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Remembering the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising & Honoring Those Who Continue the Fight Against Anti-Semitism
Edited by: TJVNews.com
To commemorate the 81st anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, over 700 Staten Island public school students and educators watched Rising Up: Young Holocaust Heroes, at the majestic St. George Theater, Staten Island. Organized by the Wagner College Holocaust Center, the day encourages students of all faiths to stand up against anti-Semitism and prejudice. In addition to the performance, awards were presented to three outstanding individuals who have inspired thousands of youth with their commitment to Holocaust education.
Among those in the audience was Dani Roth, the granddaughter of one of the survivors Rachel Roth, who lived through the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Majdanek and Auschwitz. The play traces the pre-war childhood relationships, the growing discrimination of the Nazi era, and the courage of six survivors in Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. This is an impactful way to honor the memory of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, by bringing attention to the courage of their families and the heroism of those who resisted culturally, spiritually and with armed resistance. The actors onstage are Wagner College students drawn from those of all faiths and ethnicities who expressed how deeply touched they were to learn about the survivors.
Three awards were presented to recognize those who are doing work to fight hate in our communities. Rabbi Mendy Mirocznik, president of the Council of Jewish Organizations of Staten Island (COJO), was recognized with the Community-Building Award. Mirocznik serves as the executive vice-president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. He is also a board member of the Bridge Multi-Cultural Project, of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the Alan and Joan Bernikow JCC. Imam Tahir Kukaj of the Albanian-Islamic Cultural Center, presented his award with words emphasizing the value of unity, solidarity and shared spiritual values in these difficult times.
Borough Arts Director Jessica Goffredo-Engelhart EdD, in the Arts Office at the New York City Department of Education, was recognized for her help in advancing the annual Wagner College Holocaust Art and Poetry competition. An educator for over twenty years, she is currently part of a national coalition of arts administrators leading Connected Arts Networks (CAN)– a grant to strengthen culturally responsive practices and leadership skills in order to better serve students.
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, which began April 7th, 1994, Provie Umugwaneza Nkurunziza, a human rights advocate, author, and the youngest person ever to be appointed to serve on the Holocaust, Genocide, and Anti-Semitism Advisory Commission in Texas, received an award. She will be studying at the prestigious Seminar against Anti-Semitism in Oxford this summer.
These individuals have inspired thousands of youth with their commitment to anti-bias and Holocaust work. One of the young audience members noticed the awards were shaped like a tear, which she associated with the sadness and horrors of the Holocaust. A scene in the play also has a survivor, Romi Cohn, discussing how his family encouraged him to flee from Slovakia so one family member would be alive to say Kaddish after the war.
Keynote speakers were NYC Human Rights Commissioner Annabel Palma and District Attorney Michael McMahon. This program was made possible by a Community Projects Grant awarded by the NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes and the NYC Commission on Human Rights, with generous support from District Attorney Michael McMahon. District 31 Superintendent Marion Wilson also presented one of the awards.
Lori Weintrob, director of the Wagner College Holocaust Center, explained the goals of the performance was to provoke deeper understanding of how the Holocaust happened and to promote empathy: “The arts can showcase resistance and resilience –our Wagner College student actors have memorized and learned by heart the exact words of six survivors who live or lived in our borough, your neighbors. When you hear these words from eyewitnesses, you too become an eyewitness to tragedy.” Director Mickey Tennenbaum, adjunct professor of theater at Wagner College, is a child of a survivor. “Rising Up” is a musical, with songs and words of prayer in English, Yiddish and Hebrew sung by an interfaith cast. The play was written by Theresa McCarthy, Lori Weintrob and Martin Moran, an Obie Award winner.
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began on the eve of Passover, April 19, 1943, a time where 50,000 remaining Jews resisted German troops and police that entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants. Among its leaders were Mordecai Anielewicz, Yitzchak Zuckerman and Zivia Lubetkin, the highest ranking female leader. Lubetkin is quoted in the play as a unifying force: “The feeling that there was a community of people who cared about each other, who shared ideas and values in common, made it possible for each of us to do what he or she did. This was the source of our strength…” After the war, Lubetkin and Zuckerman married and moved to Israel, where they founded Kibbutz Ha’Lachamot, the Ghetto Fighters House.
In attendance were schools from PS 1, PS 35, Tottenville High School, IS 61, PS 29, PS 53, Our Lady of Good Counsel and members of Wagner College as well as distinguished from the community. Other sponsors of the event include the Staten Island Advance/silive.com, United Federation of Teachers, Council of Jewish Organizations of Staten Island, Jay Chazanoff, Alan and Joan Bernikow JCC and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC).
The Wagner College Holocaust Center, founded 2014, has connected over 20,000 youth face-to-face with Holocaust survivors on Staten Island and in the tri-state area.
