Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh

“A Night of Hope & Hops” at Golden Age Beer Company
2024-10-01 18:30 (America/New_York) | Golden Age Beer Company, 337 E 8th Ave, Homestead, PA, 15120, United States
Join us for another installment of Generations Speaker Debbie Stueber’s “A Night of Hope & Hops” series – where she shares her parents’ stories of survival, at local breweries! Hear about Kurt and Edith Leuchter, as told by Debbie, and their story of surviving the Nazis, joining the French Resistance, and making new lives in America. Kurt and Edith will likely join at the end for Q&A with the audience. And come have some good beer, while you’re listening and learning!

From the Ghetto to the Forest:‬‭ Surviving the Holocaust‬‭ in‬ Belarus‬‭ with guest lecturer Anika Walke‬ ‭
2024-10-25 12:15 - 13:00 | Posner Hall, Posner Grand Room 340, 4980‬‭ Margaret Morrison St, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States

Music in Theresienstadt: A Conversation with Anna Hájková
2024-11-10 17:30 | Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
As we commemorate the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the November pogrom, this event connects the outbreak of public anti-Jewish violence in Nazi Germany with the remarkable cultural production in the Theresienstadt ghetto. In the three and half years of its duration, the 140,000 inmates in Terezín played, composed, and listened to music, which provided comfort, spare time, and a framework to make sense of the terrifying conditions in the camp. Historian Dr. Joshua Andy and Theresienstadt expert Dr. Anna Hájková will explore the many meanings of music in Theresienstadt. During the program, members of the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras (TYRPO) who visited Terezin this past summer will perform music and talk about their experience.
Registration here.
Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s annual Kristallnacht program is generously supported by Edgar Snyder.
Co-sponsored by the Winchester Thurston School, University of Pittsburgh Jewish Studies Program, University of Pittsburgh German Department, and The Jack Buncher Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies at Carnegie Mellon University

Generations Speaker Lee Kikel at Saint Luke the Evangelist Parish
2024-11-11 19:00 | Upper CDC Center at the Saints John and Paul campus – Saint Luke the Evangelist Parish, 2586 Wexford Bayne Rd, Sewickley, PA, 15143, United States

“A Night of Hope & Hops” at Acclamation Brewing
2024-11-14 18:00 | Acclamation Brewing, 314 Arch St, Verona, PA, 15147, United States
Join us at Acclamation Brewing for “A Night of Hope & Hops” with Generations Speaker Debbie Stueber! Hear her tell stories of her parents, Kurt and Edith Leuchter, including their experiences of surviving the Nazis, joining the French Resistance, and making new lives in America. Kurt and Edith will likely join at the end for Q&A with the audience.
This event will also feature a celebrity bartender! Liz Berlin is a captivating solo performer and founding member of triple-platinum Pittsburgh band Rusted Root. Seating and bar with Liz will open at 6:00, Debbie’s talk will begin at 6:30. Acclamation will generously be donating all tips to the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.
RSVP: https://www.acclamationbrewing.com/event-details/pub-speaker-debbie-stueber-the-holocaust-center-of-pittsburgh
Liz enchants audiences with her original songs, from tranquil to funky to raging. Over the years, she’s explored various musical genres and bands, from childhood roots in classical music, to indie psychedelic Americana band Drowning Clowns, to Social Justice Disco, an anthemic activist collaboration with jazz diva Phat Man Dee. Beyond her music, Liz and her husband Mike Speranzo co-own Mr. Smalls Theatre and Recording Studio, showcasing world-renowned acts and local artists alike. She’s dedicated to education, founding Creative Life Support’s youth artist development programs.

Reckoning with Antisemitism: Listening to Jewish Voices
2024-11-20 18:30 | John Knox Room at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 616 N Highland Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15206, United States
Please join Christian Associates and the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh as we welcome a panel of Jewish leaders to share how antisemitism has affected their lives and community and what they hope their Christian neighbors will come to understand about the Jewish experience.

The panel will include Eric Lidji, director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Senator John Heinz History Center; Sara Stock Mayo, a spiritual leader, musician, poet, and activist; and Alan Iszauk, Pittsburgh Jewish community member.

Register here.

