What’s next?

By Shelley Lieb and Ida Margolis

One year ago, the volunteers of GenShoah SWFL were plotting the organization’s comeback from COVID-19 limitations. A coordinating committee was formed and met virtually to discuss programming ideas for the October 22 to April 23 season. We used the 2022-2023 programming as a test to gauge the level of GenShoah members’ interest and support. We mixed previously successful programs with new ones that added in some learning, some discussion, some direct involvement and some new exposures, all while not forgetting our mission:

• Promote Holocaust education and human rights

• Preserve the history and memories of the Holocaust

• Connect with other second- and thirdgeneration families

• Support the Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center

The coordinating committee met again in April 2023 to review the organization’s comeback season results and discuss the 2023-2024 season. Here are some notes from that meeting. Dates listed are subject to change.

• Movies that Matter will come back in October/November with three documentary films on human rights topics to be shown in person or virtually, followed by a panel discussion.

• Zoog Mir in Yiddish (third Sunday afternoons), October-April

• Kristallnacht (Catholic-Jewish Dialogue), November

• Guest speaker in conjunction with “Forgery” exhibit at the Museum, November

• Potluck hors d’oeuvres on Sunday, Dec. 10

• Open house/reception for the newest members, January

• Holocaust Remembrance Day, January

• Genealogy workshops, March/April

• Picnic in Lee County Park, April

• Yom HaShoah and pre-reception (for GenShoah, survivors), May

Stuart Mest

The Varsanos and the Abels

GenShoah New Member Welcome event

Other ongoing activities

Estelle Kafer is setting up a GenShoah book group (ekafer520@gmail.com); Judy Isserlis is the go-to person for 2G writers working on their parents’ stories (jisserlis@aol.com); and we continue to request additional information regarding our members. Contact Flo Giltman at lgiltman1@gmail.com.

Additional ideas and suggestions have been offered and are under consideration.

How about you? Is there something else you’d like to explore with GenShoah? Contact Ida Margolis at ida.margolis2@ gmail.com or Shelley Lieb at liebro@ gmail.com.

Other items of interest

Museum of Jewish Heritage “The Ones Who Remember: Second Generation Voices of the Holocaust.” In this panel discussion, each author discusses how they were affected by the trauma of the Holocaust, regardless of how much their parents had or had not told them, and the myriad ways it affects their lives.

This program is copresented by Descendants of Holocaust Survivors (2G Greater New York). A recording is available on the YouTube website for the Museum of Jewish Heritage: https:// www.youtube.com/results?search_query= museum+of+jewish+heritage+new+york.

The Voices of the Second Generation: Children of Survivors Writing Their Stories. This program explores the different processes 2G writers take to create their works. Dr. Irit Felsen, a clinical psychologist with extensive experience working with Holocaust survivors and their families, will be in conversation with two authors — Dr. Talila Kosh Zohar, author of “Martha’s Notebooks,” which is currently being translated into English, and Goran Rosenberg, author of “A Brief Stop on the Road from Auschwitz” — about their writing and their experiences as children of survivors. (youtube.com/ watch?v=-gMMuLpzPMg)

The Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center’s fundraising luncheon. Slated for December, the luncheon will feature a live production of “Letters from Anne and Martin.” Developed by a theater company in Washington, D.C., this production creates a conversation between Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and “The Diary of Anne Frank.” If you want to view a recording of the program, let Shelley Lieb know (liebro@gmail.com) and she’ll send the mp4 file to you.

2023 World Federation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants Annual Conference. World Federation of Jewish Holocaust and Descendants gather in Washington, D.C. at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Aug. 25-28, 2023. Register online at holocaustchild.org.