[email protected] [email protected] www.genshoah.org Generations of the Shoah International Newsletter December, 2013 Dear Members and Friends, The joint World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust and Descendants (WFJCSHD) and GSI Conference was an overwhelming success. Some 500 people from all over the world came together and shared a wonderful experience. Over the next few months, we will be sharing photos and materials from the conference on our website and facebook site. Those of you who attended are welcome to send us your photos and stories: [email protected]. During our conference, technical difficulties prevented Martin Fletcher from showing this clip. As promised, here is the link: Martin Fletcher - A violin, lost in the Holocaust - YouTube. There are several events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Kindertransport. To read the Proclamation of World Kindertransport Day: http://kindertransport.org/docs/kta-75.pdf. See the upcoming events section below for specific events December 1 - 9. Congratulations to GSI Coordinating Council Member Ken Engel on receiving the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board 2013 Volunteer of the Year award! The announcement of this award cites Ken’s work with GSI. We thank our facebook guests Marilyn Meyers, Nancy Goodman, Margit Meissner and George Halasz. This was the first time we had multiple guests at one time and it was an interesting experiment. We turn now to our last scheduled guest, Beth Burstein. To learn more about Beth: www.adaughterslegacy.com. We will not be continuing this series next year but will leave the site open for our members’ use and for the day in the future when we want to resume this program. Join the discussion on facebook by clicking on the discussion group tab above. Best Wishes for 2014. As you are making your year-end donations, if you feel well-served by GSI please make a contribution to a social service agency that helps survivors in need and /or to the Holocaust museum / memorial of your choice. Thank you. Generations of the Shoah International (GSI) Page 2 Generations of the Shoah International Newsletter – December 2013 Membership in our interactive leadership listserv is open to leaders / representatives of landsmanschaft and other Holocaust-related groups. If your local survivor, second generation or third generation group has not yet delegated a representative to join the GSI interactive online discussion / listserv group, please join us now. We already have dozens of members throughout the US and from other countries. This global interactive listserv is the fastest way to reach the survivor community: [email protected]. For event submissions: http://www.genshoah.org/contact_gsi.html. Please fill out the information requested in the text areas and submit it to us at [email protected]. You must send us your information no later than the 23rd of the month if you wish for it to appear in the upcoming month’s issue. To search the newsletter by geographic area: search by country for programs outside the USA or use the city and / or state abbreviations for those in the USA. Visit our GSI website at www.genshoah.org for updated information on new books, films, helpful links to Holocaust-related organizations and institutions, etc. Survivors, their children and grandchildren are welcome to post contact information for their local groups on our website. GSI has an “open” Facebook Group that anyone can join and invite others to join. Feel free to introduce yourself to your brothers and sisters in the survivor community and communicate directly with them without having to be cleared by a third party. Use the group to find old friends and relatives. Join us and meet new friends. Our page is visible to Facebook members at http://tinyurl.com/clhxsf. Joining Facebook is free and easy: www.facebook.com. RESTITUTION There are many articles on the Claims Conference and the looted art found in Germany in the FYI section below. See also the website www.lostart.de, or http://www.lostart.de/Webs/DE/Datenbank/KunstfundMuenchen.html GSI is looking into the Gurlitt artwork seizure matter, including communicating with three of the major groups involved -- the Berlin-based Task Force "Schwabinger Kinstfund", the London- based Commission for Looting Art in Europe, and the New York State Department of Financial Services' Holocaust Claims Processing Office -- as well as with other related officials. We will provide updates as this develops. ANNOUNCEMENTS The International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen provided further digital copies of its records to seven partner organizations in Israel, USA, Poland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the UK. It is a matter of 450,000 of a total of three million correspondence files. http://www.its-arolsen.org/index.php?id=80&L=1 