"The City Without Jews" Cine-Concert
2025-01-27 19:00 | Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Jewish Studies Program for a screening of The City Without Jews accompanied by live original music composed and performed by world-renowned klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and celebrated silent film pianist Donald Sosin.
This is a free event, but registration is required. Register here.
Hosted by the Holocaust Center of Pittburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Jewish Studies Program
Co-sponsored by:
Ed and Arlene Lipsman in memory of Charles and Hilda Lipsman
Carnegie Mellon University’s Jack Buncher Chair in Jewish Studies
University of Pittsburgh German Department
Film Pittsburgh
Rodef Shalom Congregation
The Tree of Life
Violins of Hope Greater Pittsburgh
Made possible by Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts
About the Film:
The City Without Jews (Die Stadt ohne Juden), H. K. Breslauer’s 1924 silent masterpiece, is based on the bestselling dystopian novel by Hugo Bettauer. It was produced two years after the book’s publication and, tragically, shortly before the satirical events depicted in the fictional story transformed into all-too-horrific reality. All complete prints were thought to be destroyed, but thanks to the discovery of a nitrate print in a Parisian flea market in 2015, this “lost” film can once again be appreciated in its unfortunately ever-relevant entirety.
Set in the Austrian city of Utopia (a thinly-disguised stand-in for Vienna), the story follows the political and personal consequences of an antisemitic law passed by the National Assembly forcing all Jews to leave the country. At first, the decision is met with celebration, but when the citizens of Utopia eventually come to terms with the loss of the Jewish population – and the resulting economic and cultural decline – the National Assembly must decide whether to invite the Jews back. Though darkly comedic in tone and stylistically influenced by German Expressionism, the film nonetheless contains ominous and eerily realistic sequences, such as shots of freight trains transporting Jews out of the city. The film’s stinging critique of Nazism is part of the reason it was no longer screened in public after 1933.
About the Musicians:
Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin have been bringing audiences to their feet throughout the US and Europe with their unique and stirring violin and piano scores for Jewish-themed silent films. Sosin is renowned silent film pianist and composer, and Svigals is the world’s leading klezmer violinist and a founder of the Grammy-winning Klezmatics. After meeting at a silent film festival in Italy, the two soon recorded their first original score for the 1923 German film The Ancient Law, followed by City Without Jews and The Man Without a World.
Donald Sosin (pianist and composer) has performed his silent film music at Lincoln Center, MoMA, the Kennedy Center, BAM, the National Gallery, and major film festivals in the US and abroad San Francisco, Telluride, Hollywood, Yorkshire, Pordenone, Bologna, Shanghai, Bangkok, Berlin, Vienna, Moscow, and Jecheon, South Korea . He records for Criterion, Kino, Milestone and TCM. He has worked with Alexander Payne, Isabella Rossellini, Dick Hyman, Comden and Green, and has played for Mikhael Baryshnikov, Mary Travers, Marni Nixon, Howie Mandel, Geula Gill, and many others. He records for Criterion, Kino, Milestone, Flicker Alley and European labels, and his scores are heard frequently on TCM. He has had commissions from MoMA, EYE Amsterdam, Deutsche Kinemathek, L’Immagine Ritrovata, the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Denver Silent Film Festival, and the Best Original Film Score award by the 2022 Mystic Film Festival.
Alicia Svigals, violinist/composer and a founder of the Grammy-winning Klezmatics, is the world’s foremost klezmer fiddler. She almost single handedly revived the tradition of klezmer fiddling, which had been on the brink of extinction until she recorded her debut album Fidl in the 1990’s. Svigals has performed with and written for violinist Itzhak Perlman, and has worked with the the Kronos Quartet, playwrights Tony Kushner and Eve Ensler, poet Allen Ginsburg, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Debbie Friedman and Chava Albershteyn. She was awarded a Foundation for Jewish Culture commission for her original score to the 1918 film The Yellow Ticket and is a MacDowell fellow. In February 2018, Svigals and jazz pianist Uli Geissendoerfer released Beregovski Suite, their fantasy on klezmer melodies culled from the archive of early 20th century Soviet Jewish ethnomusicologist Moshe Beregovski. In May 2023, Svigals was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the Jewish Theological Seminary for “extraordinary contributions to the arts and Jewish life.” In June 2024 she released her newest album, Fidl Afire, on the Borscht Beat label – a return to her roots with a full-on party band. In August 2024 she was awarded the 2024 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Folk/Traditional arts.

A Night of Hope and Hops: A Generations Talk by Debbie Leuchter Stueber
2025-01-31 18:00 | Hazel Grove Brewing Company, 4609 Irvine St, Pittsburgh, PA, 15207, United States

Righteous Among the Neighbors 2024 Cohort Celebration
2025-02-06 19:00 - 20:30 | Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, 5738 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15217, United States
Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh as we honor the 2024 class of Righteous Among the Neighbors!

