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Dear HERC Friends, As the President of the Holocaust Education Resource Council, I am responsible for oversight of the organization’s day-to-day operations, directing the development and implementation of all core mission activities including the education programs, community outreach, and administration. As the coordinator of HERC’s efforts to collectively prevent prejudice and promote tolerance, I could not do this without a committed board of volunteers and community leaders. I want to give a big "thank you" to everyone that has helped with all of our programs. Thank you to the many judges that read essays every year. Thank you to the hundreds of teachers that attended the annual educational learning opportunities in an effort to acquire knowledge and resource materials for their classrooms. Thank you to all the book club members that join together every month for dialogue of learning and understanding when there is still madness in the world. We need more help with planning future events. Every person makes a difference. With the need for more programs and outreach, we need help with the newsletter, membership, and publicity…Won't you join our efforts to promote understanding and respect of others in our world? Thank you. Important Dates: September 19Book Club meeting October 21Teacher Training Workshop November 5Kristallnacht 75th Anniversary Dinner Barbara PRESIDENTS MESSAGE August 2013 Holocaust Education Resource Council News Inside this issue: Article by Gil Ziffer (Written in 2011) 2 Learning Through Writing By Sophia Elzie 2 Opinion Article By Ron Sachs 4 Article on Irena Sendler by Richard Pendlebury 6 Interfaith Book Club 10 September Book Club Author Review 11 Membership List 13 Membership Form 14 Profiles - Shari Gewanter 5 Kristallnacht 75th Anniversary Dinner Flyer 12 H E R C N Will the Holocaust be remembered 50 or 100 years from now? Will it be taught? Will it be believed? "Never Forget" Holocaust Education Resource Council Board of Directors Barbara Goldstein President Rita Blank Vice President Robyn Rachin Secretary Sam Kimelman Treasurer Dot Hayward Community Relations Chair Monte Finkelstein HERC Education Director Board Members Linda Davey Eileen Lerner Nikki Allen Pete Cowdrey Shari Gewanter Heather Kufert Paula Saunders
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Holocaust Education Resource Council News H E R C N

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Page 1: Holocaust Education Resource Council News H E R C N

Dear HERC Friends,

As the President of the Holocaust Education Resource Council, I am responsible for oversight of the organization’s day-to-day operations, directing the development and implementation of all core mission activities including the education programs, community outreach, and administration. As the coordinator of HERC’s efforts to collectively

prevent prejudice and promote tolerance, I could not do this without a committed board of volunteers and community leaders. I want to give a big "thank you" to everyone that has helped with all of our programs. Thank you to the many judges that read essays every year. Thank you to the hundreds of teachers that attended the annual educational learning opportunities in an effort to acquire knowledge and resource materials for their classrooms. Thank you to all the book club members that join together every month for dialogue of learning and understanding when there is still madness in the world. We need more help with planning future events. Every person makes a difference. With the need for more programs and outreach, we need help with the newsletter, membership, and publicity…Won't you join our efforts to promote understanding and respect of others in our world? Thank you. Important Dates: September 19– Book Club meeting October 21– Teacher Training Workshop November 5– Kristallnacht 75th Anniversary Dinner

Barbara

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

August 2013

Holocaust Education Resource Council News

Inside this issue:

Article by Gil Ziffer (Written in 2011)

2

Learning Through Writing By Sophia Elzie

2

Opinion Article By Ron Sachs

4

Article on Irena Sendler by Richard Pendlebury

6

Interfaith Book Club 10

September Book Club Author Review

11

Membership List 13

Membership Form 14

Profiles - Shari Gewanter 5

Kristallnacht 75th Anniversary Dinner Flyer

12

H�������� E������� R������� C�� ��� N���

Will the Holocaust be remembered 50 or 100 years from now? Will it be taught? Will it be believed? "Never Forget"

