Gosia Quinkenstein

[JewishClaimsCon @JewishClaimsCon]

Igor Polugorodnik, der letzte in Russland (Taganrog am Asowschen Meer) lebende Gerechte unter den Völkern ist in der vergangenen Nacht verstorben. Am 5. Juni dieses Jahres hätte er seinen 99. Geburtstag gefeiert. Igor Polugorodnik rettete gemeinsam mit seinen Eltern und seinem Bruder in Mariupol (Ukraine) den jüdischen Jungen Semeon Wojin das Leben. Im Oktober 1941 wurden Semjons gesamte Familie – seine Eltern Jakow und Lidija, sein verheirateter Bruder Moissej mit Ehefrau und Kind sowie seine Schwester Eva mit ihrem Ehemann und Kind – zusammen mit etwa 12.000 weiteren Juden in Agrobaza ermordet.
Nach dem Krieg blieb Semeon Wojin in Mariupol und pflegte bis ins hohe Alter enge freundschaftliche und familiäre Beziehungen zu Igor Polugorodnik und dessen Familie.
Mit Igor Polugorodnik geht ein bedeutender Zeuge von Menschlichkeit, Mut und moralischer Größe in einer der dunkelsten Epochen der Geschichte von uns. Möge sein Andenken zum Segen sein!

https://t.co/L7FrY1yd1F

[Claims Conference @ClaimsCon]

Congratulations to former Claims Conference Kagan Fellow Amber Nickell on receiving the 2025 Ernst Fraenkel Prize from The Wiener Holocaust Library (@wienerlibrary) for her upcoming book!
https://t.co/JvMylq0Ivl

[JewishClaimsCon @JewishClaimsCon]

Wir bedanken uns herzlich bei Rabbiner @dovidroberts von der @KAJ_Berlin für das interessante „Lunch & Learn“.

[JewishClaimsCon @JewishClaimsCon]

„Die Zahlen von @Report_Antisem RIAS machen deutlich: Judenhass ist in der Mitte unserer Gesellschaft angekommen.“ sagt @RuedigerMahlo. „Deshalb muss #Holocaust-Bildung mehr sein als Erinnerung. Sie darf nicht von der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Judenhass von heute getrennt werden. Erinnerung bedeutet Verantwortung für die Gegenwart und für die Zukunft“.

[Claims Conference @ClaimsCon]

“Behind me I heard, ‘Where is God now?’ And I heard a voice within me answer him, ‘He is hanging here on these gallows.’”

Sunday, April 19 at Wagner College, please join the Claims Conference, in partnership with the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, for this FREE screening of the film “Elie Wiesel – Soul on Fire.”

Register for your complimentary ticket at https://t.co/XnbYCMLPtu

[Claims Conference @ClaimsCon]

The final screening of the Strength of Courage film series happens tonight in Astoria, Queens. Join us at @MovingImageNYC for this free event, featuring a reception, the film “Resistance, They Fought Back,” and a panel discussion moderated by @NeilRosenApples. Register here: https://t.co/XnbYCMLhDW.

[Claims Conference @ClaimsCon]

Congratulations to “The Grandfather Puzzle” (Dir: Ora DeKornfeld, prod: Noémi Veronika Szakonyi and Máté Artur Vincze) for winning the prestigious Tom Rankin Audience Award for a short at the 2026 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, NC.

About the film: Searching for a connection with her mysterious, austere grandfather, Ora DeKornfeld travels to his childhood home in Hungary, where she is swept up in nothing short of a fairytale. The childhood home turns out to be a castle on a 6,000-acre estate. Her grandfather was a baron, and their family was central to the economic and cultural lifeblood of the local community. Suddenly, Ora finds herself ushered through town, meeting curious locals at every corner who greet her with warm hospitality. A question emerges: why would her family leave all this behind? The town, like her grandfather, holds its painful history at arm’s length. Moving between fable and reckoning, whimsy and grief, this deeply personal film explores an identity shaped equally by what was lost and buried and what was lovingly preserved.

@oradekornfeld was the Claims Conference’s 2024 Emerging Filmmaker contest winner for “The Grandfather Puzzle.”

For more information about Claims Conference-supported films and the film program, please visit: [email protected]

#HolocaustEducation #Film @FullFrame

[Claims Conference @ClaimsCon]

Students at Brooklyn College heard from Holocaust survivor Eugene Halpert, 88.

Born in Slovakia, Eugene survived by hiding with his family in the Tatra Mountains after fleeing deportation in 1944. About 100,000 Slovak Jews were deported during the Holocaust.

Invite a Survivor Speaker: https://t.co/pFpESAOV2y

#VanishingWitnesses #HolocaustEducation #SurvivorSpeakersBureau

[Mark Schonwetter Holocaust Education Foundation @mshefoundation]

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, caregivers, and role models who shape the way we see the world.

