Just Us A publication from Supreme Court Civil Branch, First J.D. New York County and New York County Clerk’s Office Remembrance Issue No. 4, May 2015 Introduction by Hon. Martin Shulman, Program Co-Chair with Hon. Deborah Kaplan On Tuesday, April 28, 2015 [6th of lyyar 5775], the Jewish Lawyers’ Guild, Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County (Gender Fairness Committee), and the New York County Clerk’s Office sponsored our annual Holocaust Remembrance Program. Our first such Remembrance Program was presented in 1994, and these programs have become a vitally important tradition in our court. I was most privileged to moderate this year’s program and in the process offer some thoughts of my own. I noted that President Obama - who had recently toured the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum with Holocaust survivor and renowned author Elie Weisel - characterized the museum as a reminder that nations too often do not do enough to prevent atrocities, and that said, even as Mr. Weisel challenged the President to do more about the killing of civilians in Syria and the threat posed by Iran, the President ruefully confessed that “it’s a bitter truth. [that] too often the world has failed to prevent the killing of innocents on a massive scale, and we are haunted by the atrocities that we did not stop and the lives we did not save.” Remembrance Issue Editor: Loren Schwartz 2 In my remarks I also acknowledged Irwin Coffer, a journalist, who wrote that the genocide of European Jewry succeeded not only because of a culture of hate and an industry of death perpetrated by the Nazis, but also because of ubiquitous crimes of indifference. In that vein, Yehudah Bauer, an Israeli historian and Holocaust scholar, has declared: “Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but above all, thou shalt not be a bystander,” as so many were throughout Germany, Europe and far beyond as the tragedy of the Holocaust proceeded. Bauer would have all people of conscience speak out against the hatred, bigotry and immorality so endemic among the Nazis and now so pervasive in certain parts of the world: the Middle East, North Africa, East Africa. The lessons to be learned from the Holocaust if taken to heart should have put an end to such cruelty and horror, but sadly, tragically, those lessons have not been learned in some quarters. The Nazis industrialized death, creating an assembly line of death with the technology available at the time. Technology has advanced exponentially since the Holocaust and in the wrong hands could jeopardize countless millions more. So, it is necessary, absolutely critical to remember, reflect and make widely known the terrible ordeal suffered, especially by European Jewry, at the hands of the Nazis, in the hope that such evil will never be repeated. The enormity of the horrors of the Holocaust – which horrors remain an open wound on the body of Western Civilization and beyond – are unto themselves in scope and scale. Indeed, it is the very enormity of those horrors which makes them so difficult to comprehend, and it is that difficulty which makes annual remembrance programs such as ours essential. Through these critically important programs we try to the extent humanly possible to comprehend the terror of the Holocaust, and in so doing we honor the past, we mourn the world we lost, and do our best to encourage others to be pro-active in creating a safer, fairer world in which peace, tolerance and justice reign. During our candle lighting ceremony, we read aloud the poignant biographies and moving stories of the Stark, Hus, Kaufman, Nock, Pomerance, Schwartz, Blum and Greenfield families and the survivors, including their children and grandchildren, and then lit six candles to honor the memory of 2 3 their loved ones as well as the six million Jews who perished. This year, those stories were read beautifully by Administrative Judge Peter Moulton, his narration powerfully conveying the terror of the time, the suffering experienced by these families and the wonderful lives these families have since made for themselves, their children and grandchildren. This year’s museum quality remembrance exhibit, “Liberation and Rebirth,” which was on display in our great rotunda in conjunction with our Remembrance Program, was on loan from the Kleinman Family Holocaust Education Center. The theme of that exhibit complemented this year’s many world-wide commemorations of the liberation of the Nazi death camps. We are grateful to the curator of this important exhibit, Dr. Henri Lustiger-Thaler, and his chief assistant, Megan McCall, for bringing and setting up this exhibit. Mr. Kleinman, a child of Holocaust survivors, is the founder and the President of the Kleinman Family Holocaust Education Center, and is the driving force behind it. The Center, in part, enables Jewish audiences as well as those of all faiths and backgrounds to better appreciate