Holocaust Education Resource Council Board of Directors

Barbara Goldstein President

Rita Blank Vice President

Robyn Rachin Secretary

Sam Kimelman Treasurer

Dot Hayward Community Relations Chair

Monte Finkelstein HERC Education Director

Board Members

Linda Davey Eileen Lerner

Nikki Allen Pete Cowdrey

Shari Gewanter Heather Kufert

Paula Saunders

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The Memorial in Berlin to the Murdered Jews of Europe sits just underground, hidden from view, as hate and prejudice lie just below the surface in people, groups and even societies today. And while we sometimes can’t see it or don’t feel affected by it, we can never forget it is still there. It doesn’t have to manifest itself in the form of genocide or ethnic cleansing; it also applies to hate and prejudice that perpetuate the differences between people, rather than what we share. No matter your religion, race, color or economic situation, we must all be vigilant in rooting out behavior that favors one group over another. If we are to grow and thrive as a community, we must do it together. We must be willing to offer help to those who need it, be understanding and accepting of people with lifestyles that may be unlike our own and recognize that we all are entitled to see things differently. We must “Never Forget” that, even when everything around us appears to be fine, the darker side of hate and prejudice may be just around the corner.

BY GILL ZIFFER (WRITTEN IN 2011)

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

LEARNING THROUGH WRITING—BY SOPHIA ELZIE 1ST PLACE CONTEST WINNER, 2013, 2012, 2011

Anticipation is a feeling with which I am familiar. I feel it before performances and after tests. One of my most highly anticipated moments this year was a phone call. This phone call wasn't just any phone call; it was Barbara Goldstein calling to congratulate me for placing in the 2013 HERC essay contest. I have been fortunate enough to have received three of these phone calls in three consecutive years. Winning always feels great. The essay contest is no exception; however, winning is not what's most important. The experience of writing the essays is more valuable than all three wins combined. Before I entered the 2011 HERC essay contest, the Holocaust was abstract. I knew that it happened and that it was awful, but there were many other horrible things in history. Though taught about the Holocaust in elementary school, I have no clear memory of reading or talking about the it. My earliest recollection of learning about the Holocaust did not take place at school. I remember reading Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl one summer on a car trip. The Holocaust happened, but not to me. I had not yet connected to the Holocaust on a personal level. In April of 2011, I researched and wrote my first essay for HERC. The essay was not just a contest entry; it was a major grade. Surprisingly, writing that essay personally connected me to the Holocaust in a way that nothing else could. Before I could write, I had to research. I read six books about the Holocaust over the course of a week. The books began to make the Holocaust more real. I felt a slimmer of what the people who lived during the Holocaust felt through words on a page. The writing of the essay really cemented my connection. The entire essay was carefully planned out. The names of my characters had been carefully researched for historical accuracy. As I wrote, everything suddenly became more real. The characters I created were thinking and feeling things I had to think and feel in order to write. Through the story I created, the Holocaust became personal. When April of 2012 rolled around,

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LEARNING THROUGH WRITING—BY SOPHIA ELZIE - CONTINUED

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

I was ready to write. The essay was an assignment again, but this time I completed it with eagerness. I already had lots of background knowledge on the Holocaust, so the research I conducted was strictly related to the prompt. I sat down to write equipped with extra knowledge, some new vocabulary, and a better understanding of grammar. The personal connection was already there. The resilience of my characters was borrowed from the strength of real people; it gave me the inspiration I needed. Words came easily, flowing from pencil to paper without pause. My essay was as much a part of myself as my fingerprints. The 2012-2013 school year marked a new beginning as I entered high school.Under the tutelage of my English teacher Mrs. Kirchharr, my writing improved by leaps and bounds. I learned to separate my writing from myself. The deadline for the 2013 HERC essay contest steadily marched nearer, but my time was consumed by my extracurricular activities. About a week before the contest closed, I came across the story of Albania during the German occupation, a country that worked to save Jewish people. There was no way around it; I had to write an essay about Albania and ten days would have to be enough time. After some intense researching sessions I was ready to write. This essay was not like the ones I wrote for English class. It was impossible for me to separate my writing from myself because it was incredibly personal. Over the few days my essay was edited and then submitted. After two weeks of nervous anticipation, I got the phone call telling me that I had won first place. At the awards ceremony on May 19th , I talked about how I came up with my idea for a story about a boy, his grandfather, and the incredible Albanians that risked their lives to save Jewish people from Nazi deportation. Entering the HERC essay contests has always been about more than winning. Through narrative writing I was able to establish a personal connection with the events of the Holocaust. Over the past three years, I have spent countless hours researching the Holocaust. At times the world felt like an unbearably dark place. The Holocaust brought out the worst in many people, but I came to realize it brought out the best in others. Writing became a way to commemorate the bravery of the victims of the Holocaust and the people who risked their lives to save them. The lessons I have learned through HERC's annual essay contest help me navigate through history and today's world. I have learned that though there is a lot of darkness, if you look hard enough there will always be pinpoints of light. ——————————————————————————————————————————- “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Elie Wiesel

