The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

Yom Hashoah Commemoration

Countywide Yom HaShoah Commemoration to be Held May 6th at Garden of Remembrance in White Plains

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC), Westchester Jewish Council (WJC), and UJA-Federation of New York will host the annual Countywide Yom HaShoah Commemoration Keeping the Memory Alive on Monday, May 6 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the Garden of Remembrance on 148 Martine Avenue in White Plains, New York.

The program will feature a keynote presentation by Holocaust Survivor Annie Kleinhaus and a procession of Westchester’s rescued Holocaust Torahs, remarks from County Executive George Latimer. and a lighting of candles by college students who are members of Hillels of Westchester.

The event is held to remember the 6 million innocent Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust, and to reflect on the powerful lessons of this genocide that will hopefully resonate today, as reporting of antisemitic incidences are at an all-time high.

In addition to this annual event on Monday, HHREC has a number of other major developments coming up in the weeks ahead, including a dedication ceremony for the planting of a sapling grown from a tree referenced in Anne Frank’s Diary on June 11th at the Garden of Remembrance. This tree is one of six in the U.S. awarded by the Anne Frank Center USA in 2024 in recognition of the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center’s commitment to education and sharing Anne Frank’s message of hope.

The HHREC has also received a significant increase in requests for Holocaust Survivors and Second-Generation Survivors from the HHREC Speakers Bureau to appear at area schools throughout the Hudson Valley and around the tri-state area, and 34 schools from the Hudson Valley participated in our Annual HHREC High School Institute this spring.

This event will be held rain or shine, and admission is free and open to all. For more information contact Millie Jasper mjasper@hhrency.org or Pam Goldstein pam@wjcouncil.org.  

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

Facts and Figures www.hhrecny.org

  • HHREC works with over 35 Hudson Valley area 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, HHREC has brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights crimes to more than 3,000 teachers, and through them to thousands of middle and high school students in the Hudson Valley.
  • The HHREC Speakers Bureau offers a unique resource for educators. Speakers include Holocaust Survivors and GenerationsForward second and third generation speakers. In the past academic year 29 speakers appeared at area schools (approximately 13,000 students).
  • The HHREC Anna & Nicholas Elefant Library in White Plains offers a unique education resource about the Holocaust and human rights for area teachers and includes over 4,400 volumes of books curated by HHREC.
  • The HHREC, Westchester Jewish Council, and UJA-Federation of New York present the Annual Westchester Countywide Yom Hashoah Holocaust Commemoration each year at the Garden of Remembrance at 148 Martine Avenue, White Plains. In 2023, a crowd estimated at close to 350 people attended the event that featured a keynote presentation by Holocaust Survivor Dr. Aliza Erber.
  • In 2023, over 1,000 people from around the world attended HHREC Memory Keepers Story Hours on Zoom that featured HHREC GenerationsForward Speakers.

HHREC also works with community partners throughout the Hudson Valley area schools, synagogues, colleges, churches and civic centers in Westchester and the greater Hudson Valley area to fulfill their mission: 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. “ Their community partners include among others the Clark Center at Manhattanville College, Community of Holocaust Education Centers (USHMM), Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Center at Yeshiva University, Iona University, Purchase College, SUNY, Westchester Business Council, Westchester Jewish Community Services, and the Westchester Jewish Council.

HHREC Executive Director Millie Jasper has been an invited guest speaker of Governor Hochul, County Executive Latimer, and many others, and chaired a session in Washington D.C. at the Association of Holocaust Organizations Conference in 2023.

 

New Castle Ceremony will be Held Tuesday, April 26, to Commemorate Yom Hashoah

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Town of New Castle Holocaust Memorial. Photo by Ali Rosenberg

Residents of the New Castle community will gather in person at the New Castle Holocaust Memorial located on South Greeley Avenue on Tuesday, April 26th, 2022, at 6:30 PM, to commemorate Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The commemoration will feature Holocaust Survivor Trudy Album and keynote speaker Bettina Prober. Mrs. Prober, a Chappaqua resident, is the daughter of Holocaust Survivor Thomas Aczel a Survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Thomas is the late grandfather of Horace Greeley Student club E.N.O.U.G.H. (Educate Now on Understanding Genocide and Hate) member, Benny Prober. Trudy Album is a Holocaust Survivor from Czechoslovakia who survived Auschwitz. Trudy will lead the community in the memorial candle lighting ceremony together with the students of E.N.O.U.G.H.
 
