2023 30thAnniversaryCommemorativeBook SINGLEPAGES-small - Flipbook - Page 56
TEACHING
DIRE TRUTHS
I was born in 1946,
months after World War II
ended, and grew up in
Stamford, Connecticut.
I was taught ‘Jews will be safe in
America.’ I wanted to believe that, but
even as a child, I regularly experienced
antisemitism, some subtle and some
blatant. Antisemitic slurs were tossed
about in general and directly at me
from grade school through my time
at Cornell University.
Systemic antisemitism and
scapegoating began well before
World War II and persist today, and
likely will, well into the future. From
Charlottesville to the Tree of Life
massacre, a Jewish reporter’s stabbing,
and ‘Camp Auschwitz’ T-shirts, the
antisemitism of today is chilling.
Ongoing ignorance and Holocaust
denial only reinforce my decision to
support the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum.
I have a strong Jewish identity. ‘What
was the most impactful contribution
I could make?’ I chose to support the
William Levine Family Institute for
Holocaust Education and establish
54 l UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM LEGACY OF LIGHT GUARDIANS
the Yvonne Picard Never Again
Endowment Fund. It honors the
grandmother I never met—Frieda
Ostergung Roth. She never thought
Nazis would hunt her down on her
remote farm in Poland. She was gassed
and murdered at Auschwitz, along
with dozens of other family members.
As my relationship with my beloved
grandchildren has grown extremely
significant to me and to them, I realized
that the one relative I missed the most
was my grandmother. I believe my life
would have been enriched with her in
it. This gift sends an important message
to learn about—and from—these events
because hatred abounds. This education
must reach young people, so they
understand how such events occur.
They think, ‘It won’t happen to me.’
This Museum needs ongoing resources
to continue its mission. I can’t think of
anything more consequential to do with
my money and energy. If I don’t make
this gift in my generation, who will?
When we say, ‘Never Again!’ we must
make a commitment through our voices,
our votes, and financial investment.”