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Franklin County leadership punched itself in the face — twice — this month when County Commission Chair Cheryl Sanders lobbed a callous and careless ethnic slur against Jews during a heated debate at the July 2 meeting. A ridiculously weak apology has left a lingering bloody nose to public civility in the wake of such pathetic, but supposedly unintentional, hate-mongering posing as leadership. How could it even happen today?

Sanders’ nonchalant nastiness was a sobering, stupefying moment that is forever on the record as a disgraceful piece of modern history for the community. It cannot be ignored. It must have a strong and direct response.

As the commission wrangled over how much to raise the salary of Howard Nabors, a longtime employee elevated to now head the road department, chair Sanders tried to cut through conversation about salaries of other department heads with this comment: “Today’s not the day to do it. We’re here (for Nabors’ salary), not to be up here jewing over somebody’s pay.”

What a stunning comment by a public official in a public meeting. Perhaps worse than the anti-Semitic remark by Sanders was the fact that no one challenged her about it. Not one of her peers on the commission called her on her language; not one member of the audience spoke up in protest; and not even the local newspaper, The Apalachicola Times, which quoted the remark in a long story about the Nabors appointment, took Sanders to task for it, in news columns or editorially.

Under the best-case scenario — and that’s not a very good case — Sanders may just be ignorant. But that is hardly a good excuse.

I spoke with chair Sanders by telephone on Monday. I told her use of the word “jewing” was totally offensive -— and she initially denied that she had said it. Instead, she offered, she had used the word “jawing.” That’s not true — and, later in the brief call, she acknowledged that she had, indeed, said “jewing” in reference to the salary discussion. “It was a slang, not a slur,” Sanders told me.

Actually, it is a slur — period. She owes herself and surely the community better than to try to justify the word even after using it and being confronted about it.

On Tuesday, Sanders offered a very weak attempt at an apology that, in many ways, only amplified and magnified her slur. Here’s the text of some of it:

“On July 2, there was a statement I made that offended. I used a word that was offensive to some people. It was in the heat of argument and it was a poor choice of words and I’m sorry. If I have caused any hardship to the people or employees of Franklin County, I’m sorry. This is a heartfelt apology.”

If that’s an apology, it lacks real contrition. When you have to describe your own apology as “heartfelt,” it probably is not. More than “some” people should be offended.

Sanders claims she didn’t know that the word “jewing” is an offensive slur — as much as the “N” word is about blacks. Did she never learn that the term contributes to prejudicial and stereotypical myths about an entire group of people — or is this acceptable language to her, privately?

You don’t have to be black to be offended by racism; nor do you have to be Jewish, to be appalled by anti-Semitism. The commissioner’s shallow apology could indicate that she uses such loaded words privately, in the company of people who can be trusted, and that her only real mistake was to have let the slur slip into public comments.

We all know that racism, sexism, anti-Semitism and other “isms” still exist — and that they even flourish in some places, among some people. But the example set by Cheryl Sanders is unworthy of the people of Franklin County. The naked ugliness of hate borne of ignorance or outright prejudice, displayed from the dais of a governmental body by someone who purports to be a leader, absolutely needs to be confronted.

