The Holocaust Center reopens

This past Monday, Nov. 2, The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center reopened with a limited schedule. Attendance at any of the programs must be by reservation as the Center has implemented many new procedure for safety. Visitors are also encouraged to review the safety guidelines, found on the website, holocaustedu.org.

The next event, a live virtual conversation with Holocaust survivor Dr. Mordecai Paldiel, will be held on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 3 p.m.

Dr. Paldiel is a leading scholar on the rescue of Jews during the Holocaust. Born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1937, to Jewish parents who had moved there from Poland. During the German invasion of Belgium, in May 1940, the family fled to France. Originally settled in St. Gaudin, southwestern France, the family, then known as Wajsfeld, moved to various parts of occupied France. In September 1943, with the help of the Catholic cleric Simon Gallay, the family fled to Switzerland, where they stayed until the war's end - then returned to Belgium. In 1950, the family moved to the USA, and settled in Brooklyn.

In 1962, Paldiel made Aliyah and studied at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, where he earned a BA degree in Economics and Political Science. He then furthered his studies at Temple University, Philadelphia, where he earned an MA and PhD in Holocaust Studies, under the tutorship of Professor Franklin H. Littell.

Returning to Israel, Paldiel was nominated director of the Righteous Among the Nations Department, at Yad Vashem, a post he occupied from 1982 to 2007. During that 24-year stint, under Paldiel's stewardship, some 18,000 non-Jewish men and women from various countries were awarded the prestigious honor of "Righteous Among the Nations," by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, for their role in saving Jews from the Nazis at considerable risks to themselves.

During the live virtual conversation with Paldiel, there will be a Kristallnacht commemoration. Kristallnacht is the German word meaning "night of broken glass." Over a period of 48 hours on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, violent mobs, spurred by anti-Semitic exhortations from Nazi officials, destroyed hundreds of synagogues, burning or desecrating Jewish religious artifacts along the way. 

This event is free. Only those registering will receive the link to the event.

To register, visit https://www.holocaustedu.org/events/holocaust-survivor-dr-mordecai-paldiel.