Dr. Stephen Smith has been appointed holder of the UNESCO Chair for Genocide Education. From UNESCO website: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/human-rights-education/holocaust-remembrance/single- view/news/university_of_southern_california_creates_unesco_chair_on_genocide_education/ Page 3 Generations of the Shoah International Newsletter – December 2013 From USC: http://sfi.usc.edu/news/2013/10/usc-shoah-foundation-executive-director-stephen-smith-named-unesco-chair-genocide Survivors’ Park in Lodz, Poland A new park has been established in Lodz to remember and honor those who survived the Lodz Ghetto by planting a tree and placing a brick in the pavement in the park. There is no charge. If you survived the Lodz (Litzmannstadt) Ghetto and wish to be included in Survivors’ Park, please contact Szymon Pawlak of the Centrum Dialogu imienia Marka Edelmana, [email protected]. A letter is required from the survivor or their family requesting this and providing detailed information about the survivor’s history: their family, religion, education, where they lived in Lodz, what they did in the Lodz Ghetto, their circumstances after the Lodz Ghetto, and after the war ended. Yad Vashem Commemorative Coin Released The Israel Coins and Medals Corp has issued a special commemorative coin marking Yad Vashem's 60 years of activities on behalf of Holocaust remembrance. On Sunday, December 1, 2013 Bank of Israel Governor Karnit Flug will present Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev with the coins at a special event at Yad Vashem. The coins may be purchased at the Israel Coins & Medals Corp. UPCOMING CONFERENCES International Conference: Collaboration in Eastern Europe during World War II and the Holocaust December 5, 2013 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Palais Trautson, Museumstrasse 7, Vienna, Austria Simon Wiesenthal Conference 2013 Collaboration in Eastern Europe during World War II and the Holocaust December 5 – 7, 2013 Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, Vienna, Austria For more: [email protected]. Council of Holocaust Educators 12th Annual Conference Meeting the Common Core: Teaching the Holocaust, Genocide & Human Rights December 6, 2013 9:00 am-3:00 pm Brookdale Community College 765 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ For more information: http://www.nj.gov/education/holocaust/programs/120613con.pdf New Museums, New Collections: The Place and Role Of Collections in Historical Museums December 12, 2013 Museum of the History of Polish Jews For information: http://www.jewishmuseum.org.pl/en/event/new-museums-new-collections Page 4 Generations of the Shoah International Newsletter – December 2013 Remembering for the Future: Armenia, Auschwitz and Beyond March 8 – 11, 2014 American Jewish University, Los Angeles, CA For more: www.ascconf.org International Tracing Service and Holocaust Scholarship May 12 – 14, 2014 US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC For more: http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Human- Rights&month=1309&week=c&msg=NxNLIn6zO4YC0UDSov54uQ The 9th Annual International Conference on Holocaust Education Through Our Own Lens: Reflecting on the Holocaust from Generation to Generation July 7 – 10, 2014 Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel For details: [email protected] International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE) Education, War and Peace July 23 – 26, 2014 Institute of Education, London, England For more including the call for papers: http://www.ische2014.org/ Britain and the Holocaust September 1 – 2, 2014 University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland For more including the call for papers: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/bahs/news/events/2014/09/01_britain_and_the_holocaust_confer ence.page UPCOMING WORKSHOPS & SEMINARS Primary Teachers Workshop Grades K-4 Utilizing Children's Story Books December 3, 2013 4:00 - 6:00 pm Koppelman Holocaust/Genocide Resource Center Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ For more: http://www.nj.gov/education/holocaust/programs/120313rider.pdf Intermediate Teachers Workshop Grades 4-8 Using Fiction/Non-Fiction in the Classroom December 5, 2013 4:00 - 6:00 pm Koppelman Holocaust/Genocide Resource Center Rider University, Lawrenceville, NJ For more: http://www.nj.gov/education/holocaust/programs/120513rider.pdf Page 5 Generations of the Shoah International Newsletter – December 2013 Echoes and Reflections: A Multimedia Curriculum on the Holocaust December 12, 2013 3:30-6:30 pm Goodwin Holocaust Museum & Education Center 1301 Springdale Rd, Cherry Hill, NJ For more: http://www.jewishsouthjersey.org/local_includes/downloads/44856.pdf STAJE Seminar for Teachers in Jewish Schools Jewish Rescue in Europe December 15, 2013 12:30 - 5:15 pm Museum