Today, we recognize Ann Arnold and Isabella Fiske—mothers, co-founders of the #MSHEFoundation, who have dedicated themselves to supporting #HolocaustEducation 💜

#MSHEF

[Claims Conference @ClaimsCon]

Abraham Foxman was close to the Claims Conference family, participating in many of our social media campaigns, speaking on our behalf, and importantly, serving on the Claims Conference Negotiating Delegation. An imposing figure in Jewish communal life, he survived the Holocaust as a hidden child and passed away on Sunday, May 10, at the age of 86.

It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye.

Abe’s lifelong commitment to fighting antisemitism and passionate support for a secure and democratic Israel made him one of the most recognizable Jewish voices of his generation. Throughout his career, he warned that the Holocaust did not begin with deportations and gas chambers, but with words — with rhetoric born of vitriol, prejudice and ignorance. Yet, despite witnessing humanity at its worst, he never lost faith that the menace of hatred could be defeated. “If I did not believe that I could change people’s minds and hearts,” he commented, “I wouldn’t go to work.”

Claims Conference Special Negotiator Amb Stuart E. Eizenstat stated, “Abe was a visionary leader and a voice for Holocaust survivors globally. He did not simply champion the fight against antisemitism for decades—he transformed it, while also fighting vigorously against Holocaust denial and distortion. He did so through humanity, grace, and unwavering conviction.”

The family immigrated to the US in 1950 and Abe graduated from the Yeshivah of Flatbush in Brooklyn, received his BA from the City College of New York and his law degree from NYU. After joining the Anti-Defamation League in 1965 as a legal assistant, he became its National Director in 1987. He led the organization until 2015, after which he served as the ADL’s National Director Emeritus.

From 2016 to 2021, he also served as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City and was named to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Council by four Presidents. He believed deeply that vigilance and education were the strongest weapons against hatred. Abe famously said, “Until we find an antidote, a vaccine, or something in the DNA that causes people to hate, the answer is education, education, education.”

Abe is survived by his wife Golda; two children, Michelle and Ariel; and four grandchildren, Cielo, Leila, Gideon and Amirit.

May his memory be a blessing.

[JewishClaimsCon @JewishClaimsCon]

Wir trauern um Abe Foxman ז״ל 1940-2026. Der Shoah-Überlebende, Mitglied des Negotiating Committee der @Claimscon und langjähriger Direktor des ADL war die starke moralische Stimme des jüdischen Volkes und des Staates Israel. Möge sein Andenken zum Segen sein.

https://t.co/TlGYkuOXRn

[JewishClaimsCon @JewishClaimsCon]

„Die Razzia des grünen Zettels hat mein Leben für immer verändert“, berichtet die 91 Jahre alte #Holocaust-Überlebende Liliane Ryszfeld. Danke @faznet für den Bericht über die Ausstellung der @ClaimsCon in der @FranzBotschaft zum 85. Jahrestag der ersten #Razzia gegen #Juden im besetzten #Paris vom 14.5.1941.
https://t.co/8f4k1T4elG

[JewishClaimsCon @JewishClaimsCon]

Albrecht Weinberg z’’l „Ich kann nicht vergessen, was man uns angetan hat. All meine Erinnerungen an diese Zeit sind jeden Tag in meinem Kopf“. https://t.co/5MoTtDvguY

[Claims Conference @ClaimsCon]

Now is the time to pay tribute to Holocaust survivors, who serve as a source of inspiration and examples of resilience and rebirth.

Last week in Israel, hundreds of Holocaust survivors from Netanya and the surrounding areas gathered for an appreciation event initiated by the Netanya Municipality (Senior Citizens Department of the Social Welfare and Security Administration) and the Claims Conference.

Tziona Koenig-Yair, VP of the Claims Conference (@claimsconil) Israel, addressed the audience:

"This event is an integral part of the national program we lead in collaboration with the Ministry of Welfare and local authorities, through which we fund dedicated social workers for Holocaust survivors. Our goal is to ensure a holistic support envelope for every survivor, ranging from mapping needs and exercising rights to providing a listening ear within the community.

“For the Claims Conference, the opportunity to see the survivors here in Netanya enjoying themselves together, singing with Hanan Yovel, and connecting as a community, is a deeply moving realization of our commitment, not only to their economic well-being but also to their mental and emotional welfare."

Holocaust survivor Amalia (Helena) Assa (nee Zimmerman) was in attendance.

Amalia was born on June 5, 1941, in the city of Lviv weeks before the German invasion of the USSR began.

Her parents managed to protect Amalia and her brother, who was born during the war. The family moved from one hiding place to another; her mother posed as Christian and worked at the Nazi officers' headquarters in town.

