The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

tribute

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

Joyful Living: Chappaqua

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Abigail Pfeffer, the author’s daughter, prepares to plant window boxes.

“Joyful living” – two simple words that sum up this month’s theme of the magazine just in time for Mother’s Day. It should be easy enough to achieve. After all, we live in one of the most beautiful parts of Westchester County. But honestly, I’ve been having a hard time lately embracing “joyful living” with this never ending winter. I’ve tried to trick myself by thinking that spring is on the horizon. I’ve painted my toes a lovely shade of pastel pink. I’ve done a thorough spring cleaning in my house but still Mother Nature refuses to cooperate.

Nevertheless, I wanted to highlight six facts I learned while putting together this issue that made me smile and appreciate this great community that we call home.

1.The dedicated group of 30 parent volunteers that make up the Chappaqua School Foundation (CSF) have raised more than $3.8 million since they were founded in 1993. These funds get earmarked for projects that are beyond the scope of the school budget. And while I attended the cover shoot for this month’s magazine at the iLab located at Horace Greeley High School, I got to see firsthand how generous donations coupled with a “can do attitude” make dreams turn into reality. The iLab was created through a grant from CSF six years ago that has left a lasting impression on the district. The iLab has been so successful at Greeley that CSF has partnered with the district to create innovative learning spaces and classrooms in all six schools.

2. Most weekends during the spring I can be spotted on a soccer field. With three kids that play town soccer, there’s a pretty good chance that you will find me or my youngest child learning the basics such as dribbling or my oldest now playing left-mid on his travel team. I knew that there was a devoted group of parent volunteers that make these programs happen as my husband used to coach AYSO soccer. But I had no idea how extensive the group of volunteers is. There are more than 100 volunteers in our town that make games and practices happen every weekend. There’s even a VIP team to serve kids with special needs so that everyone gets a chance to kick the black and white ball around.

3. I love planting my window boxes each spring. After a major house renovation this winter plus the harsh weather, I also am in need of various shrubs, plants and trees for my property. When Mother’s Day rolls around, I begin my weekly pilgrimage to my favorite nursery. I want only the freshest flowers, the lushest bushes and if necessary I will wait for them to arrive. But this year, I’ll be sure to ask my trusted advisor at the nursery, if they are recommending native plants after reading Missy Fabel’s terrific article on the benefits of native plants.

4. Don’t miss Eric Doppelt’s poignant tribute to his Aunt Jane who passed away from pancreatic cancer. The little vignettes that he shares about his aunt paint a picture of his loving relationship with her. From great sadness, he was galvanized to action and has raised more than $150K for pancreatic cancer research.

5. Last summer a friend took me kayaking on Candlewood Lake. Having grown up in the city, I had never been kayaking before and I loved everything about it. The tranquility of being on the water, the rhythmic strokes needed to propel the kayak forward. It was one of those rare afternoons when I felt truly present and appreciative of the beautiful scenery. Luckily there are many options for kayakers of all levels right here in Westchester. Read our round-up of local spots and take to the waters!

6. Speaking of water, I am counting the days until my beloved local pool club opens on Memorial Day. The second I park my car there, I know that the kids will have fun jumping in the water with their buddies and I’ll get to catch up with a friend or two. So dive in to Amy Kelley’s story to pick a pool club that’s just right for you.

Enjoy,

A Tribute to My Aunt Jane

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I’M EIGHT, and standing by my bed is an actual grownup in iguana-themed pajamas: Aunt Jane.

“Wakey-wakey, ‘Lil Wingman!’” my weekend guardian commands. “What’re we doing today?”

“Ummmm…pajamas, TV and Häagen-Dazs all day long…and NO TELLING Mom!»

“You’re on, kid.”

We spend the next 48 hours sugar-high and stoked on back-to-back “Star Wars” flicks.

Jane’s officially the Pied Piper of my childhood.

TEN. It’s my birthday, and Jane brings a record–old to her, new to me.

Bruuuuce.

She and my dad start singing, dancing, playing air guitar, pulling me in. The music swells like an ocean, its hypnotic waves–love, loss, freedom–all new to me.

And time feels…infinite.

“Wait’ll you see Springsteen!” exults Jane (a Jersey girl). But I already know: I’m Born to Run.

THIRTEEN. My Bar Mitzvah is eclipsed by shocking news: Jane has pancreatic cancer. I can’t even fathom what I’m Googling: a 7% survival rate??

Jane starts chemo; I start high school. Immersed in chemistry, biology, statistics, I find no antidote to fear. I do find PanCan (Pancreatic Cancer Action Network). Inspired by its motto—“Wage Hope!”—I launch a website that’ll tell Jane’s story while raising funds and awareness, team-jane.com. A bashful kid, I’m starting to…Run. Because maybe time’s not infinite after all.

FOURTEEN. Team Jane flourishes online and off as I coordinate supporters for a 5K. Jane walks nervously alongside me, wearing a brilliant smile. We raise $3K, far exceeding our goal. Afterwards I phone her, bursting with plans for our next event. She’s weirdly subdued. “Wingman,” she confides, “it was the worst day of my life.” First I’m stunned, wounded. Then I realize I’ve been given a trust. My Pied Piper’s yanked me past childhood and into the abyss where only she and her tumor live.

