An Evening with Holocaust Historians Elizabeth B. White and Joanna Sliwa
2024-01-31 19:00 (America/New_York) | Riverstone Books, 5841 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15217, United States
Riverstone Books and the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh are pleased to present an evening with Elizabeth B. White and Joanna Sliwa
World War II and the Holocaust have given rise to many stories of resistance and rescue, but The Counterfeit Countess is unique. It tells the remarkable, unknown story of “Countess Janina Suchodolska,” a Jewish woman who rescued more than 10,000 Poles imprisoned by Poland’s Nazi occupiers.
Mehlberg operated in Lublin, Poland, headquarters of Aktion Reinhard, the SS operation that murdered 1.7 million Jews in occupied Poland. Using the identity papers of a Polish aristocrat, she worked as a welfare official while also serving in the Polish resistance. With guile, cajolery, and steely persistence, the “Countess” persuaded SS officials to release thousands of Poles from the Majdanek concentration camp. She won permission to deliver food and medicine for thousands more of the camp’s prisoners. At the same time, she personally smuggled supplies and messages to resistance fighters imprisoned at Majdanek. Incredibly, she eluded detection, and ultimately survived the war and emigrated to the US. Drawing on the manuscript of Mehlberg’s own unpublished memoir, supplemented with prodigious research, Elizabeth White and Joanna Sliwa, professional historians and Holocaust experts, have uncovered the full story of this remarkable woman.
Register here.
Dr. Elizabeth “Barry” White recently retired from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where she served as historian and as Research Director for the USHMM’s Center for the Prevention of Genocide. Prior to working for the USHMM, Barry spent a career at the US Department of Justice working on investigations and prosecutions of Nazi criminals and other human rights violators. She served as deputy director and chief historian of the Office of Special Investigations and as deputy chief and chief historian of the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section. She lives in Falls Church, Virginia.
Dr. Joanna Sliwa is a historian at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) in New York, where she also administers academic programs. She previously worked at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. She has taught Holocaust and Jewish history at Kean University and at Rutgers University and has served as a historical consultant and researcher, including for the PBS film In the Name of Their Mothers: The Story of Irena Sendler. Her first book, Jewish Childhood in Kraków: A Microhistory of the Holocaust won the 2020 Ernst Fraenkel Prize awarded by the Wiener Holocaust Library. She lives in Linden, New Jersey.

A Love Story for the Ages
2024-02-15 18:30 | Hampton Community Center, 3101 McCully Rd, Allison Park, PA, 15101, United States
Hear Generations Speaker Deborah Leuchter Stueber recall her parents’ harrowing story of love and resilience during the Holocaust. The presentation will be accompanied by a 30-minute slideshow and a virtual question-and-answer via Zoom with her parents, Edith and Kurt, themselves.

And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank
2024-03-01 - 2024-03-10 | New Hazlett Center for Performing Arts, 6 Allegheny Square E, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, United States
by James Still
Directed by Art DeConciliis
Immerse yourself in this inspiring multi-media story based on the true life of Anne Frank and her childhood friends, Eva Schloss and Ed Silberberg, who survived the Holocaust during World War II.
LEARN MORE
March 1 – 10, 2024
Special Dates:
Preview: Friday, March 1st at 7:30pm – Pay What You Can
Opening Night: Saturday, March 2nd at 7:30pm
Sensory Inclusive: Saturday, March 9th at 2:30pm – Pay What You Can
Audio Describe: Sunday, March 10th at 2:30pm
ASL / Live Caption: Sunday, March 10th at 2:30pm

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Ticket Prices
– Adult: $39
– Artist: $24
– Student: $19

Special Video Showing of Perseverance
2024-03-04 19:00 | New Hazlett Center for Performing Arts, 6 Allegheny Square E, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, United States
Experience a special one-time showing of the world premiere production that brought a powerful memoir of healing and renewal to the stage.
Join us on March 4, 2024 for a special viewing of Perseverance with a post-show discussion about the book, play and the Holocaust with The Author: Lee Kikel, The Playwright: L.E. McCullough, and The Director: Art DeConciliis.

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Passages to Safety: Untold Stories of Jewish Refugees in Latin America
2024-03-12 18:00 | Welker Room, James Laughlin Music Hall, 5798 Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, PA, 15232, United States
While Latin America only permitted about 84,000 Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, pockets of hope emerged. Tens of thousands of Spanish and Jewish refugees escaped Nazi-occupied Europe with the help of diplomats like Gilberto Bosques Saldívar of México. Jews were also offered crucial passage away from Nazi persecution by governments in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. Join Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez, interim director of the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center and member of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, for a discussion about Jewish refuge in Latin America during the Holocaust.

