Events

Making Global Connections

Upcoming Programs

Stay tuned for announcements about our fall 2023 programming slate.

 

Holocaust Speaker Series
Henry Fenichel “Tiny Torah in Space” 
Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at 11:00am EDT
Click here to register: https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/events/holocaust-speaker-series-henry-fenichel/

On February 1, 2003, the Columbia Space Shuttle (STS 107) crashed leaving no survivors of its crew. One of the seven crew was Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut, who had carried with him a small Hebrew Torah Scroll (The Pentateuch). The little Torah Scroll did not survive the crash. In Cincinnati, Holocaust Survivor Dr. Henry Fenichel had a “sister Torah” similar to the one Ilan had taken into space. At the request of Rona Ramon, Ilan’s widow, Dr. Fenichel’s Torah was taken into space on STS-115 Space Shuttle Atlantis in September 2006. Dr. Fenichel will discuss this story as well as provide the origin of the little Torahs and their connection to two child survivors of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Holocaust Speaker Series
Judy Ribak 
Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at 11:00am EDT
Click here to register: https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/events/holocaust-speaker-series-judy-ribak/

Dr. Judy Ribak is the daughter of Elliott and Ester Ozechov Ribak, who settled in Dayton, Ohio in 1950. Originally from Lazdaji, Lithuania, both miraculously survived in the 3% of Lithuanian Jews who survived the Holocaust. They were, as young newlyweds, forced into the Kaunas Ghetto. From there, they were separated from each other and from their families, Elliott to Dachau, and Ester to Stutthof. Miraculously, Elliott, who had escaped Dachau, was working in Italy for the underground, where he located Ester’s name on a list of individuals liberated from Stuthoff by the Russians. The couple was soon reunited in Italy. Elliott, who was one of 6 brothers, had been unable to locate any of his family except his aunt, who emigrated to the US before the war to get married. Aunt Esther and her husband, Uncle Joe Eslow, sponsored Elliott and Ester to come to Dayton, Ohio with their infant daughter, to begin a new life as American Jews.

Mats is from Ilsede, Germany where, one year ago, he finished high school and will start studying once he returns home this August. During his time in school, Mats tried to learn as much as possible about the processes that led to the Holocaust in his country and is still interested in improving his understanding of the time through different perspectives. He likes to share his experience in growing up in the society of the perpetrators but is also keen to exchange that with people coming from a different history. As a young German, he feels the responsibility to keep the memory of this horrific atrocity alive and make an effort to improve the world we all live in. This motivation led him to apply for an international volunteer program, Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ARSP). This organization sends young people to different countries in Europe, Israel, and the U.S. to work with victims of the Holocaust, at educational facilities, or with marginalized people. Their work aims at creating dialogue between different people and reducing prejudices, thus building a society for everybody. In this special presentation of the Speaker Series, Mats will reflect on his year of volunteer work at the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, where he’s been an invaluable asset to our museum tour program and archive initiatives.

The Holocaust Speaker Series features Holocaust survivors and descendants of survivors sharing stories of life before, during, and after the Holocaust. This series is organized by the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center. It is generously sponsored by Margaret and Michael Valentine and presented in partnership with the Harriet & Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.