This year, we were torn between joyously celebrating Simchat Torah and remembering with sorrow the October 7, 2023, attack, which occurred on that day a year ago. Unfortunately for our community, the October 7 attack brought up painful thoughts of many Nazi “Aktions” and the Yom Kippur war which were specifically committed on Jewish holidays.

In November we also commemorate the November Pogrom, Kristallnacht, recognized as the beginning of the Holocaust. As we are still in shock about the attack on Israeli soil 78 years after the Holocaust and as we battle heightened antisemitism in America and around the world, we invite you to attend "How October 7th Has Changed How We Tell Our Families' Stories: A Conversation Between American and Israeli Holocaust Descendants." This is our second joint program with Dorot HaHemshech, our Israeli 2G counterpart. We encourage survivors and descendants to sign up for this important and stimulating conversation on November 10. We cherish our intergenerational and international community and hope that you will find this program helpful and enriching. Please note that registration is limited to the first 30 American and first 30 Israeli registrants.

We also look forward to December and our in-person Chanukah party in partnership with 3GDC. The party will be preceded by Gen After’s annual meeting and Board elections. Registration details will be coming soon.

We say farewell and thank you to our 3GDC liaison, Matt Gever, as he concludes his appointment on our board. We also welcome Sara Vogler’s candidacy as the new 3GDC liaison. Please sign up or renew your membership on our website to be able to vote.

Shelli Klein,

President

Olimpia Nowicka-Sulla,

Vice-President

PART 2: Conversation Between American and Israeli Descendants

Margalit Ganor, Dorot Hahemshech

Nikki Korsen, Generations After

How October 7th Has Changed

How We Tell Our Families' Stories

November 10, 2024, 12:00 PM ET, 7:00 PM Israel Time on Zoom

We continue our important discussion between 2Gs in the U.S. and Israel. Join Generations After and Dorot HaHemshech, Israel's largest Holocaust descendant organization, to discuss the central question of how October 7th has impacted our attitude about telling our families' Holocaust stories.

Join us whether you have been telling your story or not. Because we will be speaking in small, mixed groups, the program is limited to the first 30 American and 30 Israeli 2Gs and 3Gs. Please register by November 7.

Please note: You are registering to actively participate in the discussion. If you are unable to attend, please email genafter@genafterdc.org so that someone from the waitlist can take your place.

Read about our opening speakers.

UPCOMING: Speakers' Bureau Meeting, November 17, 11:00 AM ET

Seven of our Speakers' Bureau members are currently taking a special seven-week training program with Teach the Shoah titled "Re-Crafting Your Family Story." 

JCRC is also offering its virtual Maggid training for 2Gs beginning on Wednesday, November 6, from 7:00–9:00 PM ET, and continuing on November 13, 20, and December 4. The final session will be in person on Sunday, December 15, 10:00 AM–1:00 PM. A donation of $180 is requested. Participants must be able to attend ALL sessions. Apply to participate. RSVP to receive the Zoom link.

To refer organizations looking for a speaker,

please send them the Request a Speaker link.

SAVE THE DATE: Annual Meeting and Hanukkah Luncheon, December 15

December 15, 2024, 12:30 PM ET – 2:30 PM,

Congregation Beth El, Bethesda, MD

Gen After will host an intergenerational Hanukkah luncheon. 3GDC will cosponsor the joyful, in-person event with us. In addition to festive food, Lox and Vodka will provide singing, dancing, and Hanukkah entertainment. Admission will be charged to help cover expenses (except for survivors and children five years old and under). Watch your inbox for the invitation.

Gen After's annual meeting will be held prior to the festivities at 12:00 PM at the same location.

UPCOMING: Book Group with 2G Alex Kor, December 22, 2024, 11:00 AM

The Gen After Book Group's December book selection is A Blessing, Not a Burden by Gen After member Alex Kor. Alex and co-author Graham Honaker will participate in the Zoom discussion. Generations After members can sign up or contact the Book Group for additional details at 2ndgenbookgroup@gmail.com.

Read the Jewish Journal article highlighting Alex and the book.

Alex and Mr. Honaker are scheduled to speak and autograph books at the National Museum of American Jewish Military History in DC on Sunday, January 12, from 2:00--3:30 PM ET. Visit the organization's website at https://nmajmh.org.O

Not a current Gen After member? Join or renew.

- Around the Community -

IN MEMORIUM: Prof. Yehuda Bauer z"l

Professor Yehuda Bauer, one of the world's most prominent and influential Holocaust historians, died last week at age 98 in Israel. His family emigrated from Czechoslovakia to Mandatory Palestine in1939 and lived on Kibbutz Shoval in the Negev. Over his long life Bauer published over 40 books on the Holocaust and antisemitism and was one of the first to research Jewish organized resistance to the Nazis, changing the way the world viewed Jewish response to the Holocaust. He challenged the prevalent notion of Jews "going to slaughter like sheep" and argued that not only did they fight among the partisans, in ghetto uprisings, and the Bricha underground movement that helped Jewish Holocaust survivors escape to Mandatory Palestine, but also conducted many acts of heroic defiance in everyday life that were also acts of resistance. He played a key role in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and helped draft the Working Definition of Antisemitism. He opposed using the Holocaust for nationalistic reasons and worked towards a two-state solution. An excellent tribute can be heard on This Promised Land Podcast here. Zichrono l'vracha.