“Heyyy…c’mon,” I stammer, helpless for words of my own, “y-y-know what Bruce says, ‘No retreat/no-ohhh sur-ren-derrr…’”

“Of course!” she responds, playful again. “And we’re a team now, thanks to…my captain!”

Her new nickname for me–“The Captain”–fuels my shaky-but-growing belief in myself.

SIXTEEN. Brooklyn, Delaware, Chicago–at PanCan Walks nationwide, Dad and I represent Team Jane. Jane, despite cancer’s spread, keeps fighting. I keep coordinating, blogging, fundraising. I’ve raised nearly $150K, and with it, my confidence.

I summer-intern at PanCan. It’s intimidating–lobbying on Capitol Hill, being interviewed on TV, addressing hundreds at 5Ks. Most rewarding is creating “Voices of Hope,” a platform for teens to connect with survivors. Hope: it’s the only thing that quells the fear in kids like me, racing against time. Except…it’s not enough.

On 9/24/16, I cling to the last remaining beeps of Jane’s monitor. The only other sound in her crowded-but-hushed hospital room: Bruce, serenading from somebody’s phone. She can’t speak anymore but recognizes me, still tries flashing that smile that launched a thousand crazy adventures.

I can’t speak either, because there are no more words. Together we’d fought for life/love/family/all-day PJs/nonstop ice cream/Springsteen/a freaking CURE.

Anything but this statistic.

SEVENTEEN. Heavy-hearted and lead-footed, I summon Jane’s mantra: “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” I intern at another pancreatic cancer organization, CodePurple, where massive amounts of data are the chief weapons against this monster. Travelling the Northeast, entrusted with a self-designed project, I interview leading clinicians and researchers.

It’s illuminating. Progress, I’m learning, is fueled by passion and data, like life encompassing both sugar-highs and heartbreak. I grapple with paradoxes: Jane’s eternal childlike persona and her adult hell. And I resume Running–not “away” from anything, but towards everything.

My momentum is now for the 65,000 Americans battling this cancer and the 50,000 who’ll be diagnosed next year. For Jane and all the others whose races have ended. And for my own self; for the ability to marry fear with hope, hardship with joy–to fill finite hours with infinite fun. Blessed with this rare gift, my aunt took on the world. Today, armed with a Häagen-Dazs pint and a playlist, I plan on doing the same.

Sharing Dance: A Tribute to Kathleen Fitzgerald’s Extraordinary Career

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Kathleen Fitzgerald
Kathleen Fitzgerald

By Matt Smith

“Since my first class, I have loved dance, and I want to share that with everyone.”

While she presumably meant those words to be a wish for the future, by the looks of it, Kathleen Fitzgerald, speaker of the above, seems to already have the “sharing” covered. So much so that the Mount Kisco resident was named Gala Honoree during the Steffi Nossen School of Dance’s 79th Annual Benefit Week, held earlier this year, from March 31-April 2.

As is tradition, the yearly Gala serves to benefit the Steffi Nossen Dance Foundation, a not-for-profit dance advocacy and community outreach organization within the school, while at the same time honoring one of their own for his or her Outstanding Contributions to SNDF. As a special treat unique to Fitzgerald, this year’s event included a performance of a new work, danced by nine graduating seniors of SNDC and choreographed by Steffi Nossen Dance Foundation Artistic Director–and Annual Benefit producer–Jessica DiMauro, which served as a tribute to Fitzgerald’s life and career. “I’m flabbergasted,” she says of receiving the honor. “I’ve worked behind-the-scenes for so long now that I was just not expecting it. I’m uncharacteristically speechless.”

While she may not have been expecting it, the honor is certainly deserved–dancing’s clearly in her blood.

Fitzgerald began dance training at age eight, as a way to augment the “complete lack of coordination” that resulted from poor vision. Nonetheless, regardless of the reason, it was clear she was hooked from that very first day. “I got in the car after [the class] and said, ‘Mommy, I’m gonna be a dancer,’” she recalls. “That was really all I ever wanted to be.”

Her first foray into the professional dance world came at age fifteen, when she auditioned for “new state-supported performing arts school” North Carolina School of the Arts… as #13, no less, which Nossen herself always considered a–a telling sign of what was soon to come.

Kathleen Fitzgerald in Jiří Kylián’s “Ariadne”
Kathleen Fitzgerald in Jiří Kylián’s “Ariadne”

Subsequent to graduation, and prior to joining the Steffi Nossen family, Fitzgerald was a principal dancer and Company Ballet Mistress with Ballet Frankfurt, where she worked under choreographer William Forsythe. Preceding that, she was a soloist with Netherlands Dance Theater I, before Jiří Kylián took her on as Assistant Director of Netherlands Dance Theater II. “I can’t say enough about how great it was,” she says of those experiences. “We toured all over the world. We toured with live orchestra, with live singers and choirs and incredible lighting designers and costume makers…It was everything you could possibly want to experience.”

