Holocaust Commemoration Community Event In-Person
The Westfield Memorial Library is honored to be hosting an afternoon and evening of programming organized by Westfield High School, on this Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah). Thank you to the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs for the 2023 Special Project Grant that supported this event. Thank you also to the Kean University Holocaust Resource Center, which selected Westfield High School as a participating school. Additionally, the PTSO has supported this program through a mini-grant. We invite all members of the community to come to the Library this afternoon and evening to explore the shared history of those touched by the Holocaust through exhibits, speakers and song and commit to the messages of "never forget and "never again". Exhibits and presentations will run from 3:30 to 8:30 and include:
3:30-4:30- Self-guided viewing of a timeline from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and of the reflections of students from Edison and Roosevelt Middle Schools upon completion of a humanities-style unit on the Holocaust. Display of specially created artwork by student artist Sophia Basaldua.
5:45: remarks from Kim Leegan, the Social Studies teacher at Westfield High School who applied for the grant supporting this event, is instrumental in multiple Jewish cultural, diversity and anti-hate initiatives at Westfield High School, and teaches their new Holocaust and Genocide Studies class.
6:00:Presentation by Elyse Wolff, the granddaughter of two Holocaust survivors. Since 2017 Elyse has served as an appointed Commissioner to the New Jersey State Commission on Holocaust Educaton, and is a co-founder of 3GNJ. Elyse's presentation focuses on her grandmother's amazing story of survival, including her time in the Satu Mare ghetto and escaping death more than once at Auschwitz.
6:30: Presentation by Jessica Wang, a founding member of 3GNJ, a non-profit rganization that creates an outlet for Holocaust remembrance and education throughout the state of New Jersey, focusing on the perspective of the third generation. Jessica tells her grandfather's story of Holocaust survival to school and civic groups throughout New Jersey.
7:00: Student presentation by the Jewish Cultural and Development Club at Westfield High School, Challenges and Resilience: How Art and Agency Allowed Survivors to Heal, Raise Awareness and Rebuild Community followed by information about ways to continue the work of combating hate in all of its forms.
7:30: Community candle-lighting ceremony and choral performance from the Westfield High School Treble Chorus who will sing "Even When He is Silent" with music by Kim Andre Arnesen under the direction of John Brzozowski
Please join us for this day of multi-faceted programming that includes the participation of Westfield students, teachers, and speakers dedicated to sharing their family histories.
