Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 22, 2017

Students from Hallandale High School in Hallandale Beach and West Broward High School in Pembroke Pines met with Holocaust survivors and Jewish War Veterans for a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the Posnack Jewish Community Center in Davie.

The event, attended by 53 students selected from teachers from both schools, was organized by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-23) as one of many events taking place in May to commemorate JAHM.

"Jewish American Heritage Month was created to promote the contributions of American Jews to our country. JAHM began with stories of immigrants to our country and we are lucky to have people here today to share those experiences," said Wasserman Schultz in her opening remarks to the students.

"We honor both the Holocaust survivors and Jewish War Veterans in learning of their contributions and to be aware that acts of anti-Semitism are still taking place in our time. The Posnack Jewish Community Center, where we are today, had to be evacuated twice recently."

"This is the second time we are honoring both Holocaust survivors and Jewish War Veterans and we will continue to do so annually as a Jewish American Heritage Month event," said Wasserman Schultz.

Students listened to the testimonies of both survivors and veterans in tables in which survivors and veterans were paired in intimate conversations with the students.

Sharing stories of courage and survival in the Holocaust were survivors Anya Baum, Mary Eckstein, Norman Frajman, Roman Haar, Joseph Henner, Basia McDonnell, Sam Schleider and Fran Zatz.

Jewish War Veterans at the JAHM event were William Bregman, Stephen Moss, Stan Pannaman, Richard Rosensweig and Jack Shifel.

Survivors discussed their experiences as children of many near death experiences and the kindness of strangers who helped them.

"We were all lucky to have survived. None of us could have planned what to do to escape the Holocaust. It was a matter of luck to be alive," said Eckstein.

Veterans discussed their experiences of serving in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

"I was lucky not to be in combat in the Vietnam War, but so many of the veterans who came back were and are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)," said Shifel.

Frajman illustrated his ordeals as a survivor by showing the students his striped jacket issued to him by the Nazis in a concentration camp.

"This jacket is a witness to all the atrocities that took place in the Holocaust," said Frajman, whose mother and sister were murdered along with more than 100 members of his family in the Holocaust.

"There are three words that best describe the era Hell on Earth," said Frajman.

Frajman survived the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, four concentration camps (many as a slave laborer) and a Death March before being liberated by the Russians at age 15.

"I wept in tears immediately at my table after hearing Mr. Frajman's testimonial. It was crazy and so sad. What did he do to go through all the suffering," said 11th grade student Destiny Greggs of Hallandale High.

"I am grateful to have heard his testimony for a day that I will never forget," said Greggs.

"The lessons of the Holocaust must be that we never repeat the same events again," said Henner.

"I learned that the world is not perfect today and maybe never was. We must all strive to work together to make a better world for all of us," said 11th grade student Natalia Amay of West Broward High School.

Wasserman Schultz is credited, along with the late Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican-turned-Democrat from Pennsylvania and the Jewish Museum of Florida, with founding the annual JAHM celebrations, beginning in 2006.

To learn more about Jewish American Heritage Month, go to http://www.jewishameriicanheritagemonth.us.

Read the original post:
Vets, Holocaust survivors meet students at Jewish American Heritage event - Sun Sentinel

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