Even if chair Sanders fails to get educated about slurs, or to change course from the polluted path of prejudice she may travel, let this be a teaching moment for the people of the community.

The lame apology is a start. Even better would be for Sanders to undergo sensitivity training — and perhaps there’s a case to be made for a countywide anti-prejudice campaign in Franklin, and beyond.

Barbara Goldstein, who is the director of the Big Bend’s area’s Holocaust Education Resource Council, is just the person to help create such an effort. She helped put Sanders’ slur into perspective with these words: “Prejudice results when ignorance goes unchecked. For a county commissioner, more sensitive language should be used as an example of understanding diversity. In the aftermath of the moral and societal failures that made the Holocaust possible, confronting anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred is critical.”

Diversity in our community, state, nation and world is a great strength, not a weakness. Tolerance, acceptance and understanding among all people are what help to define our civilization, rather than diffuse it.

One can only hope that chair Sanders feels a need to go beyond her flimsy mea culpa, to decry her own damaging words. Even more meaningful would be a genuine effort to foster and embrace a community that respects and celebrates diversity as a higher road for Franklin County’s future.

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HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

A SLUR, A SHALLOW APOLOGY AND A NEED FOR TRAINING - BY RON SACHS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

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HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

Shari Gewanter

I came to Tallahassee, Florida in August of 2001 for lunch, after a yearlong road trip out of Pittsburgh PA and decided to stay. While in Pennsylvania, I taught pre-kindergarten for six years and was an active member in the Pennsylvania Association for Young Children’s Anti-bias Committee. I shared multi-cultural and anti-bias education which seemed to be the norm in my community.

I found an open professional audience for sharing information and ideas. This translated to my being able to bring a rich curriculum to the

children in my care. I have been teaching kindergarten at Oak Ridge Elementary School in Tallahassee, since 2001. When I arrived and started teaching, I sensed that multi-cultural and anti-bias education was not at a level that I was used to. I also felt that there was an even weaker focus and understanding of Jewish history and culture throughout the district.

As a new member of the HERC board, I know my skills as a teacher and networker allow me to bring ideas, people and resources together. Complemented by my Board membership, I continue to share the story of my families’ survival through the Holocaust with my students and peers as I always have. But now, working with HERC, I can reach out on a broader scale.

My passion for the education profession and the art and science of teaching, and involvement with HERC, my reach of Holocaust education to Leon County Schools and the community at large to goes further. It is my honor and pleasure to served on the HERC board.

PROFILESPROFILESPROFILESPROFILES

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HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

She smuggled out the children in suitcases, ambulances, coffins, sewer pipes, rucksacks and, on one occasion, even a tool box.

Those old enough to ask knew their saviour only by her codename "Jolanta".

But she kept hidden a meticulous record of all their real names and new identities - created to protect the Jewish youngsters from the pursuing Nazis - so they might later be re-united with their families.

By any measure, Irena Sendler was one of the most remarkable and noble figures to have emerged from the horrors of World War II. But, until recently, her extraordinary compassion and heroism went largely unrecorded.

When the Germans finally caught her, the Roman Catholic social worker had managed to save 2,500 Jewish babies and toddlers from deportation to the concentration camps.

She had spirited them out of the heavily-guarded Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, and hidden their identities in two glass jars buried under an apple tree in her neighbour's garden.

She was beaten, tortured and sentenced to death by the Gestapo - who even announced her execution. But Irena survived, her spirit unbroken, her secrets untold.

She died last week, in her modest Warsaw apartment, aged 98. What a woman she was. For once, the term "heroine" is no exaggeration, though such plaudits did not sit easily with her.

She said: "I was brought up to believe that a person must be rescued when drowning, regardless of religion and nationality.

"The term 'heroine' irritates me greatly. The opposite is true. I continue to have pangs of conscience that I did so little."

Irena always ascribed her desire to do good to the influence of her parents, in particular her father, a Polish physician in a small town near Warsaw.

Most of his patients were poor Jews. He died during a typhus epidemic when Irena was seven.