After following Ballet Frankfurt with work for Johann Kresnik’s radical dance theater group, Bremer Tanztheater, Fitzgerald moved to Mt. Kisco–for the sake of her daughter, Jessica Rose, who has special needs and requires intensive therapies. Thanks to some guidance from an local librarian, she found herself an all-too-perfect position at Steffi Nossen School of Dance, and she’s been with them for 16 years. Fitzgerald began first as a core curriculum teacher in 2000, then as School Director, a position which she held from 2004-2015. Today, she continues to lead the Ballet Program at SNSD, and serves as Production Manager for the Copland House concerts at Merestead. She has also been extensively involved with the outreach programs, one being the 13-year-old Wheels and Heels intensive dance program for disabled performers, one of the programs this very benefit helps to fund.

In accepting her honor, she acknowledges the work of the “fantastic” students at SNSD and takes note of “the incredible camaraderie of the Steffi Nossen faculty.” (“You don’t find that everywhere,” she adds, with a smile). “I feel that I’ve found a home at Steffi Nossen, an organization that stresses the importance of family, community, and mentoring. And I feel very lucky to have had this incredible performing career, and to have [done] such meaningful work within the arts.”

Steffi Nossen School of Dance is located at 216 Central Avenue in White Plains. Fitzgerald notes the company has several satellite locations throughout Westchester, including one in Chappaqua at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. For more information, visit steffinossen.org.

Matt Smith is a writer and regular contributor to the Inside Press. For more information, please visit www.mattsmiththeatre.com. 

A Personal Tribute to Jan Karski

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circle pixBy Francesca Hagadus

When I left the exhibit “One Man Who Tried to Stop the Holocaust” describing the courage of Jan Karski, I couldn’t help but be struck by how much of my life I owed to him.

The exhibit, sponsored by the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center, ran in November and early December at the Iona College Art Center. It illustrates the life of Jan Karski with period photos, and is supported by exhibits of haunting art by Sheila Kimmelman and political cartoons lampooning Roosevelt for ignoring Karski’s warning and pleas for help to stop the Nazi genocide plan.

Karski was born in Lodz (pronounced WOULDGE), Poland in 1914. My mother, Maria Rozenberg (Hagadus) was born 13 years later, also in Lodz, a multi-cultural city with a population of one-third Polish Catholic, one third Jewish and the last third German and Russian citizens. My mother attended the Ursuline Academy, run by the Ursuline order of nuns, along with other Jewish girls. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, he overtook Lodz a few weeks later on Sept. 14.

My mother, at 12 years of age was no longer allowed to attend school. My grandfather owned and operated a textile factory, one of the main industries in Lodz. Sometime after the occupation, my grandparents were “taken away,” as my mother put it. She never elaborated. However, she had Catholic identity papers issued by the Polish Underground State of which Jan Karski was a key figure. He had infiltrated ghettos and concentration camps at great personal risk. He pleadingly reported to Franklin D. Roosevelt the dire situation of the Jews in Poland. He was ignored.

My mother, by then 15 years old, used her identity papers to hide in plain sight. She made her way to Germany as a displaced person, to France, and finally to the United States. She married my American father, Ronald Hagadus, in 1950 and lived in Westchester County until her death in 2014. As a fellow citizen of Lodz, my mother went with my father to New York to meet Jan Karski at the hotel where he lived and had written his memoirs, Story of a Secret State, published in 1944.

My mother considered herself both a Pole and an American. She and my father became trustees of the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City. An artist in her own right, she exhibited her work worldwide, and promoted young Polish artists.

The profits from her exhibits were used to organize food and medicine to be sent to Poland during the Solidarity movement. She very much reflected the multi-cultural city into which she and Jan Karski had been born.

Visitors to the Jan Karski exhibit at the Iona College Art Center
Visitors to the Jan Karski exhibit at the Iona College Art Center

Jan Karski received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 1952, where he taught Eastern European Studies in the School of Foreign Service until his retirement in 1992. I began my university studies at Georgetown in 1971, receiving my B.S. and M.A. in Foreign Languages and Russian Studies, in 1975 and 1977. Students fought to register for Karski’s classes.

Upon his death in 2012, Georgetown University Press reissued Story of a Secret State. A bench with a lifelike seated figure of Jan Karski was erected on the Georgetown campus so that students could continue to be seated with Professor Karski.

Jan Karski was not able to stop the Holocaust. Nevertheless, his tireless, often terrifying effort with the Polish Underground State allowed my mother to survive, flourish and raise her children to embrace education, freedom, service and tolerance.

Francesca Hagadus recently retired after 32 years of teaching French and Spanish at the Robert E. Bell School and at Horace Greeley High School. In her early years of teaching, she led numerous tours to France and Spain with her 8th grade students. She continues to travel as much as possible. She currently hosts international students studying  English at EF Language School in Tarrytown, and teaches English online to EF students. She has numerous free-lance jobs involving both French and Spanish. She is an avid skier with the Swiss Ski Club of New York, and a frequent visitor to MOMA. She lives in Pleasantville with her two sons, Timothy and Thomas.