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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 9, 2025. Hedda Sharapan, a descendant of survivors originally from Lithuania, shares a heartwarming Holocaust story about a father and son. This program was part of a series of events in 2025, commemorating the 80th anniversary of liberation, and in observance of Genocide Awareness Month. About the Speaker: Hedda Bluestone Sharapan grew up in McKeesport - but she and her sister Rena always felt that they grew up with one foot in Europe and the other foot in America. Because their parents, Ida and Charles Bluestone, were raised in Lithuania and didn’t immigrate until they married in 1936, their McKeesport household was embedded in the Old World Yiddishkeit. World War II connected the family back to Europe, which brings us to a unique Holocaust story of a father and son. Hedda also has a unique Pittsburgh story, having worked with Fred Rogers and his legacy for 58 years. Currently she serves as a script consultant for the PBS highly acclaimed Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood for Fred Rogers Productions and as an advisor to the Fred Rogers Institute at St Vincent College. Over the years, she has spoken at hundreds of conferences and events across the country sharing what she’s learned from Fred Rogers. She has a master’s degree from the University in Pittsburgh in Child Development, and an honorary doctorate from St. Vincent College. Hedda settled in Shadyside and has two daughters, Amy whose family lives in New Jersey and Laurie whose family lives in Chicago, and four grandchildren. In the past few years Hedda has been an active in the Jewish Grandparenting Network and stays in touch with old friends through the Facebook group “Growing Up Jewish in McKeesport.”
Program recorded on Feb. 21, 2025. While survivor Edith Dach, Susan Terman's mother, never wrote about her Holocaust experience, she and other family members told many stories to Susan. Susan then shared her family's stories with her brother-in-law, Pittsburgh-area poet Philip Terman. From there, the book I am a Jew: A Holocaust Family Memoir was born. Containing Susan’s sharing of her mother’s stories recast as poems, I am a Jew: A Holocaust Family Memoir describes episodes of one family's personal Holocaust experience. Purchase the book: https://a.co/d/isTbMVr
This program was recorded on November 9, 2023. The first of our “Elizabeth Sylvian Memorial Lectures,” which address issues related to the Holocaust, including lessons still to be learned and implications for the 21st century. This program also marked the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the “night of broken glass,” the organized pogrom against Jews in Nazi Germany. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s annual Kristallnacht program is generously supported by Edgar Snyder. Albert Farhy was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. At the age of 13, he was forced into a ghetto then almost sent to a concentration camp, before Bulgarian officials stepped in to prevent his deportation. Albert will discuss topics including his life before and during the Holocaust, and his rescue at the hands of the Bulgarian officials. He will also recount stories about the presence of music in his life, as his father was once a musician, who played the violin and was involved with the Jewish Symphony of Bulgaria.
This program was recorded on September 12, 2024 at Chatham University. Learn about Holocaust survivor Solange Lebovitz’s experiences as a Jewish child and teen living in occupied France, hiding from the Nazis and their collaborators. While she was living in hiding, her other family members were in concentration camps and her brothers were members of the French Resistance. Solange was born in 1930 in Paris, France. She survived by hiding in Normandy with help from a selfless, brave Catholic couple. In 1952, she married a fellow Holocaust survivor, and they then settled in Pittsburgh. Solange has two children, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Solange is also an accomplished poet and writer, and some of her poetry will be read at this event. Participants will also have the opportunity to ask their own questions during the program. This event was a part of RAD Days 2024.
This program was recorded on July 18, 2024 as a part of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh's Generations Summer Speaker Series. Bio: Dr. Melissa Marks is the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. Her desire to understand the history and psychology of the Holocaust led her to become a social studies teacher, a career she loved for a decade. Currently, she is in her 21st year as a Professor of Education at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. She is a member of advisory boards for the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, Seton Hill’s National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, and the Westmoreland YWCA Racial Justice Committee. Presentation Synopsis: When we learn about the Holocaust, we need to learn individual stories that inspire us: Inspire us to stand up for what is right, inspire us to speak out against evil even when we feel scared, and inspire us to hope even in the darkest times. We need to recognize the power each of us has. The stories that I will share about my mother, my grandmother, and their extended family showcase the power individuals have in the choices we make. My mother and grandmother survived because of luck, quick wits, and the willingness of strangers to put what was right ahead of their own safety. My grandfather survived the camps because he hoped to see his baby daughter married under a chupah. Generations programming is generously supported by the Sylvia & Martin Snow Family Fund.
