Please note all of these programs will take place online. Links to participate will be emailed directly to registrants.
Conversations Series: Reverend Tim Smith
Monday, July 13, 2020, 12pm
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/conversations-series-reverend-tim-smith-tickets-109003973820
Our ongoing “Conversations” series features community members having a dialogue with Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh director Dr. Lauren Apter Bairnsfather. This summer’s conversations will center around the theme of “The Power of the Individual”.
About Tim Smith: Tim is the CEO of Center of Life and pastor of the Keystone Church of Hazelwood. He has been working with children and youth for over 25 years. Tim was born and raised in Pittsburgh and educated in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. He is a graduate of Westinghouse High School and holds degrees from Triangle Tech, The University of Pittsburgh, the Leadership Training Institute, the American Institute of Banking as well as a diploma from the Reformed Theological Seminary. Tim has dedicated his life to empowering families and youth everywhere.
Teacher Training: Teaching Partisan Resistance
Thursday, July 16, 2020, 1pm
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/teacher-training-teaching-partisan-resistance-tickets-107731216970
Learn to engage and inspire students by teaching about the 30,000 Jews who fought back against the Nazis and their collaborators as Jewish partisans. During this unit, Teaching with the Motion Picture Defiance, teachers will learn to use the film Defiance starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, to explore History, Leadership, Ethics, and Values.
Conversations Series: Marcel L. Walker
Monday, July 20, 2020, 12pm
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/conversations-series-marcel-l-walker-tickets-109874999080
Our ongoing “Conversations” series features community members having a dialogue with Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh director Dr. Lauren Apter Bairnsfather. This summer’s conversations will center around the theme of “The Power of the Individual”.
About Marcel Walker: Marcel Lamont (M.L.) Walker is an award-winning graphic-prose creator and expert in social applications for comic-book art. In 2017, he was voted Best Local Cartoonist by readers of The Pittsburgh City Paper in their annual Best of Pittsburgh poll. In 2018, he was awarded a BMe Community Genius Fellowship in recognition of his work in the arts and related community activity. He is the lead artist, book designer, and project coordinator for the acclaimed comic-book series CHUTZ-POW! SUPERHEROES OF THE HOLOCAUST, published by The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. He is also the president of the board of directors for the ToonSeum, Pittsburgh’s nonprofit Museum of Comic & Cartoon Art.
Embrace the Possible: A Memorable Evening with Dr. Edith Eva Eger
Tuesday, July 21, 7pm-9pm
Hear Dr. Edith Eva Eger, a holocaust survivor, psychologist and author of the international bestselling book, The Choice. This Zoom event is sponsored by Chabad of Squirrel Hill, Chabad of the South Hills, Chabad of Monroeville, Chabad of CMU, Chabad of Pitt, Chabad Young Professionals, The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, Aleph Institute and Friendship Circle.
Teacher Training: Using Survivor Testimony
Friday, July 24, 2020, 10am-12pm
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/teacher-training-using-survivor-testimony-tickets-110674167414
In the early 1990s, renowned Holocaust testimony expert Lawrence Langer conducted over 80 hours of interviews with Holocaust survivors residing in Brookline, Masachusetts. For over 20 years, they sat in a metal closet, waiting to be edited and produced into something usable for education purposes. Finally, in 2016, experienced producer R. Harvey Bravman was tasked with digitizing and directing a feature length film out of the tapes. He painstakingly worked through the testimony to produce a film, Soul Witness, that eloquently spoke to their experiences.
In late 2019, the film premiered in Pittsburgh to raise funds for the 3 congregations affected by the shooting here on October 27, 2018.
In this teacher training, Harvey will be talking with teachers about best practices for using survivor testimony to teach the Holocaust, drawing on specific examples from Soul Witness.
Act 48 credit is available.
