Archive - 2009

Only identified as a "retiree from Duisburg," the man has been charged with killing 58 Jews at the end of March 1945, near Deutsch Schuetzen, an Austrian village. The Jews were forced laborers and were forced to give up their valuables and kneel by a grave before being shot.

Read the full story here

We are pleased to invite you to participate in our first Witness To History Project of the 2009-2010 academic year which will take place on November 19 at 6:45pm. Kurt Herman, a Kindertransport survivor, will share his story with you and a small group of other interested students/individuals.

The Holocaust Awareness Museum would like to thank everyone who made our Annual Auction possible and who made it a huge success this year.
People like you make it possible for the Museum to engage students and adults in a dialogue with Holocaust survivors in order to examine the significance of the Holocaust and how it applies today.

Last year we reached more than 4,300 students in more than 45 schools. This year we are on track to reach more than that and only through your generous contributions is this possible.

Thank You.

Their story is one of history's most remarkable epics of survival. On the night of October 12, 1942, as the Nazis intensified their grip eastern Europe, several Jewish families, including grandmothers and toddlers, disappeared into Priest's Grotto, a vast labyrinth of caves in western Ukraine. For a year and a half they lived, worked, and outlasted the Nazis.

This is their story

It is an honor and pleasure to add Michael Herskovitz to our community of Holocaust survivors. He survived two years in the Auschwitz-Birkenau, Mauthausen, and Gunskirchen concentration camps.

Visit his biography and his website here

On October 8th, 2009, Romania, a country that has at times denied the Holocaust occurred, finally unveiled a Holocaust monument dedicated to some 300,000 Jews and Roma who were killed during the Holocaust. President Traian Basescu said it was Romania's duty to "recognize the genocide during World War II" and to honor the victims.

Via the DailyPress

Be sure to check out our updated list of items for our auction on Saturday, October 24. It will begin at 7pm at the JCC Klein Branch at 10100 Jamison Ave, Philadelphia.

IIdephonse Nizeyimana, one of of the four top accused in connection with the 1994 genocide of 1 million Tutsis in Rwanda has been arrested and extradited to Arusha, Tanzania where a U.N.-sponsored International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda will try him for his role in the genocide, including sending a group of soldiers to murder Rwanda's former Queen, Rosalie Gicanda.

Via CNN.

Marek Edelman, a leader in the April-May 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprisings, has passed away at 90 in Poland. Edelman dedicated his life to the defense of human life, dignity and freedom and was honored with the French Legion of Honor and Poland's highest civilian distinction, the Order of the White Eagle and held an honorary doctorate degree from Yale University.
Read the obituary here.