IN MEMORIUM

We note with sorrow the passing of the mothers of two of Generations After Board members. We mourn the passing of Susan Miles' mother, Clara Miles, survivor, and the mother of Olimpia Sulla, Teresa Nowicka. May their memories be a blessing forever.

UPCOMING: Echoes and Reflections, November 7, 2024, 1:00 PM ET

Echoes and Reflections: Teaching the Holocaust, Inspiring the Classroom

To honor the anniversary of the Kristallnacht Pogrom, students and their teachers are invited to join a special conversation with Holocaust survivor Renate Zelovic. Additional opportunities will be offered exclusively for educators on teaching about the Kristallnacht Pogrom, The Willesden Project, and resistance in the Vilna Ghetto. Learn more and register.

UPCOMING: Arbeit Macht Frei, November 17, 2024, 2:00 PM ET

Book launch:

Arbeit Macht Frei: Representations and Meanings in Art by Dr. Batya Brutin

Presented by Remember the Women Institute, Women in the Holocaust International Study Center, Moreshet Holocaust and Study Center, Classrooms Without Borders, Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, and the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Center.

Professor Shelley Hornstein will lecture on how objects of visual art--sculpture, photographs, and paintings--function to convey history and attempt to serve up narratives about the past, asking whether art succeeds at transmitting sufficiently into the present the evil and atrocities of the Holocaust.

Author Dr. Batya Brutin will describe her journey writing her trilogy. She also will present artists who used Holocaust icons to manifest their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, messages, and political opinions on social, cultural, and political issues. View details and Register to receive the Zoom link.

UPCOMING: Stand Together, November 10, 2024, 12:00 PM ET

Join one of the most significant gatherings since the March in Washington. Together we stand, unified in action and common cause for the Jewish people, Israel, racism, hatred, bigotry, and violence. Sponsors: Me Too Unless UR A Jew, Global peace for Israel, Jewish Women for All Women, JASS, and Gr8 Debate. 

Doors open at 12:00. Singer-songwriter Idan Raichel starts off this family-friendly event with a concert at 1:00. Registration is required for entry.

UPCOMING: Personalizing the Past, December 11, 2024, 7:30 PM ET

The Bethesda Chevy Chase Jewish Community Group will host Professor Susan Evans, Ed.D., Research and Reference Specialist, The David M. Rubenstein National Institute for Holocaust Documentation, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Professor Evans will present an overview of the USHMM's Research Services, including examples of digitalized documentation and how individual inquiries regarding victims who perished and those who survived, are processed.

She will also explain how those who wish to initiate such research can submit a personal inquiry. Register to receive the Zoom link.

Join or Renew Your Gen After Membership

Join The Generations After or Renew Your Membership! Individual member dues are $36, and family memberships are $54. Your generous support will help us keep you and the 2G community engaged and informed and ensure that the legacy of the Shoah is never forgotten.

Sign up, donate, or

send your check to:

Send your Gen After Newsletter Items by the 15th of Every Month

Do you know of an event or news item that the Generations After community needs to learn about? Please email it by the 15th of the month along with a very short description to genafter@genafterdc.org. Our Communication Committee will review it and, if possible, publish it in the upcoming issue.

- Around the Community -

Gen After Remember a Child Program

Are there b'nai mitzvah coming up in the family?

The Remember A Child (RAC) program pairs adult and young b'nai mitzvah students with children murdered during the Shoah before they were able to have a bar or bat mitzvah. Participants receive a scroll of remembrance, biography, and links for additional information about their child. More than 800 b'nai mitzvah students have enriched their milestone simcha by participating in this meaningful program. Contact RAC Coordinator Barbara Brandys for information and click for details.

Holocaust Survivors–The Last Generation

Child survivors meet the third Sunday of each month. Join the Zoom call or contact Ayana Touval for more information.

3GDC Group

Learn about DC, Maryland, and Virginia 3rd Generation activities on the 3G Facebook page.

Resources to Address Antisemitism

Listing of several organizations that can assist in addressing antisemitic incidents.

Jewish Records Indexing-Poland (JRI-Poland)

JRI-Poland seeks volunteers to help make important family records available. Contact volunteers@jri-poland.org.

Arolsen Archive Project "Every Name Counts"

“Every Name Counts” aspires to make available every name contained in the online archive. Help digitize names into the massive and vital Arolsen Archive. Learn more at the Arolsen Archive website or #everynamecounts.

Generations of the Shoah, International (GSI)

GSI newsletters list hundreds of Holocaust-related events, conferences, lectures, books, and resources from around the world at www.genshoah.org.