Holocaust Resource Center Past Commemorations

2024 November Pogrom/Kristallnacht Commemoration: Testimony Screen: Lessons from the Holocaust

Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at 6:00pm

Please join us as we watch a testimony screen with Faith Goldsmith, wife of Holocaust survivor, Peter Goldsmith. This screening will take place at Kean Ocean.

Kristallnacht Commemoration: Film Screening: Family Treasures Lost & Found -- via Zoom

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Please join the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University and New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education for a film screening of Family Treasures Lost & Found followed by a talkback with filmmakers Karen A. Frenkel and Marcia Rock. 

Kristallnacht: The Mischlinge Exposé co-presented by the NJ Commission on Holocaust Education

Thursday, November 2, 2023

The Mischlinge Exposé weaves a multimedia tapestry around a little-known aspect of the Holocaust: the Mischlinge (a derogatory Nazi term for those neither fully Jewish nor fully Aryan). Interweaving video and audio testimony from Carolyn's godmother and her father (both labeled Mischling, Grade A by the Nazis), with the music of composers from the salon period, the program vividly illustrates what it was like to be between worlds in Germany in the early 20th century. The Mischlinge Exposé directly addresses universally significant issues of identity and inclusion, encouraging empathy, respect, and engagement.

Footsteps of My Father: A story of Courage, Resilience and Honor in Commemoration of Kristallnacht and Veterans Day

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Stanlee Stahl, Executive Vice President of The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, will introduce a special screening of the award-winning film about Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds who risked his life by not turning over hundreds of Jewish soldiers in the POW camp where they were being held prisoner by the Germans in the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge. The documentary film will be followed with remarks and Q&A by Roddie Edmonds son, Pastor Chris Edmonds.

Co-sponsored by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous.

Kristallnacht/The November Pogrom

November 9, 2021

The HRC holds annual Kristallnacht/The November Pogrom programs at Kean Union and Kean Ocean with Ocean County College and collaborates on various initiatives with Kean University’s General Education department, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and Jewish Studies programs, Hillel student group, and partner organizations. 

The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust

Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 7:00pm

Presented by Dr. Elizabeth White & Kean alumna Dr. Joanna Sliwa -- professional historians and Holocaust experts

The Battle of Warsaw's Jews: The Afterlife of the Revolt 

Tuesday, November 28, 2023 at 7pm

Presented by: Dr. Avinoam J. Patt -- Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies and Director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut 

Murray Pantirer Memorial Scholar Lecture and 40th Anniversary Commemoration

Tuesday, November 29 at 7:00 PM

Presented by: Dr. Judah Cohen -- Lou and Sybil Mervis Professor in the Study of Jewish Culture at Indiana University

Saints and Liars: American Relief and Rescue Workers during the Nazi Era

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Presented by: Dr. Debórah Dwork -- Director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity, CUNY

Yom Hashoah Educators' Commemoration 

Monday, May 6, 2024

Yom HaShoah Educators' Commemoration featuring keynote speakers Dr. Fran Levin and Sandy Rogen of 2GNJ.

Click here to watch on YouTube

Yom Hashoah Commemoration

Monday, April 17, 2023

Join us either in-person or on YouTube for this meaningful and inspiring program with special guest speaker Eva (Safier) Wiener, Holocaust survivor and one of the youngest passengers on the infamous St. Louis, the ship full of escapees from Germany which was denied entry at multiple ports. She and her family were allowed to disembark in England where they survived the war. 

Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ and the Holocaust Resource Center at Kean University are commemorating all those in our local community who survived, served, rescued, and continue to teach the lessons of the Holocaust today.  

The program will also include a candle-lighting ceremony, recitation of the Kaddish, and hymns.

Yom HaShoah Commemoration

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ and the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University is offering two unique programs to commemorate all those in our local community who survived, served, rescued, and continue to teach the lessons of the Holocaust today. 

The Secret Annex: A Virtual Tour of the Anne Frank House

4:30-5:30pm

Led by an educator from the Anne Frank House, this virtual tour of The Secret Annex in Amsterdam will examine the extraordinary life of Anne Frank and how her legacy continues to inspire young people today.

Keeping the Stories Alive: A Conversation Between a Survivor and her Saviors' Daughter

6:00-7:15pm

Holocaust survivor Maud Dahme and Ingrid Steppic, the daughter of the couple who saved her more than 75 years ago, will share their stories of survival and heroism. Moderated by Ilyse Shainbrown, Director of Holocaust Education.

Yom HaShoah Commemoration — Third Voices of the Holocaust

Tuesday, April 26th, 2022 at 7pm via Zoom

In honor of Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Month, join Michelle Edgar and Jessica Wang, grandchildren of survivors, to hear their family member's stories of wartime survival and rebuilding after the Holocaust.

Presented by the Holocaust Resource Center of Kean University, Hillel of Greater MetroWest NJ, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 3GNJ, ZBT Crest and Greek Senate

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Quarantining Hate

Wednesday, Janurary 29, 2025 at 4:30pm EST via Zoom

Join the HREC and the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ in this commemorative lecture by Kerrie Taber as she describes her project into her family's history and how she uses her research to show what can happen when society pushes back against hate.

Click here to watch on YouTube

A World Erased: A Grandson's Search for His Family's Holocaust Secrets

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Noah Lederman, grandson of Holocaust survivors and author of the memoir, A World Erased: A Grandson’s Search for His Family’s Holocaust Secrets, shares a personal journey from his grandparents' Brooklyn kitchen to World War II Poland. Raised on toned-down Holocaust stories, Noah's quest for the uncensored truth intensifies after his Poppy's death. Despite avoiding Poland after college, Noah ends up there, subsequently unlocking buried memories with his grandmother. Surprisingly, revisiting the Holocaust narrative revitalizes her, ending years of mourning. This revelation transformed the grandmother he once playfully mocked into his hero.

Through the Eyes of a Friend

January 28, 2022 at 10am via Zoom

What does it mean to survive?

Sarah is a historically accurate composite character, based on the testimonies of those who knew Anne Frank, as well as other victims, resisters, and survivors of the Holocaust and World War II.

Through the Eyes of a Friend will come to you as a professionally recorded live performance, with a live post-show discussion and Q&A session with a teaching artist.