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mare3805_01 "ARY TOWSON, MARYLAND 21252 V -No.5 /June 2012 - lyyar/Sivan 5772 CELEBRATING THE STRENGTH OF WOMEN THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM ANNUAL SPRING LUNCHEON On May 16 the American Society for Yad Vashem held its Annual Spring Luncheon at the New York Marriott Marquis hotel in New York City. The theme of the event was Celebrating the Strength of Women. Sima Katz and Iris Lifshitz Lindenbaum were this year's honorees. Marilyn Rubenstein, Luncheon Chair, opened the event with the following remarks. «/\n behalf of the American Society v^for Yad Vashem and my Luncheon Co-Chairs, Rita Levy and Stella Skura, I welcome you to this year's Annual Spring Luncheon. ""I am pleased to see all of you here today and thank you for your commitment to our organization's important mission of Holocaust remembrance. ""I wish to acknowledge our Chairman and Founder, Eli Zborowski, and his wife, Elizabeth. Eli and Elizabeth continue to inspire us with their tireless energy and complete dedication to the Society and, through it, to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Thank you. ""I also welcome our guest speaker Rochel Berman, a long-standing member of the American Society for Yad Vashem, whose book about Eli chronicles a life of exemplary leadership. ""Today we celebrate the strength of women - their spirit and resilience; the memory of those who perished so tragically while holding on to family and children for as long as they could; and those who survived and lived to raise new generations of leaders in a new world. ""Indeed it is appropriate that today we honor Sima Katz and Iris Lifshitz Lindenbaum. Sima, a survivor who, with her late husband Nathan, came to America and through hard work and unbending spirit raised children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren; and Iris Lifshitz Lindenbaum, who carries the torch of our Young Leadership. Iris is a grandchild of survivors, Sam and Stella Skura, founders of our organization. Iris has her own child, a Fourth generation. Both Sima and Iris are active and respected representatives of our organization and reflect our dynamic continuity. ""It is therefore with great pleasure that I officially open this Luncheon's program, acknowledging the contribution of our honorees and their leadership. ""I now call on Eli Zborowski, our Founder, Chairman, and mentor."" Eli Zborowski addressed the audience with the following speech: M I n Celebrating the Strength of Women I we have selected two distinguished honorees who are members of families that have made enduring humanitarian contributions to Jewish life, and particularly have endowed a Learning Center at Yad Vashem that provides visitors with interactive access to an extensive Holocaust database of texts, photographs, recordings and films. ""This past year marked the publication of my biography, A Life of Leadership, that was meticulously researched and skillfully co-authored by Rochel and George Berman. The Bermans brought to this project the knowledge and understanding they gained about our work during the last twenty years. This afternoon, we are Front row: Eli Zborowski, Chairman, American Society for Yad Vashem; Sima Katz, 2012 Spring Luncheon Honoree; and Iris Lifshitz Lindenbaum, 2012 Spring Luncheon Honoree. Back row: Rita Levy, 2012 Spring Luncheon Co-Chair; Matthew Levy, grandson and introducer of Sima Katz; and Marilyn Rubenstein, 2012 Spring Luncheon Chair. to the cause of remembrance. On behalf of the American Society for Yad Vashem, I wish to congratulate Sima Katz, a Holocaust survivor, and Iris Lifshitz Lindenbaum, granddaughter of survivors, Sam, z""l, and Stella Skura. Sam was one of my oldest and dearest friends. He was the person to whom I turned to discuss all major decisions about the Society. His death has left a void in my life. ""Both families we honor today are Society Benefactors. Sima Katz has endowed a program for Jewish educators at Yad Vashem in memory of her late husband, Nathan, z""l. The Skura-Lifshitz families IN THIS ISSUE The American Society for Yad Vashem Annual Spring Luncheon 1, 8-9,12 Yom HaShoah around the world .....2,14 How a top Nazi's brother saved lives .....5 ""I thought I was the last Jew left"" 6 Holocaust survivors struggling to make ends meet in Israel ........6 Beating the Nazis at their own game ...7 Survivors' grandchildren feeling an obligation to share Holocaust memories 7 Historians race clock to collect survivors' stories 10 Excruciating details emerge on Jewish ghettos.. 11 Poland's halt of restitution plans angers many 14 Holocaust family weeps as last portraits of victims go on show in Israel ......16 pleased to welcome Rochel as our guest speaker. ""Just prior to Pesach, the book, co-published by Yad Vashem, was launched in the Yad Vashem synagogue, a project endowed by Marilyn and Barry Rubenstein and family. At the conclusion of his remarks, Joshua Berman, Professor of Bible at Bar Han, who represented his parents, pointed to four empty pages at the back of the book. He said that these pages symbolically signify that our work for the perpetuation of memory will continue for generations to come. With your interest and support we have built a strong organization that now includes the Second, Third, and Fourth generations. I am confident that there will be many more chapters written by successive generations about the aftermath of the Shoah."" After award presentation Rita Levy, Luncheon Co-Chair, introduced the guest speaker, Rochel Berman. bout fifteen years ago my parents Lwent back to Lithuania to find the gentile family who hid them during the war. They were successful, and so they applied to Yad Vashem to have them named Righteous Among the Nations. We came up with the idea of having the ceremony at my ""A1 daughter Rebecca's Bat Mitzvah reception here in New York. And my father said something like, 'I want the whole world should know. Call the newspapers! Call the TV!' As is typical in many father/daughter relationships, I just rolled my eyes. As was typical with my father, he steamrolled ahead. So, in the office of Benjamin Mead (may he rest in peace), the head of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, we came to a meeting about how we could accomplish 'the whole world should know.' ""It was there that we met a lovely, self- assured, professional American woman, who also spoke Yiddish! And the most amazing part was, when she spoke, no matter what the language, my father listened. We all listened. And as a result: ""When the 2ilevicius family arrived at JFK, our local news channel and the Daily News were there. ""When they went with my parents to the Statue of Liberty, Newsday went with them. ""It was the same Newsday reporter who listened to Mom and Dad tell their story while Matthew sat on his Zaydie's lap, hearing the stories for the first time - and at the bat mitzvah reception, as Rebecca stood with her brother and cousins and explained that because of the seven lives that the Zilevicius family saved in 1943, twelve of us are here today. Tikun Olam. To save one life is to save the world. And channel four was there to record and later air the story. Newsday did a large feature spread. ""Rochel Berman was responsible for helping to tell the world what happened. In fact, she helped with the publication of Dad's memoir, Teach Us to Count Our Days. ""On a personal note, Rochel taught me that, no matter how nervous you are standing behind a podium, in front of a microphone, it is indeed important, imperative, to keep the stories alive, to pass them on from one generation to the next. Remember and never forget."" The guest speaker, Rochel Berman, said: u I offer my heartfelt congratulations to lour honorees Sima Katz and Iris Lifshitz Lindenbaum. I have been privileged to work closely with two generations of the Katz and Skura families and am so pleased that there are now three generations in each of these dynasties that have embraced the cause of remembrance. The Skura and Katz ancestry as well as their progeny epitomize strength, courage, and compassion. ""Because I inaugurated the Spring Luncheon more than a decade ago, I continue to have a very proprietary feeling about this event. While the program has evolved and attendance has doubled over the years, I (Continued on page 12) "