Righteous Among the Neighbors is a project of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh that honors non-Jewish Pittsburghers who support the Jewish community and take action to uproot antisemitism. In partnership with the LIGHT Education Initiative and Mt. Lebanon High School, student journalists interview honorees and write article-length profiles about their efforts.

Register here.

"I am a Jew: A Holocaust Family Memoir" Book Talk & Discussion with Philip Terman and Susan Terman
2025-02-21 12:00 | Zoom
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. Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh online on Friday, Feb. 21 at noon, as we discuss the writing of the poetry and creation of the book, hear more about Edith Dach’s life, and read some of the poems with Philip and Susan.
If you would like to purchase the book I am a Jew: A Holocaust Family Memoir in advance of the program on February 21, please visit Amazon.

Register here.

Book Talk: Between Two Worlds- Jewish Brides after the Holocaust
2025-02-24 18:00 - 19:15 | Cathedral of Learning: Room 501, 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, United States
Please join us for the second annual Renee Sachs Memorial Lecture on Holocaust history. Dr. Robin Judd, Professor of History at Ohio State University, is a specialist in Jewish, transnational, and gender history, with particular interests in Holocaust studies and the history of migration. She will be speaking about her award-winning book Between Two Worlds, which tells the story of the Jewish Holocaust survivors who married North American and British military personnel.

I Never Saw Another Butterfly and The Terezin Promise
2025-02-28 - 2025-03-09 | New Hazlett Center for Performing Arts, 6 Allegheny Square E, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, United States
I Never Saw Another Butterfly and The Terezin Promise
By Celeste Raspanti
Directed by Wayne Brinda
ARTICLE: Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle – Prime Stage Theatre presents ‘I Never Saw Another Butterly and The Terezin Promise’
In the Terezin concentration camp, Austrian artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis teaches Jewish children to make poems and drawings in secret art classes. Witness her passion, the children’s creativity, and the irrepressible power of Art to bring hope and healing into the darkest hours of the Holocaust.
Feb. 28 – March 9, 2025
BUY TICKETS
Special Dates:
Preview: Friday, February 28th at 7:30pm – Pay What You Can
Opening Night: Saturday, March 1st at 7:30pm
Sensory Inclusive: Saturday, March 8th at 2:30pm – Pay What You Can
Audio Describe: Sunday, March 9th at 2:30pm
ASL / Live Caption: Sunday, March 9th at 2:30pm
More Information
Summary and what you will see –
I Never Saw Another Butterfly is an uplifting and inspiring story about the use of art in times of tragedy. The story centers around Raja, a young Czech teenager who is forced into Terezin, or Theresienstadt, a Jewish ghetto that was used as a stopping point for transport to the death camps in the east, Auschwitz in particular. While many Jewish artists, filmmakers, and other people of cultural or political prominence were sent there, the ghetto itself was still a miserable place to live. Disease was everywhere, and starvation was the norm.
We are Honoring the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II and the Liberation of the Concentration Camps.
Of the more than 15,000 children who passed through Terezin, only 141 are known to have survived. Many drawings, poems, and other works of art that Raja and her friends smuggled out of Terezin have been shared with the world, and through them, these 15,000 children live on.
Through the eyes of the children who lived in this camp, we see how art helped them not only survive their time in the ghetto, but also how it helped them cope. The play uses poetry from the book by the same name, a collection of artwork and poetry by the children of the Terezin Concentration Camp,1942-1944

Act 70 Wellness Day for Educators
2025-03-07 08:30 - 14:30 | Chatham University Shadyside Campus, 1 Woodland Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15232, United States
We all know that teaching the Holocaust is emotionally taxing, not just for your students, but also for you. The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh believes that you (the teacher) must first take care of yourself before you can take care of others (your students). With that in mind, we’re holding our first-ever “Act 70 Wellness Day” on Friday, March 7, 2025, on Chatham University’s campus in Shadyside.
The day will be centered on supporting you and giving you the tools and connections to other educators so you can continue to do the difficult work. The day will include self-care activities, networking opportunities to meet other Holocaust educators, and information about local organizations that can help you teach the Holocaust more easily. Act 48 credits will be provided.

Register here.

