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KUPFERBERG CENTER OPENS AT QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE
By Nathan Duke
YourNabe.com
Thursday, October 8, 2009 9:15 AM EDT
Holocaust survivors hope building will inform students, descendants
through exhibits, catalogs and events
Attendees view the exhibits during a special opening ceremony at
Queensborough Community College's Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg
Holocaust Resource Center and Archives. Photo by Nathan Duke More
than 50 Holocaust survivors took part in a special ceremony last week
at Queensborough Community College's long-awaited Holocaust center,
where speakers said they hoped the 9,000-square-foot structure of
glass, steel and Jerusalem stone would stand as a beacon of tolerance
for years to come.
The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center
and Archives will officially open Oct. 18 following five years of
planning for the $6 million facility. The center, which had been in
the basement of the Bayside school's library since 1983, was named
after late Malba philanthropist Harriet Kupferberg, who donated $1
million to the center, and her husband.
"This undertaking was a very important obligation so what happened to
the survivors of the Holocaust would not be forgotten," said Arthur
Flug, the center's executive director. "We wanted to make a special
effort that their stories would become a part of our educational
program."
On Friday, the center held a pre-opening ceremony for a group of
Holocaust survivors, many of whom were interviewed and featured in
displays at the center. The survivors said they were pleased students
at the school would hear their stories.
"My story is not the usual story," said Eddie Weinstein, a Little
Neck resident who escaped Poland's Treblinka death camp at the age of
18 as well as fleeing five other times after being recaptured by the
Nazis. "It's a story about daring to resist. I escaped six times. The
longest time I was incarcerated was 23 days and the shortest time
was 24 hours. I kept running, I survived."
Diana Albert o Little Neck said she escaped the Warsaw ghetto at age 9,
but most of her family was killed. She eventually fled to the United
States and later attended Queensborough.
"I was the only survivor from my entire family," said Albert,
whose brother, father, mother, aunts and cousins died during the
Holocaust. "It's good we now have a place to get together where people
who have this in common can talk about these things."
The center includes a permanent interactive exhibit that merges
personal accounts with historical data, a gallery, customized exhibits
and catalogs, a program that will train teachers and students about
how to deal with hate crimes, a terrace adjacent to the center and
a 150-foot space that will be used for outdoor events.
It will also host a variety of events, including a series of films
created in Hollywood during World War II to torment Hitler's regime
as well as a bi-monthly program of Yiddish film, music, speakers,
books and discussion groups for Holocaust survivors.
Flug said the center will also hold an upcoming event during which
grandchildren will be able to trace their grandparents' stories. The
interviews between them will be captured on film.
ADVERTISEMENT * The center's exhibit has a timeline of the Holocaust
as well as interviews with a number of survivors. One classroom in
the building features a history of genocides throughout the past 100
years in nations such as Rwanda, Darfur and Armenia.
Eduardo Marti, Queensborough's president, said he wants the college's
donors to put together a $5 million endowment for the center to ensure
its building remains a Holocaust center.
"I want to make sure that students 100 years from now are learning the
lessons of the Holocaust," he said. "I know that the 15,000 students
on this campus come from 130 different countries and a lot of them
do not know about World War II or the Holocaust. But all of them,
at one point, have been the subject of bullying. So this is not a
memorial or a museum. It's a laboratory, a classro we use the lessons
of the Holocaust to teach students about prejudice to ensure something
like this never happens again. We can teach the lesson that unless
students speak up, something like the Holocaust can take place and
become institutionalized."
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at [email protected] or by
phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
By Nathan Duke
YourNabe.com
Thursday, October 8, 2009 9:15 AM EDT
Holocaust survivors hope building will inform students, descendants
through exhibits, catalogs and events
Attendees view the exhibits during a special opening ceremony at
Queensborough Community College's Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg
Holocaust Resource Center and Archives. Photo by Nathan Duke More
than 50 Holocaust survivors took part in a special ceremony last week
at Queensborough Community College's long-awaited Holocaust center,
where speakers said they hoped the 9,000-square-foot structure of
glass, steel and Jerusalem stone would stand as a beacon of tolerance
for years to come.
The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center
and Archives will officially open Oct. 18 following five years of
planning for the $6 million facility. The center, which had been in
the basement of the Bayside school's library since 1983, was named
after late Malba philanthropist Harriet Kupferberg, who donated $1
million to the center, and her husband.
"This undertaking was a very important obligation so what happened to
the survivors of the Holocaust would not be forgotten," said Arthur
Flug, the center's executive director. "We wanted to make a special
effort that their stories would become a part of our educational
program."
On Friday, the center held a pre-opening ceremony for a group of
Holocaust survivors, many of whom were interviewed and featured in
displays at the center. The survivors said they were pleased students
at the school would hear their stories.
"My story is not the usual story," said Eddie Weinstein, a Little
Neck resident who escaped Poland's Treblinka death camp at the age of
18 as well as fleeing five other times after being recaptured by the
Nazis. "It's a story about daring to resist. I escaped six times. The
longest time I was incarcerated was 23 days and the shortest time
was 24 hours. I kept running, I survived."
Diana Albert o Little Neck said she escaped the Warsaw ghetto at age 9,
but most of her family was killed. She eventually fled to the United
States and later attended Queensborough.
"I was the only survivor from my entire family," said Albert,
whose brother, father, mother, aunts and cousins died during the
Holocaust. "It's good we now have a place to get together where people
who have this in common can talk about these things."
The center includes a permanent interactive exhibit that merges
personal accounts with historical data, a gallery, customized exhibits
and catalogs, a program that will train teachers and students about
how to deal with hate crimes, a terrace adjacent to the center and
a 150-foot space that will be used for outdoor events.
It will also host a variety of events, including a series of films
created in Hollywood during World War II to torment Hitler's regime
as well as a bi-monthly program of Yiddish film, music, speakers,
books and discussion groups for Holocaust survivors.
Flug said the center will also hold an upcoming event during which
grandchildren will be able to trace their grandparents' stories. The
interviews between them will be captured on film.
ADVERTISEMENT * The center's exhibit has a timeline of the Holocaust
as well as interviews with a number of survivors. One classroom in
the building features a history of genocides throughout the past 100
years in nations such as Rwanda, Darfur and Armenia.
Eduardo Marti, Queensborough's president, said he wants the college's
donors to put together a $5 million endowment for the center to ensure
its building remains a Holocaust center.
"I want to make sure that students 100 years from now are learning the
lessons of the Holocaust," he said. "I know that the 15,000 students
on this campus come from 130 different countries and a lot of them
do not know about World War II or the Holocaust. But all of them,
at one point, have been the subject of bullying. So this is not a
memorial or a museum. It's a laboratory, a classro we use the lessons
of the Holocaust to teach students about prejudice to ensure something
like this never happens again. We can teach the lesson that unless
students speak up, something like the Holocaust can take place and
become institutionalized."
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at [email protected] or by
phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.