When the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, Irena was working as a senior administrator in Warsaw's social welfare department. She was responsible for food and financial aid to the city's poor.

As the Nazis began a crackdown on the Jews, she widened the state assistance to include the racially persecuted, who were given fictitious Christian names to hide their true origins.

The situation worsened dramatically in the autumn of 1940 when the German authorities created the Warsaw Ghetto. Some 440,000 Jews, more than a third of the city's population, were herded into a 16-block neighbourhood, around which a wall was built.

It was to be both an open prison and by Richard Pendlebury a convenient means of isolating and holding the Jews before they were sent to their deaths at Treblinka extermination camp.

Disease and starvation stalked the streets. Five thousand died there every month.

THE 'FEMALE SCHINDLER' WHO SAVED 2,500 JEWISH CHILDREN BUT DIED

WISHING SHE'D RESCUED MORE - BY RICHARD PENDLEBURY, WWW.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

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In July 1942, the Nazis began Operation Reinhard, which saw 250,000 Jews removed from the ghetto to Treblinka. The Final Solution had begun.

Irena was horrified. She felt she had to help, so she joined Zegota, an underground organization created by the Polish government-in-exile to help the nation's Jews.

In late 1942, she was made head of its children's section. Her extraordinary work was about to begin. In conditions of extreme danger, she would save as many ghetto children from near-certain death as she could.

Her first problem had been how to reach the ghetto - movement both in and out was heavily restricted by the Germans. This obstacle was overcome when she obtained an official pass from the city's Contagious Diseases Department.

Under the guise of stopping the ghetto's epidemics from spreading beyond its walls, she was able to visit daily.

Whenever she was inside, she wore the yellow Star of David - mandatory for all Jews - to show solidarity with the oppressed and to blend in with the residents.

Of course, she could not act alone: Irena had developed a network of two dozen conspirators.

Some were tasked to get the children out, others to find homes for them outside the ghetto and a third group to obtain or forge hundreds of false documents for the young escapees.

The way she secretly removed the children from the ghetto was not only ingenious but, in desperate circumstances, often bizarre.

A standard trick was to strap a child underneath the stretcher of a patient being placed in an outgoing ambulance.

Others were smuggled through an old courthouse and a church, which stood on the boundary of the ghetto and had doors opening into both sides. Still more were taken through the sewers.

Those small enough were sometimes put in suitcases or boxes and wheeled out on porters' trolleys. Coffins, bodybags and potato sacks all hid boys and girls.

Irena concentrated first on removing orphans. But as the threat of the Final Solution grew, all children in the ghetto were offered sanctuary.

Remembered: Irena Sendler's funeral was packed with mourners

She often said that the hardest part was persuading the parents to let them go, even as they faced almost certain death.

"Can you guarantee they will live?" she was asked by more than one agonized mother.

"No, but if they stay here I guarantee that they will die," was her stock reply. "You shouldn't trust me. But what else can you do?"

Sometimes, when her powers of persuasion failed, she would go away and return the next day to begin the negotiations again, only to find that the family had been sent to Treblinka overnight.

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

THE 'FEMALE SCHINDLER' WHO SAVED 2,500 JEWISH CHILDREN BUT DIED

WISHING SHE'D RESCUED MORE - BY RICHARD PENDLEBURY, CONTINUED

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But thousands were persuaded to make that heart-rending split, and Irena said: "In my dreams I still hear the cries of the children when they left their parents."

One of the children was Elzbieta Ficowska. She was only a few months old when her mother gave her up to Irena. A mechanic put her in a tool box, placed it among a pile of bricks in the back of his lorry and took her out.

Elzbieta never saw her mother again; the only evidence that she had ever been in the ghetto was a silver spoon with her name and birthdate engraved on it, which her mother had given to Irena.

Still alive today, Elzbieta now says she had three mothers - her biological one, the Polish woman who took her in after she escaped from the ghetto ... and Irena, the mother who saved her from certain death.

Most of the children were sent with their new identities to orphanages and convents or placed in private homes. They were taught to replace their Jewish prayers with Christian ones in case the hiding places were raided.

