the Holocaust and seeing his brother sent off on a Kindertransport to England. A series of near miracles saved him and his mother from serving time in a concentration camp, and they made their way to Lisbon, Portugal before they finally immigrated to America in 1941. Ernie tells the story of how he and his family struggled to survive and eventually resettle in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn where he met his brother for the first time. A lawyer by training, he has spent the past 40 years as a corporate investigator and has been widely recognized as a leading expert in the field.

Charles Srebnik (upper right) is a Holocaust Survivor who was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1934 to Maria and Leon Srebnik. On May 10, 1940 German forces invaded Belgium, and by October the occupying military government began instituting anti-Jewish measures. His family went into hiding to escape the German onslaught by living at a cottage overlooking a lake near Genval.

Charles shares his story of being saved by a Catholic priest by hiding in orphanages to survive and eventually immigrating with his mother to America.

“We are very pleased to have such distinguished Holocaust Survivors who are witnesses to history join our Speakers Bureau and share their experiences with area high school and college students, and people who gather in our local communities.” said Millie Jasper, Executive Director, HHREC. “here stories will endure as they are of historical significance, and we need to hear them today more than ever.“

For more information about the HHREC Speakers Bureau, and to schedule an appearance at area schools, synagogues, churches and civic centers visit 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

 

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

Yom Hashoah Ceremony: Calls for Vigilance and Upstanders

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Story and Photos By Grace Bennett

April 12, White Plains, NY–A procession of 30 ‘Holocaust Rescued Torahs’ took place at the Yom Hashoah Ceremony in the Anne Frank Garden of Remembrance– each symbolic of the devastation that fell Jewish communities throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, each also a reminder of Jewish resilience and survival against all odds.

 Representatives from Temples, Synagogues and Jewish Centers from throughout Westchester County carefully cradled and carried the preserved Torahs to the foot of the open gates. From New Castle’s Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, a Torah, held by Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe, came from Boskovice, at the time a part of Germany, now in the Czec Republic. From Congregation B’nai Yisrael in Armonk was a Torah scroll saved by congregants of a Synagogue in Pacov (50 miles SE of Prague).

Songs by the Westchester Day School choir followed as did the blowing of the Shofar and an invocation by Rabbi Daniel Gropper of the Westchester Board of Rabbis; Gropper notably called out current day bigotry. He also quoted the Garden of Remembrance’s inscription: “In memory of those who died. In thanksgiving for those who survived. In gratitude for those who risked their lives in rescue.”

Remarks by Joseph Kaidanow, Chairman of the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center, and from Lisa Roberts. President of the Westchester Jewish Council, preceded those of County Executive George Latimer.

Kaidanow, recalled the legacy of the much beloved Eugene Grant, a survivor and long-time, generous benefactor of the HHREC who recently passed.  Eugene often warned, he said, of what can happen “when people fail to be upstanders.”

 Latimer reminded attendees of the “common humanity and vigilance” we must share after “six million Jews were mercilessly killed.”

Agnes Vertes

 The final remarks before a candle lighting were from survivor Agnes Vertes who  relayed the harrowing details of her experiences being separated from her parents, describing too how vital it was to her that she was still together with her little sister.

Both were hidden as very young children from the Nazis in Hungary. One tale in particular resonated when Vertes told of how her two-year-old sister tugged playfully on the trouser of a Hungarian Nazi officer who had come to find Jews in the orphanage she and her sister were living in as ‘Catholics.’ (Agnes was warned never to mention they were Jewish–she came to understand why after witnessing Jewish people being beaten.)

The SS officer was charmed by her sister, tossed her in the air, and said that only an Aryan child could be so cute. He abandoned his mission.

“She was 100 percent Jewish!” Gertes said, proudly, eliciting some laughter too. Her little sister, she said, “may have saved 100 lives that day.”

 Gertes described how she struggled with survivor’s guilt after learning so many children were killed, but gradually felt she “was lucky to have survived” so that she could tell the story so that such events would never be repeated again.