WITNESSES: Buffalo's Holocaust-Era Stories Traveling Gallery Exhibit And Speaker Events Announced

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo, in collaboration with the Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo, presents Witnesses: Buffalo's Holocaust-Era Stories Traveling Gallery Exhibit, on display in the Lippman Lounge, 2nd floor, JCC Benderson Family Building, 2640 North Forest Rd., Amherst, NY.

This exhibit shares personal stories, photographs, and artifacts, exploring the themes of movement, antisemitism, cooperation, and resilience as witnesses to the Holocaust survivors who arrived in Buffalo, NY. Survivors included in the exhibit include Joseph Bolinsky, Joseph Diamond, William Eisen, Henry Joseph, Stephen Lewy, Dr. Sol Messinger, Anna Post, Mark Solarz and Sophia Veffer. The exhibit was made possible through the support of the E.O. Smith Arts and Humanities Faculty Development Fund at SUNY Buffalo State College and the Buffalo News and is free and open to the public during regular JCC business hours.

In conjunction with the gallery exhibit, scheduled events will take place during the week of Kristallnacht commemorating its 80th Anniversary. Kristallnacht, also called the Night of Broken Glass, happened on the night of November 9, 1938, when German Nazis attacked Jewish persons and property. In a few hours, thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes were damaged or destroyed.

The following events will be presented during the week of November 3 - November 11:

"Witnesses: Buffalo's Holocaust-Era Stories Traveling Gallery Exhibit"

Opening Reception

Monday, November 5, 2018

6:00 - 8:00 pm

Location: Lippman Lounge, 2nd Floor, JCC Benderson Family Building

The event includes welcoming remarks by Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo, tour of the exhibit, and light reception. This event is free and open to the community, RSVP to 204-2084.

"Through the eyes of the subsequent generations: Telling the survivors stories"

Lecture presentation by Nurit Fischer-Shemer

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

7:00 pm

Location: Lippman Lounge, 2nd Floor, JCC Benderson Family Building

The offspring of people who lived through the Holocaust are known as the survivors' descendants. Nurit will share the story of her grandmother, and talk about the importance of training children and grandchildren of survivors to tell their families histories about the Holocaust and their stories of lives after liberation. This event is free and open to the community.

"Documenting History, the making of "Witnesses: Buffalo's Holocaust- Era Stories""

Lecture presentation by Kelsey Reed

Thursday, November 8, 2018

10:30 am

Location: Lippman Lounge, 2nd Floor, JCC Benderson Family Building

Kelsey Reed, program coordinator at the Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo will speak on her involvement in the exhibit Witnesses: Buffalo's Holocaust-Era Stories and the need to preserve and document history.

This event is free and open to the community.

"Events leading up to Kristallnacht"

Lecture presentation by Dr. Timothy J. Redmond

Thursday, November 8, 2018

7:00 pm

Location: Lippman Lounge, 2nd Floor, JCC Benderson Family Building

Dr. Timothy J. Redmond is a social studies teacher at Williamsville East High School, as well as an associate director for the Summer Institute for Human Rights and Genocide Studies of Buffalo. He will discuss the events that led up to Kristallnacht 80 years ago. This event is free and open to the community.

"No Place on Earth"

Film Screening

Guest Speaker Dr. Andrew Wise

Saturday, November 10, 2018

6:00 pm

Location: Temple Beth Zion Broder Center on Sweet Home Rd.

The remarkable true story of NO PLACE ON EARTH starts out as a mystery. While exploring some of the longest caves in the world in southwestern Ukraine in the 1990s, American caver Chris Nicola stumbled onto unusual objects...an antique ladies shoe and comb, old buttons, an old world key. Was the vague rumor true, that some Jews had hid in this cave during WWII and if so, had any survived to tell their tale? His research uncovers a startling tale of five Ukrainian Jewish families who lived underground longer than anyone in recorded history.

This event is free and open to the community.

"Writing fiction about the Holocaust: Is it possible?"

Author Sharon Hart-Green - Come Back for Me

Sunday, November 11, 2018

7:30 pm

Location: Maxine and Robert Seller Theatre, JCC Benderson Family Building

Sharon Hart-Green is a Canadian novelist and literary scholar who holds a PhD. in Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. Her presentation will discuss the difficulties authors face when writing stories about the Holocaust. Is it unethical to write fiction about that period? Do writers have an obligation to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive through their imaginative representations?

Dessert Reception and Book Sale/signing to follow

Tickets: $10.00/General & $5.00/Student. Visit www.jccbuffalo.com or purchase at JCC Member Service Desks.

For more information please visit www.jccbuffalo.com or contact Katie Wzontek, Cultural Arts Director at Kwzontek@jccbuffalo.org.

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