This program was recorded on June 18, 2024 as a part of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh's Generations Summer Speaker Series. The recording was originally uploaded on June 21, 2024. This updated version was edited to include the presentation slides. Clare knew her paternal grandparent’s, Wanda and Jan Drobot, affectionately Yay and Nana, as Polish immigrants living near her childhood home in Northern Virginia. But when Wanda passed away in 1998, Clare began an unexpected journey exploring their shared and individual histories. Both Wanda, née Salomea Wander and Jan, originally Jakub Djament, were Holocaust survivors who raised their children as Catholic in Post-WWII Poland. This is the story of Clare’s search to uncover her family’s past and understand the legacy of her Grandparent’s survival. About Clare: A dramaturg, playwright, and producer Clare Drobot is currently the Co-Artistic Director at City Theatre in Pittsburgh working alongside fellow Co-ADs Marc Masterson and Monteze Freeland. She has worked in various capacities at Premiere Stages at Kean University, Laura Stanczyk Casting, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The McCarter Theatre, The BE Company, Play Penn, and New Dramatists. Her work as a writer has been seen in Ars Nova’s ANT FEST and the New Hazlett Theatre’s CSA Series among others. She serves on the boards of the National New Play Network and Brew House Association and is a graduate of Leadership Pittsburgh (LP XXXVIII). BA/BFA Carnegie Mellon University, member of LMDA. Generations programming is generously supported by the Sylvia & Martin Snow Family Fund. Learn more about our Generations Speakers Bureau and request a member to speak to your or group: https://hcofpgh.org/resources/speakers/
The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh celebrates the winners of the Middle School and High School winners of the 38th Annual Waldman Arts & Writing Competition. The Awards Ceremony took place on May 9th, 2024, at the James Laughlin Music Hall on Chatham University's campus. View the digital program booklet here: https://hcofpgh.org/waldman-program-23-24-final-1/ Learn more about the Waldman Arts and Writing Competition and view the winning entries: https://hcofpgh.org/waldman/
This program was recorded on May 6, 2024. View the digital program booklet: https://hcofpgh.org/2024-yom-hashoah-program/ 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 Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh's 2024 commemoration was held on May 6, 2024, at 7 pm in Chatham University’s Campbell Memorial Chapel. The commemoration included a candle-lighting ceremony in which six candles were lit in memory of the six million and three additional candles were 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 were composed of descendants, community members, and lay leaders. The commemoration also included a film made by Chatham University students featuring local Holocaust survivors, music played by members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, songs and poetry performed by middle and high school students, and a memorial for local survivors who have passed away.
This program was recorded on April 15, 2024. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh hosted a virtual lunch & learn with Historian Dr. Rafael Medoff and whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid as they discuss the new nonfiction graphic novel Whistleblowers: Four Who Fought to Expose the Holocaust (written by Medoff; drawn by Dean Motter; foreword by Zaid). About Whistleblowers: Whistleblowers tells the true story of four courageous individuals who risked their careers—or their lives—to confront the unfolding Holocaust. Who were the whistleblowers? Alan Cranston—a young journalist and future U.S. senator who exposed the truth of Hitler’s plans. Henry Morgenthau, Jr.—a member of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s cabinet who confronted the President over the plight of Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler Jan Karski—an eyewitness to Nazi atrocities who met with American and British officials to alert them about the death camps. Josiah E. DuBois Jr.—an American civil servant who blew the whistle on colleagues inside the Roosevelt administration who were blocking the rescue of refugees. Learn more and purchase your own copy: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/734724/whistleblowers-four-who-fought-to-expose-the-holocaust-to-america-by-written-by-rafael-medoff-illustrated-by-dean-motter-foreword-by-mark-zaid/ About Dr. Rafael Medoff: Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, based in Washington, D.C., which focuses on America’s response to Nazism and the Holocaust. He is the author of more than 20 books on the Holocaust, Zionism, and American Jewish history. Dr. Medoff is also a leader in the field of using political cartoons, comic books, and animation as tools in Holocaust education. His latest book is the nonfiction graphic novel Whistleblowers: Four Who Fought to Expose the Holocaust to America, with Dean Motter. Medoff also is coauthor, with Neal Adams and Craig Yoe, of We Spoke Out: Comic Books and the Holocaust; coauthor of the forthcoming book Cartoonists Against the Holocaust, with Craig Yoe); and co-creator, with Neal Adams, of the Disney Educational Productions animated series “They Spoke Out: American Voices Against the Holocaust.” Dr. Medoff has authored Holocaust-related comic strips for Marvel Comics, the Washington Post (with Art Spiegelman of “Maus”), the Los Angeles Times, and The New Republic. About Mark Zaid: Mark S. Zaid is a renowned national security attorney based in Washington, D.C. He regularly handles high-profile cases involving federal employees and contractors, including whistleblowers, and often comments on national media programs. Mark is the grandson of Rabbi David Max Eichhorn, the U.S. Army Chaplain who led services for the survivors of Dachau Concentration Camp in May 1945, and he co-edited the book “GI’s Rabbi” (2004) concerning his grandfather’s World War Two correspondence. He is also a longstanding comic-book collector and dealer and lectures on the history of comic books.
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