Holocaust Education

Cindy Yoken, Co-chair of the Holocaust Committee, with
UMass students at the annual Yom HaShoah program on April 13, 2010.

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Holocaust Education Committee

The Holocaust Education Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Bedford has been active and productive during the 2007-08 year. Since 2008 marked the 10th anniversary of the dedication of the Holocaust Monument on Rockdale Avenue in New Bedford, the committee decided to plan a tribute to the late Abraham Landau for our annual Yom HaShoah program.  

(For complete article, please click here.)

 

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Holocaust Play Touches Hearts and Minds
Cynthia Yoken

The weekend of October 10 - 12 the Jewish Federation and the Holocaust Education Committee sponsored the play, “And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank. The Jewish Federation made a $1,500 grant to New Bedford Youth Repertory Theater from the Ed Rudnick Holocaust Memorial Fund toward the production of the play.

The play, produced by Cynthia Yoken, co-chair of the Holocaust Committee, and directed by Jarrad Nunes with his New Bedford Youth Repertory Theater, was performed at Keith Middle School.

Written by James Still in 1996, the play tells the stories of Eva Geiringer Schloss and Helmut (Hello) Silverberg, Anne Frank's boyfriend. It came to fruition after more than a year of planning, following a conversation between Cindy Yoken and Ryan Cooper, a personal friend of Otto Frank who married Eva Geiringer's mother after the war. Eva Geiringer Schloss traveled here from London, where she lives, to speak to the audiences about her experiences surviving two years in hiding and nine months in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The play is a unique multimedia production with video footage of the two Holocaust survivors telling their stories and four young actors playing multiple parts - Eva and Helmut as teenagers, their siblings and parents, Anne and Otto Frank, and also the role of a Hitler youth. On Friday, October 10th, the play was performed twice for 1,300 8th graders from the three middle schools in New Bedford.

Following these two performances and the two public performances on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, Eva answered multiple questions from the audiences. Eva Geiringer Schloss has written two books, Eva's Story and The Promise, which were available for people to buy after the play.

As we approach the 70th anniversary of Kristllnacht in November, Holocaust survivors are becoming fewer in number, so it was especially meaningful for the students and the community to meet and speak with Eva. The following weekend, October 17, 18, and 19, the play was performed at the Mattacheese Middle School in Yarmouthport, Cape Cod.

 

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Survivor Keynotes 2009 Yom HaShoah Observance
Cynthia Yoken

On April 28, 2009, the Holocaust Education and Memorial Committee of the Jewish Federation held its Yom HaShoah annual remembrance program.  The evening's observance began with a memorial program at 6:30 pm at the Holocaust Monument in Buttonwood Park at which time Cantor Schudrich chanted the memorial prayer and Rabbi Kanter recited the Kaddish.  Mayor Scott Lang gave a proclamation and the service concluded with the lighting of 12 memorial candles by local students and members of the committee who led a procession to Tifereth Israel Synagogue for the continuation of the program.

During the program at the synagogue, the winners of the essay, poetry, and art project were awarded prizes for their works addressing the theme "Memories without Survivors."  Jennifer Benevides, a sophomore from the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School won first place for her essay. Jasmine Oliveira, a student in grade 8 from Normandin Middle School won first place and from Keith Middle School Donald Lipsett and Jesus Coba were the second and third place winners. Honorable mention also went to three students from Keith:  Ivette Cruz, Caitlyn Haley, and Leah Frechette.

The 4th and 5th grade students from the Bernard H. Ziskind School of Judaism, Emily Katz and Julia Levin, won first place for their acrostic poem and Isabella Hortsmann, Lucy Schwartz and Sarah Levine, all 5th grade students won 2nd place for their Holocaust poem.  A special commendation was given to the students in grades 5, 6, and 7 for their joint art project. The keynote speaker was Max Michelson, a survivor of the Riga ghetto.  As a 15-year old boy, he witnessed the annexation of his native Latvia by the Soviet Union in 1940, followed by the Nazi invasion of his hometown in 1941.  He endured and survived the brutalities of war and genocide, but lost his entire family.

The evening's program concluded with a dessert reception at which time Mr. Michelson signed copies of his book "City of Life City of Death."

 

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