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Holocaust Center Pittsburgh

The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh connects the horrors of the Holocaust and antisemitism with injustices of today.

Holocaust Center Pittsburgh
This program was recorded on April 13, 2026. Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is the day set aside to remember the approximately six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The Holocaust Center has been holding a community-wide commemoration every year since the establishment of the Center in 1980. The commemoration includes a candle-lighting ceremony in which six candles are lit in memory of the six million and three additional candles are lit in honor of the Veterans, the Liberators, and the Righteous, those non-Jews who risked their lives to save the lives of their Jewish friends and neighbors. The candle-lighters are composed of Holocaust Survivors and/or descendants, community members, and lay leaders. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is a program of The Tree of Life.
This program, presented by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and Center of Life, was recorded on March 19, 2026. The program was centered on a conversation between Center of Life's Rev. Tim Smith, and Avi Dresner, son of Civil Rights Activist Rabbi Israel โ€œSyโ€ Dresner, tracing the history of the African American-Jewish relationship during the Civil Rights Movement and exploring ways to collaboratively address racism and antisemitism today. It was moderated by Emily Loeb of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, whose uncle Rabbi Everett Gendler was also a Civil Rights activist. This program was a part of Avi Dresnerโ€™s national project, Blackโ€“Jewish Reconciliation: (Re)Building the Bridge, which explores the historic African Americanโ€“Jewish alliance during the Civil Rights Movementโ€”particularly the relationship between Rabbi Dresner and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.โ€”and engages communities in dialogue about the value of that alliance today. The project is supported by the Ford Foundation. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is a program of The Tree of Life.
Access the program book here: https://hcofpgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/HCP_YHBook2026_20260316_3.pdf The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh has been holding a community-wide commemoration every year since the establishment of the Center in 1980. This year's program will feature music played by students from Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, poetry readings, filmed testimony from Holocaust survivors, a candle-lighting ceremony, and other traditional elements. During the candle-lighting ceremony, six candles are lit in memory of the six million Jewish victims, and three additional candles are lit in honor of the Veterans, the Liberators, and the Righteous, those non-Jews who risked their lives to save the lives of their Jewish friends and neighbors. The candle-lighters are Holocaust Survivors and/or descendants, community members, and lay leaders. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is a program of The Tree of Life.
This program was recorded on March 12, 2025. Alison Brown Karabin shares the story of her grandmother Elizabeth Brown (z"l), a beloved Pittsburgh survivor originally from Hungary. Alison recounts Elizabeth's survival in Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Volary death march, before settling in Squirrel Hill and raising her family. This event is part of a series of programs in 2025, recognizing the 80th anniversary of liberation.
This program was recorded on April 24, 2025. Join us in person or virtually at our 2026 Yom HaShoah Commemoration on April 13, 2026: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1983897619184?aff=oddtdtcreator Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is the day set aside to remember the approximately six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. The Holocaust Center has been holding a community-wide commemoration every year since the establishment of the Center in 1980.
This program was recorded on February 23, 2026. Jerry Guttman was born in Dresden, Germany, in 1932. With his parents' forethought, he managed to escape Hitlerโ€™s racial laws, as well as Mussoliniโ€™s subsequent antisemitism. From Italy, the family evacuated to Tangier, Morocco, where Jerry spent his formative years, including his bar mitzvah. He later graduated high school in Milan, Italy, where the family moved after World War II. At the age of 21, with the Sponsorship of a prominent American Diplomat whom Jerry met in Milan, he was able to emigrate to the United States. Shortly after his arrival, he was drafted into the Army and served during the Korean War. He was later accepted to attend The University of Pennsylvania on the GI Bill. Jerry built a career and family in Philadelphia, where he lived for many years with his late wife, Avie, before moving to California to be closer to their children. After many years on the West Coast, Jerry moved back to Pennsylvania in 2021.
This program was recorded on Feb 12, 2026. Righteous Among the Neighbors honors non-Jewish Pittsburghers who support the Jewish community and take action to uproot antisemitism. In partnership with the LIGHT Education Initiative, Mt. Lebanon High School student journalists interviewed honorees and wrote profiles about their efforts.ย Read them here: https://hcofpgh.org/righteous-among-the-neighbors-2025/ - 7:38 Pastor Joel Benson nominated by Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer 12:05 Mariace Dancisin nominated by Natan Cramer and Nina Butler 17:38 Joe Harmon nominated by Emily Loeb 20:32 Bishop Emeritus Kurt Kusserow nominated by Noah Schoen 23:57 Jim Paharik nominated by Melissa Marks 28:58 Megan Pankiewicz nominated by 10/27 Families Bridging Kindness 33:44 Bhavini Patel nominated by Carole R. Zawatsky 38:02 Kannu Sahni nominated by Dana Gold 42:35 Kevin Washo nominated by Rabbi Shmuli Rothstein - The Righteous Among the Neighbors Celebration was hosted by the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Center for Loving Kindness. Righteous Among the Neighbors is generously supported by the Phyllis G. and Jerry D. Silverman Family Endowment Fund. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is a program of The Tree of Life.
This informational session for members of Holocaust organiations will include a walkthrough of the program curriculum and an overview of opportunities to collaborate, followed by a Q&A. Featuring: Lily Sassani, Girl Scout and Creator of the Patch Program Emily Loeb, Director at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh Julia Gaetano, Marketing and Education Associate at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh
This program was recording on January 27, 2026 in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Mischlinge Exposรฉ weaves a multimedia tapestry around this little-known aspect of the Holocaust. Interweaving video and audio testimony from Carolynโ€™s godmother and her father, both labeled โ€œMischling, Grade Aโ€ by the Nazis, with the music of composers from the salon period who converted to Christianity in the decades before the war, and works reacting to questions of identity after the war, the program vividly illustrates what it was like to be between worlds in Germany in the first half of the 20th century. Through the telling of her family story, Ms. Engerโ€™s concert and live documentary The Mischlinge Exposรฉ directly addresses universally significant issues of identity and inclusion, encouraging empathy, tolerance, and engagement. About Carolyn Enger: Internationally celebrated American pianist Carolyn Enger has gained critical acclaim for her exquisite lyrical playing, as well as her deeply felt interpretations. In addition to an active performance schedule on two continents, including recent performances at the Virginia Holocaust Museum, Holocaust Museum Houston, Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Philadelphia Holocaust Remembrance Foundation, Stockton University, Baruch College, Kean University, Bruce Museum and Noontime Concerts in San Francisco; Ms. Enger has enjoyed remarkable success as a recording artist. The New York Times selected her Naxos recording of intimate Ned Rorem miniatures, Piano Album I & Six Friends, as one of the newspaperโ€™s โ€œBest In Classical Recordingsโ€, writing โ€œAmong the 90thโ€“birthday tributes this year to the essential American composer Ned Rorem, this recording especially stands out,โ€ while Gramophone declared, โ€œEnger raises the miniatures to a higher level.โ€ Recently the recording was โ€œAlbum of the Weekโ€ on Sirius XMโ€™s Symphony Hall and was featured on their program Living American. Her latest recording Resonating Earth was released in September 2024 to glowing praise: โ€œa thoughtful programmeโ€ฆenthrallingโ€ (Nigel Simone, International Piano), โ€œlovingly performedโ€ฆa beautiful, meaningful recitalโ€ (Steve Smith, Night After Night, โ€œsensitively performed and intelligently curatedโ€ (Frances Wilson, Interlude), and has been streamed over 500,000 times on Apple Music.
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