Holocaust Resource Center rededicated after renovation

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN -- Following extensive renovations, a rededication ceremony took place Tuesday morning for the Schwartz Holocaust and Antisemitism Resource Center at the Jewish Community Center.

The center is a premier educational resource dedicated to Holocaust education, the study of antisemitism and the preservation of Jewish history. It brings together a comprehensive collection of Holocaust educational resources for students, educators and the community.

The center's collection includes more than 5,000 Holocaust-related books and the Dr. Saul Friedman Holocaust Research Audio Collection, featuring recorded testimonies and interviews that preserve the voices and experiences of Holocaust survivors.

At the center, visitors can explore a permanent Antisemitism Timeline, which traces more than 2,000 years of anti-Jewish hatred. The exhibit examines how myths, stereotypes and falsehoods about the Jewish people have fueled discrimination, violence and genocide throughout history.

While documenting centuries of persecution -- including discriminatory laws, pogroms, the Holocaust and the rise in global antisemitism following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack -- it also tells a story of resilience, highlighting the strength, perseverance and enduring contributions of the Jewish people, according to the organizers.

A centerpiece of the Resource Center is The Staff of Resilience, a commissioned mural by artist Andrew Merritt. The mural features multicolored butterflies as symbols of remembrance and hope.

It honors the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust -- including 1.5 million children, as well as homosexuals, political prisoners, Jehovah's Witnesses, people with disabilities and other victims of Nazi persecution. Interwoven through strands of barbed wire are the words of Zog Nit Keyn Mol ("Never Say"), the 1943 Partisan anthem, transforming the work from a memorial of loss into a powerful declaration of resistance, survival and hope, according to the Center's website.

The Resource Center additionally features a rotation of the traveling exhibits of local Holocaust survivors Abe and Francis Honigman, Bill Vegh and Henry Kinast. These traveling exhibits are available at no cost to schools, religious institutions, libraries, museums and civic organizations, extending Holocaust education throughout the Mahoning Valley and beyond.

Melissa Bateman, Youngstown Area Jewish Federation director of community engagement, said the Resource Center was first established through the generosity of Deborah Schwartz and dedicated to Holocaust education. The new renovations were made possible by the Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, the Elder Family Endowment and Northeast Ohio Golf Charities.

"Today marks more than the opening of a renovated space. It represents a renewed commitment to Holocaust education, confronting antisemitism and ensuring that the stories of those who lived through one of history's darkest chapters continue to educate and inspire future generations," Bateman said in her remarks.

The entrance of the center features a recently dedicated mezuzah displayed on the doorway. Created by artist Rosanna, this ceramic mezuzah is inspired by the colored triangular badges used by the Nazi regime to identify and segregate prisoners in the concentration camps, along with the yellow Star of David that Jews were forced to wear outside the camps.

"By transforming these symbols of persecution into a vibrant work of art, the mezuzah serves as a reminder that hope, resilience and the human spirit can endure even in the face of unimaginable hatred," Bateman said.

She called the exhibits invaluable but only part of the story. "Holocaust education comes alive when people bear witness, ask questions and reflect on what they have learned. That is why education remains at the heart of everything we do here," Bateman said.

She then introduced several area educators who traveled to Poland to study the Holocaust as part of the Classrooms Without Borders program. During this immersive experience, teachers visit former Jewish communities, ghettos, concentration camps, and extermination camps, gaining a deeper understanding of both the destruction of European Jewry and the vibrant Jewish life that existed before the Holocaust.

The teachers who made the journey were Rebecca Baxter of the Champion Local School District; Diana Farrell of the Union Area School District in New Castle, Pa.; Tim Nowery of the Bristol Local School District; and Brian Bugos, Newton Falls Exempted Village Schools, who served as the chaperone for six local high school students during this year's seminar.

For more information on the Schwartz Holocaust and Antisemitism Resource Center, visit https://www.jccyoungstown.org/culturalarts/schwartz-holocaust-and-antisemitism-resource-center/