Teacher Training: Creating an Emotionally Honest Classroom
Monday, July 27, 2020, 9am-12pm
2018 Holocaust Educator of the Year Nick Haberman will lead this training around creating an emotionally honest classroom. Educators will discuss best practices for developing a safe space to talk about Holocaust history and the connections to the difficult and necessary topics that 2020 has introduced into the conversation. Teachers will brainstorm ways to use this space to cultivate leadership opportunities for students, and Nick will introduce examples of his own from his work leading the Light Education Initiative. Part of the session will also build on the previous teacher training on using survivor testimony, thinking about best practices for ensuring students respect the experience and narratives of Holocaust survivors as they view it through their own lens.
Generations Series: Chana Brody
Thursday, July 30, 2020, 3pm
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/generations-series-chana-brody-tickets-109004529482
Born in the Czech Republic, Chana and her parents, Ann & William Jakubovic, immigrated to the United States in 1969. The shadow of the Holocaust was ever-present in their household, even when it was not discussed. Chana feels that there is no better way to honor her parents’ memory than to tell their story.
Generations Series: Lee Fischbach and Oscar Singer
Thursday, August 6, 2020, 3pm
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/generations-series-lee-fischbach-and-oscar-singer-tickets-112505418736
When Lee Fischbach was growing up, she didn’t realize that she was the only child to have a picture of her father in a prison uniform displayed in her house. It was only as she got older that she realized what an extraordinary life her father, Oscar Singer, had lived.
A Polish immigrant, Oscar was a Holocaust survivor who had endured several concentration camps and grueling slave labor under the Nazi regime and spent time in a displaced persons camp before starting a new life in the United States.
Lee and Oscar will tell his amazing story of survival in this new installment of the Generations Speaker Series.
Generations Series: Linda Hurwitz
Thursday, August 13, 2020, 3pm
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/generations-series-linda-hurwitz-tickets-112506780810
Linda Hurwitz is the former head of the Middle School at Community Day School and was the Director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2005. She is also the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Irene Winograd Furst of Poland and Gilbert Furst of Latvia. Both her parents endured unfathomable loss during the Holocaust, surviving ghettos and concentration camps before meeting in a displaced persons house in Germany and immigrating to the United States. In this Generations talk, Linda will share their stories.
Conversations Series: Betty Cruz
Monday, August 17, 12pm
Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/conversations-series-betty-cruz-tickets-112507811894
Our ongoing “Conversations” series features community members having a dialogue with Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh director Dr. Lauren Apter Bairnsfather. This summer’s conversations will center around the theme of “The Power of the Individual”.
About Betty Cruz: Betty Cruz assumed the role of President and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh in January of 2020. Prior to joining the Council, Betty served as the leader of Change Agency, a social enterprise which she founded in 2016, and Project Director for All for All, an immigrant inclusion initiative. Betty has extensive experience in community outreach, communications, partnership-building, and program management – spanning nearly 20 years. She has developed citywide initiatives for Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto, managed major accounts for a national nonprofit dedicated to building playgrounds across the U.S., and supported public relations for global brands representing a wide range of industries.
Originally from Miami, Florida, Betty is the daughter of Cuban immigrants and a first-generation college graduate. She holds a BA in History from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and an MPA from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) where she was selected for the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership Portfolio Program and U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship in Portuguese. Betty is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
In recent years, Betty has received the following accolades: 25 Essential Pittsburghers by NEXTpittsburgh in 2019, Pittsburgh Magazine 40 Under 40, Global Pittsburgh Immigrant Champion, 2018 Women of Achievement, 2018 CLASS Community Heroes Award, Islamic Center of Pittsburgh for Humanity Day, The Incline as a Community Leader, Peace Islands Institute and Turkish Cultural Center for Public Service, 2014 YWCA Racial Justice Awardee in Government, and GSPIA 4 Under 40 Distinguished Alumnus. In 2015, Governor Tom Wolf appointed Betty to the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs.
Betty serves on several local boards including Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and Global Minds Initiative. Betty is a member of the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Network and is a Next City Vanguard.