Other speakers include Town Supervisor Lisa Katz, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, Co-Presidents of E.N.O.U.G.H. Gabe Adams and Jack Rosenberg and members of the Town of New Castle Holocaust and Human Rights Committee and student members of Horace Greeley High School’s club E.N.O.U.G.H. Other participants include Rabbi Brusso, Rabbi Jaffe, Rabbi Sacks, Cantor Ezring and Reverend McJunkin.
 
As Gabe Adams and Jack Rosenberg recently shared in announcing the Third Annual Holocaust & Human Rights Art & Writing Contest, “The Holocaust is a human story that is relevant to all of us.” The Town of New Castle Holocaust and Human Rights Committee along with E.N.O.U.G.H. launched this contest to inspire and educate students on the lessons of the Holocaust and how these lessons apply in today’s world. The Middle School and High School winners of the Third Annual Holocaust and Human Rights Art and Writing Contest will be announced during the commemoration. The first place winners will be sharing their winning submissions with the community.
 
During the ceremony the town will also be dedicating a bench at the memorial in memory of Holocaust Survivor Jack Feldman, beloved Grandfather and Great-Grandfather of the Town of New Castle Holocaust & Human Rights Committee Co-Chair Stacey Saiontz and E.N.O.U.G.H. club member Elliott Saiontz. Jack Feldman’s story of survival is featured in the HBO Documentary “The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm.”
 
The commemoration on Tuesday, April 26th at 6:30pm is open to the public.

A Countywide Yom Hashoah Commemoration to be Held Thursday, April 28 at the Anne Frank Garden of Remembrance

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The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) and Westchester Jewish Council (WJC) will host the annual Countywide Yom Hashoah Commemoration Keeping the Memory Alive on April 28th from 12 to 1 p.m. at the Anne Frank Garden of Remembrance on 148 Martine Avenue in White Plains, NY. The event will feature a keynote speech delivered by Alan Moskin, a U.S. Army Liberator and member of the HHREC Speakers Bureau, and there will be a procession of Westchester’s rescued Holocaust Torahs.

“This is the 30th anniversary of the Garden of Remembrance, and the memorial site enables us to come together to commemorate Yom Hashoah (Day of Remembrance) at this special place” said Millie Jasper, Executive Director of HHREC. “We are very proud to host this event with our friends from Westchester Jewish Council and look forward to being together again in person with the Westchester County community.”

This event will be held rain or shine, and admission is free and open to all. For more information, please contact Millie Jasper mjasper@hhrency.org or Pam Goldstein pam@wjcouncil.org 

About The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center is a not-for-profit organization based in White Plains New York that serves Westchester, Fairfield and neighboring counties. Their 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. We encourage students to speak up and act against all forms of bigotry and prejudice. Their work with students and teachers helps schools fulfill the New York State mandate that the Holocaust and other human rights abuses be included in their curriculum. Since 1994, they have brought the lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights crimes to more than 1750 teachers, and through them to thousands of middle and high school students. Through their volunteer Educators Program Committee, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center gives teachers the unique opportunity to develop programs for themselves and others. These programs not only enrich teachers’ knowledge about the Holocaust and related issues, but they   also provide the lens through which to view all other human rights violations. For more information call 914.696.0738 email info@hhrecny.org 

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. 

Procession of 28 Rescued Holocaust Torahs at April 12 Yom Hashoah Commemoration

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Westchester County Executive George Latimer and
Holocaust Survivor Agnes Vertes Keynote
Countywide Yom HaShoah Holocaust Commemoration

 
WHAT
Westchester Countywide Yom HaShoah Holocaust Commemoration,
Including a procession of 28 rescued Holocaust Torahs
 
WHEN
Noon-1pm – Thursday, April 12th
 
WHO
Hon. George Latimer, County Executive
Agnes Vertes, Holocaust Survivor
Joseph Kaidanow, Chair of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center
Lisa Roberts, President of the Westchester Jewish Council
 
WHERE
Garden of Remembrance
148 Martine Avenue
White Plains, NY 10601
 
WHY
The Garden of Remembrance was created in 1992 to memorialize the suffering and death of millions during the Nazi era from 1933 to 1945. We gather each year as a community on Yom Hashoah to commemorate those who perished, to REMEMBER what we must NEVER FORGET.