This program is free, but the suggested donation is $10. We always appreciate your support of our efforts in Holocaust and antisemitism education!
This event is part 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.
Sponsored by: Drs. Ricardo & Blima Mitre, Todd Rosenfeld & Delilah Picard, Anonymous, Chatham University Social Sciences Department, and the Center for Latin American Studies at University of Pittsburgh.
Register here.

Biography:
Irvin is a first-generation Mexican-American who’s dedicated his life to education, community organizing, and leadership for Latinos.
Irvin earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from Stockton University in 2015 and went on to complete his Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from the same institution in 2022. His impressive academic qualifications are matched by his impressive track record of community involvement.
Currently, he serves as the Board President of El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City. This advocacy organization works tirelessly for immigrant rights in Atlantic County, New Jersey. Irvin has held various other high-profile positions in the past, including member of the Fund Development Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Atlantic & Cape May Counties, Executive Member of the Hispanic Advocacy Committee for Equity (H.A.C.E), Secretary and Advocacy Chair of the Hispanic Association of Atlantic County (HAAC), and Co-Chair of the Education Committee of the NAACP’s Atlantic City Branch.
In recognition of his tireless work and dedication to promoting Holocaust education in the state of New Jersey, Irvin was appointed by Governor Phil Murphy as a member of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education in 2021.
Irvin is the current interim director of the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University.

A Night of Hope & Hops: Debbie Leuchter Stueber Generations Breweries Talk
2024-03-26 18:30 | Grist House Brewing, 10 Sherman St, Pittsburgh, PA, 15209, United States
Join us at Grist House Craft Brewery (10 Sherman St, Pittsburgh, PA 15209) for the third 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!
Event is free, but your support helps us continue our work!
RSVP here.

Slippery Rock University's Holocaust Remembrance Program
2024-03-27 15:30 - 17:15 | Miller Auditorium & Performing Arts Center, 102 Maltby Ave, Slippery Rock, PA, 16057, United States

Whistleblowers Who Exposed the Holocaust
2024-04-15 12:00 | Zoom
Join the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh for 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).
Register here. A Zoom link will be provided closer to the event.
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.

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.

Ilsa’s Story: A Personal History of the Holocaust
2024-04-15 17:30 - 19:00 | Connellsville Canteen Café and Museum, 131 West Crawford Avenue, Connellsville, PA, 15425, United States
Ilsa Dahl Cole was born in 1916 in northwest Germany. She was raised in a small farming community and attended a Catholic high school before the Nazis rose to power in 1933. Ilsa’s granddaughter, Emily Loeb (Director of Programs & Education at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh), tells her story of survival and immigrating to America, sharing Ilsa’s reflections of a changing society as antisemitism spread throughout Germany.
Doors open at 5:30 pm. Reservations Required. Costs $10.00 (includes meal). Learn more and RSVP by calling the Connellsville Canteen at 724-216-4518.
Generations programming is generously supported by the Sylvia & Martin Snow Family Fund.

"999: The Forgotten Girls" Digital Screening
2024-05-02 - 2024-05-12 | Online
The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is excited to be partnering with the JFilm Festival for the screening of 999: The Forgotten Girls.
Award-winning author of the international bestseller 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Transport to Auschwitz, Heather Dune Macadam directs this riveting documentary based on her critically acclaimed book. The first prisoners to arrive at Auschwitz were 999 unmarried, teenage Jewish girls sent by the Slovak government to meet the demands of the Nazis to provide a slave labor force. Macadam’s documentary reveals the important untold story of their unbreakable bonds and introduces a piece of Holocaust and women’s history that should never be forgotten.
Official Selection: Hamptons Documentary Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival
Winner: Audience Award – Miami Jewish Film Festival
“Macadam’s achievement is a needed tribute to these young female victims and the survivors who have kept their memories alive.” — Nora Lee Mandel, Maven’s Nest
Available for viewing online May 2-12 in PA, WV, and OH. Learn more and purchase tickets here.