Even though the penalty for harbouring a Jew in Poland was death, Irena claimed: "No one ever refused to take a child from me."

She kept a careful record of whom she rescued and where they were sent. This coded information was written on tissue paper. Identical lists were hidden in two glass jars, buried under the apple tree opposite a German army barracks.

This was hardly ideal as the jars had to be dug up every time the name of a new escapee was added. But they were never found.

Even so, the Germans became aware of Irena's activities and, in October 1943, she was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the notorious Pawiak prison in Warsaw, which the Nazis turned into a concentration camp.

There, her interrogator was a stylish young German who spoke perfect Polish. And when she refused to expose the Zegota underground network, he had her arms and legs broken.

Sentenced to death - which by now she told her captors she wished for - Irena was taken in a semi- conscious state from the prison to a forest where she expected to be shot by firing squad.

Although she was dumped in the forest, the firing squad never materialised. The underground movement had successfully bribed the man tasked with overseeing her execution, and recovered her even as posters were put up around Warsaw proclaiming her death.

Irena spent the rest of the war in hiding. But as soon as it ended, she handed over the tissue lists in the glass jars - vital information that could link the lost children to their families - to Jewish representatives.

Alas, many of the families had perished in the Holocaust. Other children she had saved chose to stay with their foster parents - they could not remember their real parents.

Some 500 were taken to Israel to start a new life. The fate of another 500 of the children she saved could not be traced, swallowed by the tides of war which engulfed so many Poles.

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

THE 'FEMALE SCHINDLER' WHO SAVED 2,500 JEWISH CHILDREN BUT DIED

WISHING SHE'D RESCUED MORE - BY RICHARD PENDLEBURY, CONTINUED

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And Irena? She married and had two children of her own. But in postwar communist Poland her heroic deeds went unpublished and were even officially frowned upon by the regime, which was not sympathetic towards Jews.

But as the children she rescued grew into adulthood, her achievements began to attract wider attention. In 1983, Irena was decorated in Israel as "Righteous Among the Nations" - the highest honour bestowed by the Jewish people on non-Jews.

During the ceremony, Teresa Kerner, one of the girls she had saved, now a doctor, recalled how Irena had helped her move several times to safe houses and then given her a home for two years at the end of the war.

Post- communist Poland also finally awarded Irena its highest civilian decoration in 2003. Last year, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Nevertheless, her profile remained tiny compared with that of Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who saved far fewer Jews than Irena but was immortalized by an award winning book and film.

Her last years were spent in a wheelchair, thanks to the wounds inflicted on her by the Gestapo.

A few months before she died, she said: "After World War II, it seemed that humanity understood something, and nothing like that would happen again.

"Humanity has understood nothing. Religious, tribal, national wars continue. The world continues to be in a sea of blood."

But she added: "The world can be better if there's love, tolerance and humility."

Irena Sendler had all three in abundance.

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

THE 'FEMALE SCHINDLER' WHO SAVED 2,500 JEWISH CHILDREN BUT DIED

WISHING SHE'D RESCUED MORE - BY RICHARD PENDLEBURY, CONTINUED

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HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

September 19th ---St. John’s--The Storyteller by Jody Picoult

October 17th ---Temple Israel--the film, Refuge Directed by Ethan Bensinger

November 15th ---St. John’s--FDR and the Jews by Richard Breitman

No December Meeting

January 16th---St. John’s ---The Children of Willesden Lane

by Golabek and Cohen

February 20th---Temple Israel---the film, Nicky’s Family the story of Nicholas Winton

March 20th---St. John’s---The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

St. John’s Episcopal Church is located at 211 North Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32301 850-222-2636

Temple Israel is located at 2215 Mahan Drive Tallahassee, FL 32308 850-877-3517

All discussion group times start at 7:00PM

www.holocaustresources.org

[email protected]

The Interfaith Book Club 2013-2014

Sponsored by Holocaust Education Resource Council Co-Hosted by St. John’s Episcopal Church and Temple Israel