Edith and Kurt Leuchter: A Story of Love and Resilience
2025-03-11 18:00 - 19:00 | Cranberry Public Library, 2525 Rochester Rd., Cranberry Township, PA, 16066, United States
She was born in Bruchsal, Germany. He was born in Vienna, Austria. As hidden children, their paths crossed briefly in a French orphanage. This is just a part of their story, separately and together: surviving the Holocaust, fighting Nazis in the French Resistance, and making a new life in America. This is the true story of Kurt and Edith Leuchter, as told by their daughter Deborah Stueber. Kurt and Edith will attend virtually to answer audience questions.
Deborah Leuchter Stueber has been a volunteer for the past 30 years at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. In 2021 she was chosen as their Volunteer of the Year. Sharing her parents’ Holocaust experience with schools, universities, and various organizations for the last several years has been her passion. She feels strongly that it’s the responsibility of her generation and generations to come to carry on the survivors legacy.
Register here.

Generations Speakers Series - 80th Anniversary of Liberation: Alison Brown Karabin
2025-03-12 18:00 | Welker Room, James Laughlin Music Hall, 5798 Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, PA, 15232, United States
Alison Brown Karabin will share the story of her grandmother Elizabeth Brown (z”l), a beloved Pittsburgh survivor originally from Hungary. Alison will recount 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.

Register here.

Americans and the Holocaust Exhibit
2025-03-17 - 2025-04-28 | Carnegie Free Library of Beaver Falls, 1301 7th Ave, Beaver Falls, PA, 15010, United States
The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. Holocaust history raises important questions about what the international community, including the United States, could have done to stop the rise of Nazism in Germany and its assault on Europe’s Jews. Questions include: What did Americans know? How did Americans respond? What more could have been done?
Americans and the Holocaust looks closely at America’s role in this history. The United States alone could not have prevented the Holocaust, but more could have been done to save some of the six million Jews that were killed. This exhibition examines the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war, and genocide.
Learn more here.

Spaces of Treblinka: Guest Speaker Jacob Flaws
2025-03-20 17:00 - 18:30 | Carnegie Mellon University

A Holocaust Story: Love and Resilience During World War II
2025-03-24 19:00 | Monroeville Public Library, 4000 Gateway Campus Blvd., Monroeville, PA, 15146, United States
RSVP here.

Generations Speaker - Lee Goldman Kikel
2025-03-27 17:30 - 18:30 | C.C. Mellor Memorial Library – Edgewood, 1 Pennwood Ave, Edgewood, PA, 15218, United States
“Generations Speakers are the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. They have all been recruited, vetted, and coached by the Holocaust Center staff and veteran Generations Speakers to develop presentations about their survivor relative’s story. The Generations Speakers are all extremely passionate about what they do: preserving their family legacy; making sure that future generations hear a factual, well-researched, personal account of a Holocaust survivor; and most importantly, never forget what their parents and/ or grandparents experienced.” ~https://hcofpgh.org/resources/speakers/
Book sale and discussion will take place after the presentation. Learn more here.
Speaker Bio:
Lee Goldman Kikel grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where she spent many of her early years in her family’s jewelry business, both as a child and an employee.
Lee’s father, Melvin Goldman, did not talk much about his childhood in Poland, or his family. In the 1970s, he began recording details of his experiences on cassette tapes, which lay dormant until 2015, when Lee found them and finally listened to his testimony. Lee honored his wishes to transcribe his story as a book, published in 2019 as Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor’s Journey From Poland to America. In April 2023, Pittsburgh’s Prime Stage Theatre debuted a theatrical adaptation of her book, entitled Perseverance, written by playwright L. E. McCullough and generously supported by a National Endowment for the Arts grant.
Over the years, she has told her family’s story to many audiences, and she has also become a generations speaker as part of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. She has discussed the Holocaust and anti-semitism with diverse audiences around the region and beyond. These engagements have fostered multidisciplinary ways to reach audiences of all ages and in a variety of subject areas, and have taught her both the importance of sharing Holocaust education and the value of presenting the content in engaging ways.
Goldman Kikel is a lifelong Pittsburgh resident, having earned both a BS in psychology and a master’s degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh. She also worked in the mental health field as a rehabilitation counselor.

