Annual Countywide Yom HaShoah Commemoration

We were very pleased to see such a tremendous turnout for the Annual Countywide Yom HaShoah Commemoration at the Garden of Remembrance, as HHREC Holocaust Survivor Speaker Arlette Baker shared her story with words of inspiration and hope. Her urgent message to Never Forget was echoed by our U.S. Congressman George Latimer, Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, HHREC Board Chair Daniel Weinreb and Westchester Jewish Council Board President Michael Mittelman. 

A special thank you to our friends from Westchester Jewish Council and the hundreds of people who turned out for a day of reflection and pledges to take action as Upstanders in our communities. To read the full story click here.

HHREC Living History Project

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center offers area high school students a unique opportunity to participate in an intergenerational program connecting them with our GenerationsForward Speakers.

This year, students from Archbishop Stepinac, Byram Hills, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Somers, and Valhalla high schools shared presentations that documented Holocaust Survivor stories, including Joey Schachter, Byram Hills High School, pictured (left) with Joseph Kaidanow, HHREC Board Member and GenerationsForward Speaker, and his father (right) Holocaust Survivor Jerry Kaidanow. Mount Vernon student Desirae Bailey-McCalla was featured on her high school website we shared on our social media. To read the full story about the presentations and the special relationships formed between these students and our speakers, click here,

Jewish American Heritage Month in New York State

On May 16th, HHREC Executive Director Millie Jasper joined with other New York State leaders at Governor Kathy Hochul's Jewish American Heritage Month Reception. We applaud the Governor for reaffirming New York's commitment to battling antisemitism and for supporting the Jewish community.

Annual Spring Luncheon

Over 100 of our community supporters, Holocaust Survivors, GenerationsForward Speakers and Board Members gathered for the HHREC Annual Spring Luncheon on May 15th at Bet Am Shalom Synagogue.

The program featured a presentation by HHREC Board Member and GenerationsForward Speaker Debby Ziering, who shared a deeply moving tribute to her father Herman Ziering, a Holocaust Survivor, Nazi hunter, and passionate man who Never Forgot. Other speakers who appeared included Professor Mehnaz Afridi, Director of the Holocaust Genocide and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan University, who spoke about The Herman and Lea Ziering Archive Collection. To view photos from the event, click here.

MemoryKeeper Story Hour and Fall Family History Workshops

Our HHREC MemoryKeeper Series concluded on May 7th with a presentation by GenerationsForward Speaker Audrey Reich, who shared the remarkable story of her mother’s childhood in Shanghai, China, and how her family fled the Russian Revolution, experienced the Japanese invasion and survived a civil war between Nationalist and Communist forces.

We enjoyed hosting these events on Zoom presented by our GenerationsForward Speakers, direct descendants of Holocaust Survivors, as their stories are preserved and shared with our audience from here in the U.S and around the world.

As part of our focus on developing future speakers for this important program, the MemoryKeeper Family History Group will continue to offer workshops for second and third generation Holocaust Survivors this fall to help them develop and present their family’s story. Training sessions will be offered for 10 weeks at our library in White Plains. For more information contact Millie Jasper mjasper@hhrecny.org.

Aspiring Intern an Inspiration For HHREC

Abigael Rondeau, a senior at Byram Hills High School is working in the Anna & Nicholas Elefant Library, covering and labeling new books to be displayed and offered to area teachers interested in reviewing and using them in their curricula.

Abigael is also collaborating with Jeanne Claire Cotnoir, HHREC Coordinator of Student Programming to support this year’s Ben Ferencz contest and help prepare for the Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders taking place in November.

Over the course of her high school career, she has participated in the HHREC High School Human Rights Institute for Student Leaders as a 10th grade attendee and as a 12th grade workshop facilitator. In 2023, she completed the HHREC Living History program, as she paired with Ziporah Janowski, a member of our Board of Directors and a GenerationsForward speaker to research and present a project on Ziporah's mother, a Holocaust survivor. Abigael will be attending McGill University in Montreal this fall.

Please join us as we recognize Abigael for her work with us, congratulate her on a fine career at Byram Hills, and wish her the very best at McGill University in the fall!

HHREC Summer Educational Tour of Historical Sites

Our International Educational Study Tour will be offered from June 20th through July 6th. Hosted by HHREC Director of Education Steve Goldberg and professional tour guide Gerrit Book, this unique program will offer educators and community members an opportunity to visit historical sites in Germany and Poland. This tour is designed to offer insight into the history of the Jews in these countries, and will trace the origins of the Holocaust through visiting monuments and memorial sites. It will also include a series of interactive workshops and guided tours by experts in the field. 

HHREC Fall Benefit - Save the Date!

As we close the books on Spring, we are already busy planning for our Annual Benefit. Please mark you calendars for Thursday, October 30th. Stay tuned for more details about this year's honorees and more!

HHREC Legacy Society

$50K Endowment Fund Challenge

Join the Legacy Challenge!  

Please consider joining a growing number of donors who are helping us meet the $50,000 Legacy Challenge, generously made possible by Ziporah Janowski and David Ettenberg.  

In the past academic year, students from 65 area schools attended our annual Human Rights Institutes, and members of our Speakers Bureau shared their experiences with an estimated 13,000 students. Your gift to our Challenge will support our educational outreach. Legacy gifts — for example, including HHREC in your will or estate plans — count toward this challenge. Other ways to participate include:

• Check or credit card donations

• Gifts of appreciated stock

• Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from your IRA 

• Grants from donor-advised funds  

You can also make a gift in honor or memory of a loved one.

For over 30 years, the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center has been steadfast in our mission to impart the crucial lessons of the Holocaust, genocide and human rights violations to educators and students. And we are proud to be awarded a 4-Star rating by Charity Navigator! 

To join the campaign and help preserve Holocaust and human rights education for generations to come, we invite you to click here, or contact Millie Jasper at 914.696.0738 email mjasper@hhrecny.org.

Thank you for your consideration!