June 14, 2015
Staten Island Celebrates Holocaust Survivors "More than a dozen Holocaust Survivors who live on Staten Island were honored Sunday with their family and friends at the 5th annual Café Europa event. It was held at the JCC." Read the article and watch the full video
May 10, 2015
Romania: An Anti – Semitic History Dating all the way back to the 16th century, Jews were persecuted in this Christian orthodox state. They were viewed as foreigners; prohibited from the privileges and rights of true citizens. As seen as a trend with anti-Semitism across Europe, they were often used as the scapegoat, and had […]
April 13, 2015
When did things start to change? "I already felt anti-semitism in school and there was a new law that passed that if you were a Jew, you were ordered to wear a yellow Jewish star. We had curfews. We couldn't go out or else they would lock us in jail." How was the living quarters […]
March 28, 2015
"In despair, I try to suppress the tears welling up within me. Panic and fear possess me completely. The curfew hour is drawing near, in a few minutes I will be forbidden to be seen on the street. People are deeply troubled and scattered in all directions. The street is deserted. My spirit is completely […]
March 28, 2015
An Introduction to the Lodz Ghetto Lodz, Poland was the second largest city in Poland at the start of World War II. It was home to the second highest population of Jews in Poland prior to the start of the war. Despite these statistics, Lodz was a city that had a long history of anti-Semitism. […]
March 22, 2015
"I do not blame any generation of today for what happened." - Benjamin Wayne His Early Years Benjamin Wayne, was born on July 6th 1927 as Vojtech Weinberger, in Michalovce, Czechoslovakia. In his home, they had only a well, but no electricity or running water. Nonetheless his education continued, and he started Hebrew school at the age […]
March 16, 2015
The Story of Arthur Spielman "To save your life you would do anything [...] we never were thinking of changing to be anything else but Jewish. [...] Me being here today is a miracle [...] sheer luck" -Arthur Spielman Nazi Headquarters or Polish Royalty ? In Krakow, Poland, September, 1939, the Nazi flag was raised […]
March 16, 2015
"I was in a concentration camp and I didn't know what was going on...We did not believe it because it is not human nature to kill people. How could we figure out they were going to kill hundreds or thousands or millions of people?" -Luba Malz When the Germans invaded Poland, Luba Dora Malz (née […]
March 16, 2015
Growing Up Jewish in Hungary Gabi Held was born in Encs on September 9, 1931 to the local grocers Abraham and Yolanda Held. The family grocery store also functioned as a creamery and a liquor store. As a child, he worked alongside his father in the creamery and his mother in the grocery store. […]
March 16, 2015
Edward Polidi was born on a cold winter day in Sofia, Bulgaria on December 23rd, 1935. It was an extremely cold day, with lots of snow which hindered transportation to the hospital. Because of this, Edward was born in his home. He remembers being told, "You will be a very lucky, fortunate and happy person". At […]