International Holocaust Remembrance Day: January 27th

 

The United Nations designated January 27th as an annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day to remember the millions of people who died in the Holocaust.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

JFNH panel discussion commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 2023.

The Intergenerational Consequences of the Holocaust
Panel Discussion & Community Chat
Held Sunday, January 22, 2023

In commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, JFNH’s Holocaust Survivors and Remembrance Committee hosted a panel discussion and community chat on the impact of the Holocaust on the descendants of Holocaust survivors.

 

Among the questions addressed by the panelists were how the inheritance of persecution and genocide impacts the lives of the descendants of Holocaust survivors, and what significance the intergenerational impacts have on society as a whole. Speakers included descendants of Holocaust survivors who are members of our community and the following special guests:

 

Dr. Kate DeConinck, Director of the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Dr. DeConinck is a trained anthropologist of religion with expertise in religion in the wake of mass tragedies.

 

Rosalie Gerut, cantor, licensed educational psychologist with a special focus on trauma, and founder of One by One, Inc., a non-profit organization that has a multi-generational membership of Holocaust survivors and their descendants, perpetrators and their descendants, and others, and that bears witness to the realities of genocide and works toward a more peaceful world.

In light of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and New Hampshire's July 2020 law requiring Holocaust and genocide education in schools, the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire created the video below of New Hampshire residents who are Holocaust survivors, immediate descendants of Holocaust survivors, experts in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies, and Senator Jay Kahn, who sponsored the Holocaust and genocide education act.

 

All videos are free to use with attribution. Please contact the Federation if you have any questions.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

This video commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Produced by JFNH January 2022.

This video commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It was produced in January 2022 by the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire for use in schools. It contains interviews of New Hampshire Holocaust survivors, descendants of Holocaust survivors, and educators who are expert in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies. It also includes a discussion with State Senator Jay Kahn who sponsored the bill requiring Holocaust and genocide studies in New Hampshire and that became law in July 2020. It is less than 45 minutes and can be shown easily during the time period of an average classroom. See below for original full videos of individual speakers.

All videos are free to use with attribution.

Michel Adler

Interview of Michel Adler, Holocaust Survivor, conducted by David Goldstone of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire in December 2021 to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Evan Czyzowski

Interview of Evan Czyzowski, Humanities and Holocaust Studies teacher, and director of theatre, at Bedford High School, New Hampshire, and member of the New Hampshire State Commission on Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The interview was conducted by Dina Michael Chaitowitz of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Elliot Eisenberg

Interview of Elliot Eisenberg, whose father escaped extermination during the Holocaust, while other family members were murdered in Treblinka. Interview conducted by Dina Michael Chaitowitz of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire in November 2021 to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Ashley E. Harbel

Interview of Ashley E. Harbel, Assistant Principal, Timberlane Regional High School, New Hampshire, and member of the New Hampshire State Commission on Holocaust and Genocide Studies.  The interview was conducted in December 2021 by Dina Michael Chaitowitz of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

NH State Senator Jay Kahn

Interview of New Hampshire State Senator Jay Kahn (District 10) who sponsored An Act Relative to Holocaust and Genocide Education, passed into law in July 2020, and who is the Chairperson of the New Hampshire Commission on Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The interview was conducted in December 2021 by Dina Michael Chaitowitz of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Laurie Kagan Medrek

Interview of Laurie Kagan Medrek, whose father, two aunts, and an uncle (by marriage) escaped Poland, just three days before their town was invaded by the Nazis. Remaining family members were killed in the Holocaust. The interview was conducted in December 2021 by Stephen M. Soreff, M.D., of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The interview includes video footage taken by Ms. Medrek of her father, her Aunt Anya, and Anya’s husband Jack, all Holocaust survivors.

Kathy (Kati) Preston

Interview of Kathy (Kati) Preston, Holocaust survivor, author, educator. Ms. Preston’s entire Jewish family of 28 members was exterminated in Auschwitz. She survived the Holocaust by hiding in a barn. This interview was conducted in November 2021 by Kenneth Litvak of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Thomas White, III

Interview of Thomas White, III, Coordinator of Educational Outreach, Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College, New Hampshire, and member of the New Hampshire Commission on Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The interview was conducted in December 2021 by Dina Michael Chaitowitz of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Contact Allyson Guertin, Director of the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire, with any questions
about these materials or other federation educational resources.