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AMERICAN & INTERNATIONAL SOCIETIES FOR YAD VASHEM Vol. 44-No. 2 ISSN 0892-1571 November/December 2017-Kislev/Tevet 5778 AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM HOLDS ITS MOST SUCCESSFUL TRIBUTE DINNER IN THIRTY-SIX YEARS n Sunday, November 12, 2017, Treasurer Marvin Zborowski along Wiesenthal Center; and senior Yad Bob and Amy Book were introduced Othe American Society for Yad with his sons Mark and Ziggi Vashem colleagues Dorit Novak, by close friend and transformational Vashem (ASYV) gathered at the Zborowski, Master of Ceremonies Shaya Ben Yehuda and Michael philanthropist Jay Schottenstein, who Pierre Hotel in New York City for its Tony Orlando kicked off the evening Fisher. spoke about their exceptional leader- Annual Tribute Dinner, honoring with stories of his own connection to During his greetings, Lenny ship on behalf of Yad Vashem. Bob Robert H. and Amy A. Book, Abbi and support for Israel. He then intro- announced the creation of the Eli and Amy dedicated the Northern Halpern and Barry Levine. With over duced Leonard Wilf, chairman of the Zborowski Legacy Circle, to recog- Garden of the International School for 600 attendees, this year’s Tribute American and International Societies nize individuals and families who Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem in Dinner raised a record-setting $8.5 for Yad Vashem, who provided greet- have made Yad Vashem a part of their honor of their son Douglas and in million, including significant support ings and recognized all esteemed estate plans. memory of Sam Halpern, z”l. directed toward Yad aroline Arfa Massel, Vashem’s unique educational CASYV Board member, programs with the Israel introduced Young Defense Forces. Leadership Award recipients The theme for the evening Abbi Halpern and Barry was “Carry the Torch,” and Dr. Levine. Abbi and Barry were Ron Meier, American Society presented with the Yad for Yad Vashem executive Vashem Young Leadership director, remarked, “We are Award in recognition of their thrilled to honor Bob, Amy, extraordinary service as co- Abbi and Barry, who exempli- chairs of ASYV’s Young fy our theme of Carry the Leadership Associates. Abbi Torch as distinguished lead- and Barry, both members of ers of the second and third the third generation, have generations, respectively. The dedicated themselves to extraordinary outpouring of preserving the legacy of attendance and support for their grandparents and all our exceptional honorees this Holocaust survivors and vic- evening is a true testament to tims and to ensuring that the esteem in which they are other young leaders will join held by family, friends and them in advancing Yad those whose lives they have Vashem’s sacred mission. touched. We are grateful to All of the honorees proudly our honorees and to all who 2017 Tribute Dinner honorees: Robert & Amy Book, Abbi Halpern, Barry Levine. and enthusiastically are involved for advancing expressed their gratitude to Yad Vashem’s sacred mission of Holocaust survivors in the room. ollowing Lenny’s remarks, Mark the ASYV family and inspired all who Holocaust remembrance and educa- Lenny also introduced special guests, FMoskowitz spoke passionately were in attendance with their extraor- tion.” including Patrons of the Mount of and personally about his experience dinary vision, leadership and commit- Rita Levy and Mark Moskowitz Remembrance Sheldon and Miriam on the 2016 Yad Vashem Leadership ment for Yad Vashem. served as Tribute Dinner co-chairs, Adelson; Ambassador Dore Gold, Mission and invited everyone to join Following the award ceremonies, supported by Dinner Chair Emerita from the Jerusalem Center for Public him on the 2018 Yad Vashem David Halpern, ASYV treasurer, pro- Marilyn Rubenstein, and honorary Affairs; Malcolm Hoenlein, from the Generation to Generation Mission to vided a moving “In Memoriam” tribute Dinner chairs Neil W. Book, Scott M. Conference of Presidents of Major Vienna and Israel, July 2–9, 2018. In to the Holocaust survivors who had Book, and Douglas B. Book. American Jewish Organizations; speaking about the 2016 mission, been lost, highlighting those from the Following the Motzi, led by ASYV Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Mark highlighted the tremendous ASYV community who had recently impact the presence of young leaders passed. He concluded his touching had on the mission experience. “It remarks with a moment of silence. was extraordinary to witness the The evening culminated with a IN THIS ISSUE spark that was ignited in our young fundraising appeal led by entertain- ASYV Annual Tribute Dinner.................................................................1-2, 8-9 leaders — sparks of Jewish identity ment industry icon and international After Nazis killed her family, this woman joined the partisans...................2 and a strengthened connection to philanthropist Haim Saban, who is a Yad