An Afternoon with Author Deborah Dwork in Conversation with Emily Loeb
2025-03-30 14:00 - 15:00 | Riverstone Books, 5841 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15217, United States
“We hope you will join us to hear from Deborah Dwork about her new book, Saints and Liars. She will be joined in conversation by Emily Loeb who works at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. After the discussion, there will be a time for Q&A with the audience and book signing. Read more about the book and author below!
Want to pre-order your copy of the book? You can do so here. Please designate in the memo field if you will pick it up at the event.
Register here!
About the book:
A gripping history that plumbs the extraordinary stories of American relief and rescue workers during World War II.
Long before their country officially joined the war, American aid workers were active in rescue efforts across Europe. Two such Americans were Martha and Waitstill Sharp, who were originally sent to Prague as part of a relief effort but turned immediately to helping Jews and dissidents after the 1939 invasion by Germany.
They were not the only ones. Renowned historian Debórah Dwork follows the story of rescue workers in five major cities as the refugee crisis expanded to Vilna, Shanghai, Marseille, and Lisbon. Followed by Nazi agents, spiriting people across borders, they learned secrecy.
Others negotiated with government representatives, like Laura Margolis, who worked with the Japanese, to get enough food and warm shelter for the refugees in Shanghai. Yet, the women also often faced lack of support from their agencies; if part of a couple, they fought to get paid even at a low salary despite working as long and hard as their husbands.
Moving and revelatory, Saints and Liars illuminates the unpredictable circumstances and often fast-changing historical events with which these aid workers contended, while revealing the moral questions they encountered and the devastating decisions they had to make.
Drawing on a multitude of archival documents, from letters to diaries and memos, Dwork offers us a rare glimpse into the lives of individuals who—at times with their organizations’ backing, but sometimes against their directives—sought to help people find safe haven from persecution.
About the author:
Debórah Dwork is director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at the Graduate Center—CUNY. Author (with Robert Jan van Pelt) of Flight from the Reich, Holocaust, and Auschwitz, among other works, she lives in New York.
https://deborahdwork.com
About the conversation partner:
A granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Emily became involved with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh in 2018, when she started volunteering as a Generations Speaker. Since early 2023, Emily has served as the Director of Programs and Education, in which she oversees the Holocaust Center’s public and education programs, as well as fundraising and the annual budget. Prior to joining the Holocaust Center, for over a decade, Emily ran the Gendler Grapevine Project, a sunset initiative established to honor the work and vision of Rabbi Everett Gendler that funded initiatives that celebrated the deep connections between Jewish traditions, social justice, and the environment. She is currently writing a book about Rabbi Gendler’s life. Prior to that, she worked for a Native American-owned and focused consulting company, where she served as a project manager, proposal writer, and editor. With the goal of centering her professional and volunteer work around causes she believes in, in 2017, she founded Shattering Glass Ceilings Scholarship for women who are first-generation college students. Emily grew up in Kansas City, where her grandmother was a Survivor Speaker for the local Holocaust center. Emily earned her bachelor’s degree at Colgate University, studying Geography and Peace Studies, and a master’s degree in Geography from the University of British Columbia. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, two teenaged kids, and two Boston Terriers. She loves being with her family, hiking, gardening, writing, and doing what she can to make the world a better place.”

Andrew Laszlo: Growing Up in Hungary, Surviving the Holocaust, and Coming to America
2025-04-03 19:00 | Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
Join Andrew Laszlo Jr. as he shares the extraordinary journey of his father, Andrew Laszlo, from a middle-class childhood in Hungary, through the horrors of the Holocaust, to an inspiring new life in America. More than a story of survival, this presentation highlights resilience, determination, and the pursuit of dreams against all odds.
Laszlo survived Bergen-Belsen, escaped post-war Soviet-occupied Hungary, and arrived in the U.S. with only $2.36 to his name—eventually becoming a world-renowned cinematographer behind films such as Shogun and Rambo: First Blood. His story remained a secret for 50 years until a book arrived on his son’s doorstep, revealing the past he had kept hidden.
Through personal reflections and powerful storytelling, Andrew Laszlo Jr. explores themes of survival, reinvention, and the forgotten heroes who risked everything to help others. This is an unforgettable narrative of courage, loss, and the enduring human spirit.
Register here.

From Centre to Periphery and Beyond
2025-04-09 15:00 - 16:15 | Virtual
Learn more and view the stream information.

Generations Speakers Series - 80th Anniversary of Liberation: Hedda Sharapan
2025-04-09 18:00 | Eddy Theatre at Chatham University, Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, 15232, United States
Join the Holocaust Center for a talk by Hedda Sharapan, a descendant of survivors originally from Lithuania. Hedda will share a heartwarming Holocaust story about a father and son. This program is part of a series of events in 2025, commemorating the 80th anniversary of liberation, and in observance of Genocide Awareness Month in April.