Silent Tears, The Last Yiddish Tango
2024-05-05 14:00 - 15:30 | Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States

2024 Yom HaShoah Commemoration
2024-05-06 19:00 | Campbell Memorial Chapel, Chapel Hill Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15232, United States
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 commemoration will be held on May 6, 2024, at 7 pm in Chatham University’s Campbell Memorial Chapel. The commemoration will include 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 commemoration will also include 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 will be in-person, as well as live-streamed.
RSVP for in-person attendance here.
RSVP for virtual attendance here. A link to the livestream will be provided to registrants closer to the event.
A recording of the program in its entirety will also be uploaded and shared at a later date.
For more information, call: 412-421-1500 or email csahovey@hcpgh.org
Please note, the location of this event has been changed from Eddy Theatre to Campbell Memorial Chapel on Chatham University’s Shadyside Campus.

"999: The Forgotten Girls" In-Person Screening and Q&A
2024-05-08 19:00 - 20:30 | The Oaks Theather, 310 Allegheny River Blvd, Oakmont, PA, 15139, United States
The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is excited to be partnering with the JFilm Festival for the screening of 999: The Forgotten Girls.
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Heather Dune Macadam.
Award-winning author of the international bestseller 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Transport to Auschwitz, Heather Dune Macadam directs this riveting documentary based on her critically acclaimed book. The first prisoners to arrive at Auschwitz were 999 unmarried, teenage Jewish girls sent by the Slovak government to meet the demands of the Nazis to provide a slave labor force. Macadam’s documentary reveals the important untold story of their unbreakable bonds and introduces a piece of Holocaust and women’s history that should never be forgotten.
Official Selection: Hamptons Documentary Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival
Winner: Audience Award – Miami Jewish Film Festival
“Macadam’s achievement is a needed tribute to these young female victims and the survivors who have kept their memories alive.” — Nora Lee Mandel, Maven’s Nest
Learn more and purchase tickets here.

Waldman Arts and Writing Awards Ceremony 2024
2024-05-09 19:00 | Welker Room, James Laughlin Music Hall, 5798 Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, PA, 15232, United States
Join us as we celebrate the participants and winners of the 2024 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; reception with light treats to follow.

Register here.

A Night of Hope & Hops: Debbie Leuchter Stueber Generations Breweries Talk
2024-06-03 18:30 | Inner Groove Brewing, 751 E Railroad St, Verona, PA, 15147, United States

Generations Speaker Presentation by Clare Drobot
2024-06-18 18:00 | Mellon Board Room in Chatham University’s Mellon Hall, Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, 15232, United States
Join us as we welcome Clare Drobot for her first public talk with the Holocaust Center!
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.
Registration here.
The program will take place in Mellon Board Room, which is in the lower level of Mellon Hall (Mellon Center) on Chatham’s Shadyside campus. We will have HC Event signs directing you around. Click here for a map of Chatham’s campus.
Generations programming is generously supported by the Sylvia & Martin Snow Family Fund.

Reckoning with Antisemitism as Christians
2024-06-27 18:30 - 20:30 | Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 616 N. Highland Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15206, United States
Learn more and register: https://www.casp.org/reckoning

Please register below by Wednesday, June 26 at 5 p.m.

Generations Speaker Presentation by Dr. Melissa Marks
2024-07-18 18:00 | Mellon Board Room in Chatham University’s Mellon Hall, Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, 15232, United States
We are excited to host Dr. Melissa Marks’s presentation for the first time! The program will take place in Mellon Board Room, which is in the lower level of Mellon Hall (Mellon Center) on Chatham’s Shadyside campus. We will have HC Event signs directing you around. Click here for a map of Chatham’s campus.
Register here.
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.

Building Bridges: An evening with the Bamileke Community
2024-08-05 19:00 - 20:30 | Eddy Theatre at Chatham University, Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, 15232, United States
Join us for an evening of learning and conversation with leaders in the Bamileke and Holocaust Center Generations communities. During this program, we will learn about the Bamileke experience of persecution, explore the intersections between the two communities, and talk about the relationships that have been building between children of survivors of the Holocaust and the Bamileke genocide.
The Bamileke are a minority ethnic group in Cameroon who experienced a genocide from the late 1950s to early 1970s. The Holocaust Center Generations group is composed of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.
Register here.