Vashem identifies 225,000 Hungarian Holocaust victims.....................3 Israel and their Jewish heritage,” leader in his commitment to a strong Combat and genocide on the Eastern Front..................................................4 Mark noted. “The transformation of relationship between the United Behind the pages of the world’s most famous diary...................................5 these young leaders left an indelible States and Israel. Mr. Saban spoke Germans use albums to close the pages of Nazism....................................7 mark on all of us who shared their passionately about Yad Vashem’s The Netherlands is still hoarding a collection of art looted from Jews....10 experience.” partnership with the Israel Defense “Megillat Hitler”..............................................................................................11 The event then turned its focus Forces (IDF) to make the study of the Nazi concentration camps on British soil....................................................12 toward the esteemed honorees. Yad Holocaust an integral part of its edu- Remembering the Holocaust........................................................................15 Vashem Leadership Award recipients (Continued on page 2) Page 2 MARTYRDOM & RESISTANCE November/December 2017 - Kislev/Tevet 5778 AFTER NAZIS KILLED HER FAMILY, THIS WOMAN JOINED THE PARTISANS TO FIGHT BACK don’t care,’” Holm told JTA at her New throw the hand grenades,” she soldier had shot at her and narrowly BY JOSEFIN DOLSTEN, York Upper East Side apartment. “I recounted. “The hand grenades were missed. THE TIMES OF ISRAEL never [used to] think I’m going to be very scary because if you pulled the During her time as a partisan, Holm alive, and that’s the way I survived ring [incorrectly], it could kill you.” didn’t think about life after the war. azis came for Rose Holm’s fam- with the partisans.” Partisans would sleep in the forest “I didn’t think I was going to be ily in the afternoon. By the N Today, Holm is elegantly dressed with little to no protection from the ele- alive,” she said. evening, the 16-year-old was lying and soft-spoken. She wears a pearl ments. She became close with the friend among corpses in the underground necklace and offers home-baked he first winter was a very, very who recruited her, and the two went bunker where she and her family had cookies. bad winter. We used to sleep on to marry shortly after the war, sur- been hiding. “T As a partisan, it was a whole differ- in the woods under the snow,” Holm rounded by the friends they made as “I was between those dead ones, ent story, she said. said. partisans. In 1945, the couple moved and I didn’t know if I’m alive or I’m “I was like a wild one,” she said. “I to a displaced dead,” Holm, now 92, recalled. didn’t know what I was doing. persons camp in Among those shot and killed were Whatever I’d been told, that’s what I Germany before Holm’s parents, her brother and one was doing.” leaving in 1949 of her sisters, as well as some 85 Holm is among a shrinking group of for New York, other Jews hiding in the bunker out- living partisans. where she found side Parczew, a town in the eastern “Each year there are fewer Jewish a job in a dress- part of Poland. Only one family mem- partisans who are able to share their making factory ber other than Holm survived: a sister experiences,” Sheri Pearl Rosenblum, and he in a card- who had left the bunker with her hus- director of development and outreach board box factory. band and young daughter before the for the Jewish Partisan Educational Joe Holm later Nazis came. Foundation, told JTA in an email. opened his own That unimaginable incident would On its website, the group features butcher shop go on to motivate Holm to fight back the testimonies of Jewish partisans, before the couple against the Nazis. including Holm and founded a factory her late husband, Joe. producing It collected testi- women’s A still from the Warsaw ghetto uprising, in which Jewish resistance fight- monies from 51 ers held the Nazis at bay for nearly a month in April and May of 1943. sweaters about Jewish partisans from 10 years after 2002 to 2015; only 16 They would make do with whatever moving to the United States. They are still alive. food they got from non-Jewish Poles, had two children. Holm was one of just who had been threatened that they Joe died in 2009. Today, Holm lives five women in her unit, would be killed if they did not aid the in their home surrounded by photos of which started with 25 fighters. her husband, children, four grandchil- people but grew to “For survival you do everything, you dren and three great-grandchildren. around 250 by the end don’t think you’re a human being,” Holm once would not speak about of World War II. she said. their wartime experiences; talking Partisan fighter units Sometimes the partisans would get about them makes her sad. In 2013, were reluctant to have a pig to grill in the forest.