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INTERFAITH BOOK CLUB

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SEPTEMBER 19

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

Jodi Picoult, New York Times # 1 bestselling author begins the third year of the Interfaith Book Club meeting with her riveting novel, The Storyteller. Author of twenty-one novels, The Storyteller is based loosely on a book by Simon Wiesenthal (a Holocaust survivor) The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. Mr. Wiesenthal recounts a conversation he had with an SS soldier who wanted to confess his atrocities and to be forgiven by a Jew. Join us on Thursday September 19th, 7pm at St. John's Episcopal Church for a discussion on the moral and ethical questions of forgiveness in the context of the Holocaust, the most horrific crime against humanity in history. For more information, contact Virginia Perkins at [email protected] or 850-385-5713.

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HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

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Ann Gabor

Mimi Shaw

Susan Haddix

Mr. and Mrs. Martin Merzer

Betty Piekarewicz

Haley Cutler

Eleanore P Rosenberg

Toni Bernstein

Rita Blank

Barbara Goldstein

Shari Gewanter

Dot Hayward

Robyn Rachin

Linda Davey

Eileen Lerner

Heather Kufert

Paula Saunders

Mr. and Mrs. Bill Graham

Judge James Wolf

Donna Callaway

Diane Johnston

Virginia Perkins

Steve and Christine Leoni

Alvin and Susan Stauber

Viki Thompson Wylder

Sam and Jessica Kimmelman

Bob and Linda Reiser

Elaine Harris and Irwin Kantrowitz

Libby and Sid Bigham

Judge Bob and Karen Cohen

Paul Mitchell

Tonya Chavis

Janice Fleisher

Dr. Richard and Ellen Peyton

Joanne Sapolsky

Sandy Beck

MEMBERSHIP LISTMEMBERSHIP LISTMEMBERSHIP LISTMEMBERSHIP LIST JULY 2013JULY 2013JULY 2013JULY 2013

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org

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HOLOCAUST EDUCATION RESOURCE COUNCIL NEWS

The Holocaust Education Resource Council (HERC) recognizes you as an important partner in our mission. As we reach out to the community, our services have never been in greater demand. Teachers, principals and community organizations request our help as they respond to the difficult times in which we find ourselves. Schools are experiencing an increase in bullying and bias, as racism rears its ugly head with greater frequency. Your membership directly supports HERC and its educational activities. Your gifts and contributions enable the Holocaust Education Resource Council to sustain its many outreach programs. Members receive special invitations to film screenings, lectures, and special programs. We are making a difference in our community, but we cannot continue to do that without your support. We urge you to join us at whatever membership level is most comfortable for you.

HERC 2013 Membership Form

Name: Address: Home phone: Cell phone: Email: I am interested to help on one or more committees: Book club Holocaust Remembrance Essay and Art contest Community Outreach Teacher Workshop Membership

MEMBERSHIP ENABLES YOU TO: • Attend programs, films, and scholars’ lectures – at reduced rates or no charge

• Receive notice of ongoing programs, updates on current genocidal situations, and invitations to special events

• Borrow from our extensive collection of books, media, research files and curricula on Holocaust, genocide & human rights issues

• Affirm your personal commitment to our mission and help us reach our goal

HERC is making a difference in our community, but we cannot continue to do so without your support. We urge you to join us at whatever membership level is most comfortable for you.

HERC OFFERS VARIOUS LEVELS OF MEMBERSHIP: Please select a membership level.

$36 (Chai- Life) This membership level purchases a DVD, book or periodical for our school resources $100 (Shalom- Peace) This membership level provides a scholarship for a student with the annual essay and art contest $250 (B’racha-Blessing) This membership level buys a set of books for a school classroom $500 (Zichron-Remembrance) This membership level helps to sponsor a speaker for annual teacher training workshop

PLEASE SEND CHECKS TO: Holocaust Education Resource Council

P.O. Box 16282 Tallahassee, FL. 32317

You May Contact HERC online at: www.holocaustresources.org