2024 Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh Teacher Training
2024-08-06 08:30 - 2024-08-07 16:00 | Chatham University Shadyside Campus, 1 Woodland Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15232, United States
The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh 2024 Summer Teacher Training, held in partnership with Echoes & Reflection, is free of charge, and Act 48 credit hours will be available. It will be held in-person on Chatham University’s Shadyside campus, with courses led by Lynne Ravas, veteran educator, Generations Speaker, and Echoes & Reflections facilitator.
Both days will include vetted resources and ready-made lesson plans that teachers can use in their classrooms immediately. We will also discuss the Holocaust Center’s Generations Speaker Program and how it complements these lessons.
While we encourage you to attend both sessions, the option is available to register for only one of the two days. There will be free parking, and lunch will be provided. Check-in is at 8:30 a.m. on each day.
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Teacher Training Day 1 – Tuesday, August 6 from 9:00am-4:00pm (5 credit hours)
Antisemitism: Understanding and Countering this Hatred Today
It is critical for young people to understand the dangers of antisemitism today and the threat that it poses to both Jewish and non-Jewish populations. This program helps teachers to educate about antisemitism, examining its complexities from historic and contemporary perspectives. Educators gain strategies to help students respond to and counter antisemitism and forms of hate.
Dismantling Antisemitism Training with the Holocaust Center’s Noah Schoen
Who are Jewish people? What is antisemitism, and where does it come from? Why did the Holocaust happen? At the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, we teach about the Holocaust with the goal of helping people comprehend its root causes. Understanding antisemitism is a critical part of this work. Our training builds capacity for participants to understand what antisemitism is, how it affects Jewish and non-Jewish people, and what we can do about it.
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Teacher Training Day 2 – Wednesday, August 7 from 9:00am-4:00pm (6 credit hours)
Foundations of Holocaust Education: Focus on the Weimar Republic
This program is designed to enhance teachers’ knowledge, capacity, and confidence to teach about the Holocaust with a specific focus on the Weimar Republic and the conditions that led to the Nazis being elected in 1932. Educators are introduced to pedagogical principles and explore classroom lessons, visual history testimonies and other resources that examine aspects of the history and its continued relevance today.
How We Remember: The Legacy of the Holocaust Today
How did the world respond when the reality of the Holocaust came to light? How can we learn from the international response to crimes against humanity in interpreting memory and history? During this program, educators examine the pursuit of justice at Nuremberg, the effect the trials had on how we understand the Holocaust, how survivors coped with the trauma to build new lives in the aftermath, and how we remember and memorialize the Holocaust today.
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This program is generously supported by The Jack Sittsamer Holocaust Endowment Fund for Teacher Training.

Jewish Heritage Night at PNC Park
2024-08-27 18:40 | PNC Park, 115 Federal Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15212, United States
The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh will be at Jewish Heritage Night hosted by the Pittsburgh Pirates!
Experience a unique blend of sports, culture, and community during Jewish Heritage Night at PNC Park! Join us for an evening of baseball, where you can reconnect with old friends and make new ones. Plus, enjoy an optional pregame Kosher Meal catered by Elegant Edge Catering Company, featuring a Loaded Chili Dog or an All-Beef Kosher Hotdog, complemented with Pasta Salad, Coleslaw, Chips, and Bottled Water. Each ticket also includes a special Pirates/Jewish Heritage Night co-branded bucket hat.
Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity to celebrate your heritage and enjoy America’s favorite pastime!
Get tickets here. Purchase Deadline: Aug 23, 2024 4:40 PM EDT

An Evening with Solange Lebovitz, a Holocaust Survivor
2024-09-12 18:00 | Eddy Theatre at Chatham University, Woodland Rd, Pittsburgh, 15232, United States
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 is a part of RAD Days 2024.

Register here.

Author Chris Heath in Conversation with Emily Loeb
2024-09-13 18:00 | Riverstone Books, 5841 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15217, United States
Author Chris Heath visits Riverstone Books to talk about his new book, No Roads Leading Back, with Emily Loeb. Join us for this discussion, followed by a time for Q&A and book signing.
Want to pre-order your copy of the book? You can do so here. Please note in the order comments that you plan to pick it up at the event.
About the book:
This by turns shattering and hope-giving account of prisoners who dug their way to freedom from the Nazis is both a stunning escape narrative and an object lesson in the ways we remember and continually forget the particulars of the Holocaust.
No Road Leading Back is the remarkable story of a dozen prisoners who escaped from the site where more than 70,000 Jews were shot in the Lithuanian forest of Ponar after the Nazi invasion of Eastern Europe in 1941. Anxious to hide the incriminating evidence of the murders, the S.S. later in the war enslaved a group of Jews to exhume every one of the bodies and incinerate them all in a months-long labor—an episode whose specifics are staggering and disturbing, even within the context of the Holocaust. From within that dire circumstance emerges the improbable escape made by some of the men, who dug a tunnel with bare hands and spoons while they were trapped and guarded day and night—an act not just of bravery and desperation but of awesome imagination. Based on first-person accounts of the escapees and on each scrap of evidence that has been documented, repressed, or amplified since, this book resurrects their lives, while also providing a complex, urgent analysis of why their story has rarely been told, and never accurately. Heath explores the cultural use and misuse of Holocaust testimony and the need for us to face it—and all uncomfortable historical truths—with honesty and accuracy.
About the author:
Award-winning journalist CHRIS HEATH has written about a wide array of subjects for GQ, The Atlantic, Esquire and Vanity Fair. His story “18 Tigers, 17 Lions, 8 Bears, 3 Cougars, 2 Wolves, 1 Baboon, 1 Macaque, and 1 Man Dead in Ohio.” won the 2013 National Magazine Award for Reporting; his story “The Militiamen, the Governor and the Kidnapping That Wasn’t” was nominated for the 2023 National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. He has also written about popular culture, including the books Pet Shop Boys, Literally and the 2004 UK bestseller Feel, about British pop star Robbie Williams. He co-wrote the lyrics for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Boy in the Dress, which premiered in Stratford in November 2019. Based in Brooklyn, Heath grew up south of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
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.

