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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 February 23, 2026. Jerry Guttman was born in Dresden, Germany, in 1932. With his parents' forethought, he managed to escape Hitler’s racial laws, as well as Mussolini’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. 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 Exposé weaves a multimedia tapestry around this little-known aspect of the Holocaust. 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 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. Enger’s concert and live documentary The Mischlinge Exposé 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 newspaper’s “Best In Classical Recordings”, writing “Among the 90th–birthday tributes this year to the essential American composer Ned Rorem, this recording especially stands out,” while Gramophone declared, “Enger raises the miniatures to a higher level.” Recently the recording was “Album of the Week” on Sirius XM’s Symphony Hall and was featured on their program Living American. Her latest recording Resonating Earth was released in September 2024 to glowing praise: “a thoughtful programme…enthralling” (Nigel Simone, International Piano), “lovingly performed…a beautiful, meaningful recital” (Steve Smith, Night After Night, “sensitively performed and intelligently curated” (Frances Wilson, Interlude), and has been streamed over 500,000 times on Apple Music.
This program was recorded on February 1, 2026. This informational session for Girl Scout Troop Leaders includes an overview of the program curriculum and the steps to participate, followed by a Q&A. Featuring: Lily Sassani, Girl Scout and Creator of the Patch Program Emily Loeb, Director of Programs and Education at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh Julia Gaetano, Marketing and Education Associate at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh Learn more about the Patch Program and view the curriculum: https://hcofpgh.org/patch-project/
This program was recorded on December 7, 2025. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh (HCP) held a public event to launch the Holocaust Education Girl Scout Patch, created by local Girl Scout Lily Sassani with the mentorship of HCP staff. Lily spoke about her inspiration for starting this project, followed by a video documenting the development of the patch program and a Q&A. Learn more about the Holocaust Education Patch Program: https://hcofpgh.org/patch-project/ This program is generously funded by the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is a program of The Tree of Life.
This program was recorded on 9/10/25. Marion Ein Lewin, born in Holland, survived the concentration camp Bergen Belsen together with her parents and her twin brother. One of a handful of families who survived the Holocaust intact, they arrived in New York City in 1947. Marion and Steven, then age 9, had never been to school and were placed in kindergarten. Every few weeks the twins proceeded to the next grade until they finally caught up with their proper class. Today Marion and her brother, according to all available data, are the only surviving twins of the Holocaust. Marion Lewin’s professional career focused on health policy and health care economics. For 15 years she was Senior Staff Officer at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science and headed its Office of Health Policy Programs and Fellowships. She headed several distinguished studies at IOM and has written extensively on a wide range of health care topics. Marion received her undergraduate and graduate education at Barnard College and Columbia University. In recent years she has pursued her deep interest in theater, co-chairing the Council of Theater J, serving on its Board, and serving on the Board of Round House Theatre. In the last two years, Marion and her brother have helped Faris Cassell in the research and writing of INSEPARABLE, the book about the Hess family’s impossible odds of surviving the Holocaust. Hosted by the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, a program of The Tree of Life
This program was recorded on May 2, 2025 Boaz Munro is a Squirrel Hill, PA native and web designer now living in California with his wife and two daughters. He's the grandson of Holocaust survivors. In college and graduate school, Boaz studied Modern Middle East History, Hebrew, and Arabic, with time abroad in Israel, Egypt, and Morocco. During this presentation, Boaz speaks about his grandparents, Moshe and Malka Baran, both of whom survived the Holocaust in Poland. Moshe and Malka's stories embody physical and spiritual resistance respectively; Moshe was a partisan who escaped the ghetto and rescued most of his family, while Malka found herself orphaned by the Nazis and faced the task of finding renewed hope amid uncertainty and loss.
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.”
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