Register here.

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.”

Yom HaShoah Commemoration 2025
2025-04-24 19:00 | Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
Register for our annual program commemorating Yom HaShoah.
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 year’s program will feature a performance by student musicians from Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, impactful poetry readings, a screening of interviews with local Holocaust survivors & the child of a liberator, a candle-lighting ceremony, and other traditional elements.

During the candle-lighting ceremony 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.

There are both in-person and virtual attendance options available (select the ticket reflecting your preferred attendance option when registering).

Presentation by Boaz Munro
2025-05-02 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
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.
Boaz will be speaking 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.

Register here.

Waldman Arts and Writing Competition Awards Ceremony
2025-05-14 19:00 | Chatham University Shadyside Campus, 1 Woodland Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15232, United States
Join us as we celebrate the participants and winners of the 2025 Waldman Arts & Writing Competition. The event is open to the public and all students are strongly encouraged to attend along with their families, friends, and teachers. Winners will be honored and receive their award certificates; the grand prize winner will be announced; and a reception with light treats will follow.

Learn more and register.

Generations Speaker Clare Drobot at Connellsville Canteen
2025-05-21 17:00 - 19:30 | Connellsville Canteen Café and Museum, 131 West Crawford Avenue, Connellsville, PA, 15425, United States

A Night of Hope and Hops with Generations Speaker Debbie Leuchter Stueber
2025-06-03 19:00 | Acrospire Brewing Company, 1702 Mt. Royal Blvd., Glenshaw, PA, 15116, United States
Screenshot

“Perseverance” Screening
2025-06-04 18:30 - 19:30 | Eddy Theatre at Chatham University, Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, 15232, United States
Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh for a 20 minute screening of “Perseverance,” the newest edition in PA Cyber’s Emmy-nominated Moments in History series that tells the story of local Holocaust survivor Melvin Goldman (z”l). The screening will be followed by a conversation Melvin’s daughter and author of Perseverance: One Holocaust Survivor’s Journey from Poland to America, Lee Goldman Kikel, and filmmaker Scot Rutledge. Register here.

About the Film:

Melvin Goldman spent five years in the Jewish ghetto and concentration camps. He was 21 years old when Allied Forces liberated the concentration camps in 1945. He weighed 85 pounds and could not walk. He recovered for several years in Germany, and then a kind stranger sponsored his move to the United States where he eventually raised a family and owned a jewelry store in Squirrel Hill.
Goldman’s story is captured in the video “Perseverance,” the newest edition in PA Cyber’s Emmy-nominated Moments in History series, which captures first-hand accounts of chapters in time.
Goldman recorded his memories on cassette tapes in the late 1970s. In them, he had stated he wanted his story preserved in a book. His daughter honored his request, and she frequently tells his story at events. Her book was adapted into a play and performed at New Hazlett Theater Center for Performing Arts in Pittsburgh in 2023.
About Lee Goldman Kikel:

Lee Goldman Kikel grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where her early years revolved around school— Wightman School and Taylor Allderdice High School—and the family jewelry business.

Lee recalls her time in the store with great fondness, and she can measure her life’s progress through those happy memories. As a little girl she played jacks on the floor while her father crafted jewelry and waited on customers, and her mother handled the books, sold merchandise, and helped with day-to-day business operations. Soon she matured from playing to helping, then to a more regular job, continuing through her college years at the University of Pittsburgh. She remembers earning her father’s hard-won approval to wait on customers as an exciting milestone in her life. Even as an adult, she would help out after her day job or on weekends during the busiest times.

Lee earned a BS in psychology and a master’s degree in education, then worked in the mental health field as a rehabilitation counselor. Now retired from that career, she is involved in a variety of interests and activities. Lee is an avid traveler, gardener, and muscle car enthusiast. She is also a member of the Holocaust Center’s Generations Speakers Bureau.

Edith and Kurt Leuchter: A Holocaust Story of Love and Resilience
2025-06-17 19:00 - 20:00 | Castle Shannon Library, 3677 Myrtle Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15234, United States
As hidden children, Kurt and Edith crossed paths briefly in a French orphanage after their parents were taken by Nazis. Their daughter, Deborah Stueber, will be here to tell their amazing story, from fighting Nazis in the French Resistance to making a new life in America.

Register here.