RSVP here.

Resilience Rising: Amplifying Voices of Hope: Opening Reception “Für das Kind / For the Child”
2024-09-22 18:00 - 20:00 | Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
Mark your calendar for the Opening Event on September 22nd, 2024, and stay tuned for more details on this impactful experience.
Event: Resilience Rising: Amplifying Voices of Hope Opening Reception
Date: September 22, 2024
Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Rodef Shalom Congregation Freehof / Aaron Court 4905 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Registration: https://cwbpgh.org/event/resilience-rising-amplifying-voices-of-hope/?mc_cid=5c8000eeb1&mc_eid=d275d4bca9
The exhibit will be open to the public at Rodef Shalom Congregation Aaron Court from September 22 to October 1, 2024.
More Fall Exhibit Details COMING SOON!
Resilience Rising: Amplifying Voices of Hope
This fall, prepare to embark on a powerful journey that spans from the Kindertransport era to today’s ongoing battles against hate and discrimination. “Resilience Rising: Amplifying Voices of Hope” will illuminate the strength and spirit of those who have faced adversity and fought for justice.
Experience a series of engaging community events, explore a moving traveling exhibit, and immerse yourself in profound personal narratives, evocative music, and poignant poetry. This program promises to captivate and inspire, bringing to light stories of resilience and hope.

Exhibition: Visit the “Für das Kind / For the Child” at community centers, and educational institutions, to gain insight into Kindertransport history and personal stories behind the artifacts.
Speaker Series: Events featuring Kindertransport survivors, historians, and experts, discussing topics like its impact on families and communities, with interactive Q&A sessions.
School Outreach Program: Integrating Kindertransport history into school curricula, providing resources, lesson plans, and virtual classroom visits by survivors or experts, along with student projects and oral history interviews.
Community Storytelling Workshops: Workshops exploring family histories, connections to the Kindertransport, or themes of displacement and resilience, culminating in public sharing events.
Film Screenings and Panel Discussions: Screenings of related documentaries followed by discussions with filmmakers, scholars, and survivors, delving into historical context and contemporary relevance.
Art and Memory Workshops: Art-based workshops allowing participants to create works inspired by Kindertransport themes, fostering creative expression and reflection on personal and collective memory.

A Blessing, Not a Burden: The Story of Two Holocaust Survivors, Eva and Mickey Kor, told by their son Dr. Alex Kor with Graham Honaker
2024-09-26 17:30 | Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, United States
The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh is pleased to welcome Dr. Alex Kor, son of Eva and Mickey Kor (z”l) and his co-author, Graham Honaker.
Eva Kor (z”l) was a Holocaust survivor who advocated for healing through forgiveness, the subject of two critically acclaimed documentaries Eva: A-7063 and Forgiving Dr. Mengele, and the founder of the CANDLES Holocaust Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana. Alex will share the story of his mother, as well as his father Mickey Kor (z”l) who was also a survivor, and the lessons we can all learn through their incredible strength, perseverance, and hope. Alex will demonstrate the interactive hologram technology utilizing his mother’s testimony. A limited number of copies of his book about his parents’ Holocaust experiences, A Blessing, Not a Burden, will be available for preorder through the registration site. Alex (and co-author Graham Honaker) will sign the books at the event.
This talk by Alex and Graham coincides with our theme for this programming year, Generations: The Memory Keepers, as we look to the next generation and descendants of Holocaust survivors, to continue to tell their family’s stories.
This event is a part of RAD Days 2024.

Register here.

“A Night of Hope & Hops” at Golden Age Beer Company
2024-10-01 18:30 | 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.