Thankfully, the Zimmermans survived the Holocaust.

Sadly, most of their extended family did not.

Amalia's message: "Be thankful for the good things in life. People are divided into good and bad, but there are many more good people in the world, and the light will ultimately triumph. My mother believed with all her strength that she would live and that I would live, and so it was, despite all the bad people. Because the good people were the ones who helped us, and belief in goodness holds tremendous power."

#PartnersInCare #HolocaustSurvivors #RememberThis

[Claims Conference @ClaimsCon]

The "new" Jewish cemetery in Kraśnik was established in the first half of the 19th century.

The Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, and occupied the town two weeks later.

In December 1939, some 1,230 Jewish refugees arrived from Lodz, and by January 1941, approximately 6,300 Jews were residing in Kraśnik.

From April to November 1942, the Germans conducted mass executions of the Jews in the cemetery they eventually destroyed; many of the cemetery’s matzevot were used to harden the streets of Kraśnik during the war.

The last known burial in the cemetery was held in 1943.

Of the approximately 7,500 Jews who passed through the Kraśnik ghetto, only 400 -500 survived; almost all were native or wartime residents of Kraśnik.

Abraham Bergman was one of those.

Born to a Jewish family in Kraśnik, he was the son of a tailor. But when Abraham was 2, his mother passed away, and his grandmother raised him.

In 1942, Abraham was deported to the Budzyn, Majdanek and Auschwitz camps in Poland, and then Oranienburg and Flossenbürg in Germany. By spring 1945, he was in a group of 500 taken to a farm area in Bavaria. Abraham escaped the farm and was liberated in the village of Gern.

After the war, Abraham lived in Bavaria for three years. He immigrated to Canada in 1949 and then moved to the United States in 1959.

Thanks to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for the history of Abraham Bergman; may we never forget him.

#RememberThis #VanishingCommunities

[Claims Conference @ClaimsCon]

85 years after the first major roundup of Jews in occupied Paris, an exhibition at the French Embassy in Berlin is showing 98 photographs that had been lost for decades. For 91-year-old Holocaust survivor Liliane Ryszfeld, the discovery is particularly significant.

Liliane was six when she accompanied her mother to the police station in Vincennes, where her father, Mosjez Stoczyk, had been summoned. He came from Warsaw, loved France, and had volunteered for the army in 1939. After the summons, he never returned home. He was interned in Pithiviers, deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in June 1942, and murdered there.

Liliane's life was forever changed.

#RememberThis

[JewishClaimsCon @JewishClaimsCon]

Weil sie Juden waren: Heute vor 85 Jahren, am 14. Mai 1941 wurden 3.800 Männer heute vor 85 Jahren im besetzten #Paris auf Initiative von SS und Gestapo mit einer sachlich anmutenden amtlichen Vorladung der Pariser Polizei aus ihren Familien gerissen. Noch am selben Tag wurden sie in die Lager Pithiviers und Beaune-la-Rolande gebracht und dort interniert. 13 Monate später wurden 3.100 von ihnen nach #Auschwitz-Birkenau verschleppt und dort ermordet.
https://t.co/f3YFLw2Xdl

[JewishClaimsCon @JewishClaimsCon]

„Vielen Dank an die Gewerkschaft der Polizei @DPolGBPOLG, Sven Hüber, stellv. Vors. der Gewerkschaft der Polizei Bezirk Bundespolizei, für den offenen Austausch. Die geplante engere Zusammenarbeit ist ein wichtiger Schritt, Holocaust-Bildung stärker in den Alltag zu bringen“, sagt @RuedigerMahlo, Repräsentant der @ClaimsCon in Europa. "Ziel ist esVerantwortung gemeinsam weiterzutragen – und ich freue mich das mit den Frauen und Männern zu tun, die unsere demokratische Gesellschaft schützen."

[JewishClaimsCon @JewishClaimsCon]

Heike Schmoll berichtet in der @faz über der Holocaust Filmreihe der ⁦@ClaimsCon⁩ Holocaust: Die Stimmen der Überlebenden bewahren via @faznet https://t.co/CWbC8Bdqj3

[JewishClaimsCon @JewishClaimsCon]

„Man muss den anderen akzeptieren“, sagte Judith Elkán-Hervé einen Tag nach ihrem 100. Geburtstag als sie in Paris den Orden der Ritterin der Ehrenlegion empfing. „Das ist die Botschaft, die ich jungen Menschen weitergeben möchte.“ » Das Zeugnis von Judith inspiriert die jungen Generationen. Die höchste Auszeichnung des französischen Staates wurde ihr von Agnès Troublé überreicht, der Gründerin des berühmten Modehauses @agnesb_officiel. 1/2