Photo from the 2019 Ruderman Lecture, Jessie Sigler left, Yael Sheinfeld right
Gideon Klein Scholar Yael Sheinfeld ’21 and Ruderman Scholar Jessie Sigler ’20 Present about their Work Improving Public Knowledge of the Holocaust
By Simon Rabinovitch.
On September 24, Northeastern University’s Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Committee held the first of its events rescheduled from what was supposed to be Holocaust Genocide Awareness Week in March 2020. The full slate of the university’s programming for Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Week was just a week away when the university (and indeed the country) shut down due to the pandemic. In fact programming had already begun with an exhibit in International Village (co-sponsored by the Israeli Consulate in New England) featuring photographs and biographical information about non-Jewish international diplomats who risked their lives to save Jews during World War II.
One of the central events of each of Northeastern’s annual Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Weeks focuses on student projects, funded by competitive awards and supervised by faculty and staff. You can read more about the projects undertaken by the 2020-21 Gideon Klein Scholar, Yael Sheinfeld, and the 2020-21 Ruderman Scholar, Jessie Sigler, in their own words in articles they wrote for the Northeastern Jewish Studies Blog (Yael here and Jessie here). Jessie worked closely with librarian (and Jewish Studies liaison and Academic Advisory Board member) Debra Mandel to improve the public accessibility of video and documents in Northeastern’s Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Committee Archives. Under the direction of Ruderman Professor and Director of Jewish Studies Lori Lefkovitz, Yael created an animated film and documentary based on the book The Children’s Tree of Terezin. Suffice it to say that everyone in the Jewish Studies Program and on the Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Committee is deeply proud of the accomplishments of these students, their engagement with Holocaust education, and their activism. The evening concluded with the shared optimism in this generation and these two bright stars.
A full recording of the event will be available soon. See below for the animated film:
Northeastern Jewish Studies Blog 