the Holocaust in its entirety with a special emphasis on the Orthodox Jewish perspective and experience. Mr. Kleinman is a major philanthropic personality, whose generosity is accompanied by personal involvement in virtually every aspect of Jewish communal life – from education and publications to social services, visiting the sick, and Holocaust remembrance. We offer with reverence and respect this the fourth special edition of “Just Us” featuring, inter alia, the readings from our 2015 Remembrance Program. As in years past, we appreciate deeply the stellar editorship of Loren Schwartz as we publish the inspiring narratives delivered in conjunction with this year’s Candle Lighting Ceremony. As with past such special editions, one can only be inspired by this special edition as it recounts the true life experience of another group of courageous individuals who survived the Holocaust. One such survivor, Martin Greenfield, author of a best-selling autobiography, “Measure of a Man,” served as this year’s Keynote Speaker. Mr. Greenberg is an 3 4 amazing, optimistic human being who, after enduring and overcoming incredible hardship and evil, came to the United States, the land of his liberators, to build a new life, an amazing family, a world renowned business as well as an incredible record of charity and philanthropy. This year’s program was enhanced immeasurably by beautiful and moving musical offerings of the SAR Academy High School Choir, Director, Rabbi Kenneth Birnbaum. Finally, the powerful film “Steal Me a Pencil” was shown in conjunction with our Remembrance, and viewed by many in the court, as well as by members of the public. SAR Academy High School Choir in front of 60 Centre Street, where the court’s annual Holocaust Remembrance takes place. 4 5 Candle Lighter and Keynote Speaker: Martin Greenfield Martin Greenfield, was bom in Pavlova, Czechoslovakia in 1928. He was imprisoned at the Auschwitz death camp and there came face to face with the “Angel of Death”, Dr. Joseph Mengele. In that terrible place he learned to sew and became a tailor. Those sewing skills saved his life. Mr. Green- field believes that his brutal experience during the Holocaust gave him an understanding of and appreci- ation for the potential and power of clothes to “make the man.” Mr. Greenfield immigrated to the United States in 1947, where he obtained his first job with GGG, a clothing manufacturer where he worked as a floor boy-carrying bundles of cloth from one tailor to another. He was given increasing responsibility moving from seam bender to jump baster, to floor su- pervisor and eventually to assume the role of Vice-President of Manufacturing for the seven hundred employee company. In 1977, when GGG closed, he bought the facility and with six employees opened Martin Greenfield Clothiers, Ltd. The company was founded on a successful business model that al- lowed customers to provide their own cloth and receive a quality product produced at a competitive price. Mr. Greenfield continues to lead Martin Greenfield Clothiers Ltd., with the assistance of his two sons who joined the business in the 1980's. Mr. Greenfield’s clients have included three United States Presidents, other notable celebrities and many celebrities. The company, a union shop, employs over one hundred people and still operates at the original 1917 Brooklyn Factory. Mr. Greenfield is an active participant in many charitable and community endeavors including founding the East Williamsburg Valley Industrial Development Corporation, serving as a Director of the Saint Nicholas Neighborhood Development Corporation, Community Planning Board # 1 and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce among others. 5 6 Left to right: Henri Lustiger Thaler, KFHEC senior curator, Martin Greenfield, Judge Shulman, Bruce Raskin, president of Jewish Lawyers Guild In November of 2014 his first book, a memoir entitled “Measure of A Man” was published, in which he tells his incredible life story. Mr. Greenfield lives in East Hills, New York with his wife of fifty seven years Arlene near his sons and their families. We are honored to have Mr. Greenfield, “America’s greatest living tailor” here today to light a candle and then as our Keynote Speaker share his remembrances and thoughts with us. 6 7 Candle Lighter: Howard Blum I was born on January 25, 1926 and grew up in Nuremberg, Germany, with my parents and older sister. During the mid 1930’s, when German anti-Jewish laws and practices became ever more restric- tive, my parents realized that emigration would be the only viable option for our family. Emigration to other countries, however, was difficult, if not impossible. My parents applied to the U.S. Consulate in Stuttgart for an immigration visa and received an application number. Because of the large number of applications, the annual quota quickly became over-subscribed, and a low number became a necessity to qualify for a visa.