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 profiles about their efforts.
Article by Greta Stern
Meg Pankiewicz decided she wanted to dedicate her career to Holocaust studies after volunteering at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill. She met Holocaust survivor Sam Gottesman, and the instant that she met him, she “felt that there was a shift in [her] life.”
“Knowing him, learning from him, him becoming part of my family, changed every dynamic of how I look at the world and how I want to make it better,” she said.
After her life-changing meeting, Pankiewicz decided to dedicate her career to Holocaust and Jewish studies.
Her actions stood out to the Pittsburgh Families Bridging Kindness nomination committee, a group composed of survivors and family members of the October 27, 2018 synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, and they have nominated her as Righteous Among the Neighbors.
Pankiewicz is currently a teacher at Canon-McMillan High School, where she teaches English alongside a semester-long course in Holocaust and genocide studies. At Seton Hill University, she teaches college-level courses and another Holocaust and genocide studies course.
“This material is single-handedly the most important, most transformative material that we can give students,” Pankiewicz said. “Not just students, but even adults. I think even the world. I believe in its power, I believe in its meaning. I see it, first-hand, change students. It has changed me.”
She was so inspired by the material she taught and experiences she had with Jewish community members that she pursued a PhD in Holocaust Studies. Her goal was to “learn more and be able to give [her] students and the people that [she] teaches more.”
“I feel that no matter how much you know about history, there’s still an immense amount to learn,” she said. “And I wanted to expand my knowledge, I wanted to continue to be dedicated to this field.”
Pankiewicz believed that if she became an authority on the topic, she would be able to reach a bigger audience and more people would hear her message.
“[I wanted to] fulfill my promises to the survivors that I knew and loved to continue to tell their stories and to continue to not let contemporary society overshadow the power of this history,” she said.
Carol Black, one of the women responsible for nominating Pankiewicz, is a member of the Pittsburgh Families Bridging Kindness group and survivor of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Black first connected with Pankiewicz two years ago when she spoke at Pankiewicz’s screening of “Repairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life” at the public library in Canonsburg.
She was impressed by Pankiewicz’s determination to educate and show the film to students, and from that day forward, a personal relationship sparked.
“There are three of us who get together with her periodically,” Black said. “When she completed her PhD, and her parents threw a party for her, she invited those of us who came to speak at the library that time to come to the party. We’ve adopted her and she’s adopted us as just part of her people.”
To Black, the world needs more educators like Pankiewicz, a person filled with compassion who shows students their power in making a difference in society. What makes her stand out from other community members, and shows her dedication to going above and beyond for the Jewish people, is how she always stays true to what’s important to her.
“I think that the lengths that she goes to, and she’s undaunted in this pursuit of hers, makes her stand out,” Black said. “She’s just a warm, caring, loving, tender person, and she’s very much involved with making sure that people know about what went on, and she works very hard at it.”
For Pankiewicz, receiving this nomination is “priceless.” To be recognized by the people she set out to help furthers her motivation to educate and advocate for the Jewish community.
“I wish [the Jewish people] would know that I will stand by them forever,” she said. “They always have a place with me that is safe and loving.”
As a goal for the future, Pankiewicz wants to continue passing the torch to students. Several of her students reported that they declared their college majors due to her Holocaust and Genocide Studies class. Whether working in human rights or humanitarian law, it’s clear Panckiewicz’s dedication to her students and her subject has changed their lives like it changed hers.
“My goal is to change the trajectory of society for the better. I see the changes in students after they receive the knowledge of the material,” she said. “I feel that if I can give them the information and they can take it and somehow make the world better, then they are continuing to keep the torch alive.”
Pankiewicz’s relationship with the Jewish community has cemented her part of the community and enriched her life.
“They’ve made my life better. They’ve given me purpose,” she said. “No matter how hard it is at times to do this work, I do it for them, and I will do it willingly and freely for the rest of my life. I could never give back to them what they’ve given me.”