Holocaust Commemoration Community Event at Westfield Memorial Library

(April 21, 2024) The Westfield Memorial Library is honored to host an afternoon and evening of programming organized by Westfield High School, on Monday, May 6 Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah). Exhibits and presentations will run from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Westfield Memorial is located at 550 East Broad Street.

All members of the community are invited to the library to explore the shared history of those touched by the Holocaust through exhibits, speakers and song and commit to the messages of "never forget and "never again.” The program for the event follows:

3:30-4:30- Self-guided viewing of a timeline from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and of the reflections of students from Edison and Roosevelt Middle Schools upon completion of a humanities-style unit on the Holocaust. Display of specially created artwork by student artist Sophia Basaldua.

5:45: remarks from Kim Leegan, the Social Studies teacher at Westfield High School who applied for the grant supporting this event, is instrumental in multiple Jewish cultural, diversity and anti-hate initiatives at Westfield High School, and teaches their new Holocaust and Genocide Studies class.

6:00: Presentation by Elyse Wolff, the granddaughter of two Holocaust survivors. Since 2017 Elyse has served as an appointed Commissioner to the New Jersey State Commission on Holocaust Educaton and is a co-founder of 3GNJ. Elyse's presentation focuses on her grandmother's amazing story of survival, including her time in the Satu Mare ghetto and escaping death more than once at Auschwitz.

6:30: Presentation by Jessica Wang, a founding member of 3GNJ, a non-profit organization that creates an outlet for Holocaust remembrance and education throughout the state of New Jersey, focusing on the perspective of the third generation. Jessica tells her grandfather's story of Holocaust survival to school and civic groups throughout New Jersey.

7:00: Student presentation by the Jewish Cultural and Development Club at Westfield High School, Challenges and Resilience: How Art and Agency Allowed Survivors to Heal, Raise Awareness and Rebuild Community followed by information about ways to continue the work of combating hate in all its forms.

7:30: Community candle-lighting ceremony and choral performance from the Westfield High School Treble Chorus who will sing "Even When He is Silent" with music by Kim Andre Arnesen under the direction of John Brzozowski.

Thank you to the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs for the 2023 Special Project Grant that supported this event. Thank you also to the Kean University Holocaust Resource Center, which selected Westfield High School as a participating school. Additionally, the WHS PTSO has supported this program through a mini grant.

Visit the library’s website at https://wmlnj.org/ to learn about more, to sign up for a library card, or to learn more about the library’s resources. Library hours are Monday - Thursday 9:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; and Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m. the library will be closed May 12 for Mother’s Day and May 25-27 for Memorial Day weekend.

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