St. John's News

The Office of Community Relations at St. John’s University honored the memory of the Holocaust on April 20 with a Jewish Heritage Day event titled: “A Day of Remembrance…The Second Generation Speaks” in Council Hall on the University’s Queens campus.

“We realize that many of the surrounding community members and over 1,000 of our students are Jewish,” said Joe Sciame, St. John’s Vice President for Community Relations. “We have a responsibility to them and an obligation to educate as many people as we can about the Holocaust and how we can prevent such a tragedy from happening again.”

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A panel of guest speakers from the local community, including several first and second generation survivors shared their memories, inspiring and reminding guests the importance of the day while sharing a uniform message.

“If we don’t continue to reexamine and revisit the Holocaust, we can not prevent something like this from happening in the future,” said Rabbi Manes Kogan of the Hillcrest Jewish Center. Rev. Patrick Flanagan, C.M., Professor of Theology at St. John’s University echoed those sentiments in a short prayer.

Bernard Gottfryd, who was a teenager in Poland in 1939 when he was forced into a concentration camp, commanded the attention of the standing-room only crowd, with his descriptive recount of his personal experience during the Holocaust.  Gottfryd recalled the horrors he witnessed, as well as his own turmoil.  Starving, he ate blades of grass and bread crumbs made with sawdust – when he was lucky enough to find them, and saw tens of thousands of people killed, yet managed to keep his spirit high enough to survive.

“Even though you know there is no way out, you hope and pray for some sort of miracle,” Gottfryd said.  “The one thing you could do was dream – that was the only thing the Nazi’s couldn’t take from you.  To dream, you keep a spark alive.”

Like most of the speakers throughout the morning, Gottfryd reminded the crowd of its obligation to prevent this from happening and to protect against racism and other prejudices stating, “We must extend ourselves to help (people), no matter who they are – or the color of their skin.”

Speakers included Dr. Arthur Flug, Executive Director of the Kupferberg Holocaust Resource and Archive Center of Queensborough Community College, CUNY, and Cynthia Zalisky, Executive Director of the Queens Jewish Community Council, who spoke about her reflections as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.

Mark Kandkhorov, the President of St. John’s University’s Jewish Students Association, read an essay by Rabbi Meir Kahane titled “Dear World” that spoke of the plight of Jews throughout history.  Kandkhorov reiterated the day’s theme once again asking the survivors to “tell the world your story, make sure it’s recorded so we will continue to tell it in the future, because you are our past.”

Queens Borough President, The Honorable Helen Marshall, presented Sciame and the St. John's Jewish Students Association with a Declaration of Honor for hosting the event and praised the University for its continued efforts.  “St. John’s is a Catholic University – but they understand, they understand,” she said. “This is a terrific University.”

Assemblyman Rory Lancman’s (25th Assembly District) office also issued the University a citation for its “unwavering commitment to recognizing the atrocities of the Holocaust.”

Two musical pieces were shared by Yuri and Daniel Beliavsky (violinist and pianist), during the morning of reflection.  Following the formal presentations, the mood was lightened during a luncheon for all those participating, where guests were once again entertained by the Beliavsky’s.

Co-hosts and sponsors of the event were the Kupferberg Holocaust Center of Queensborough Community College and Skyline Commons, an adult housing program in the local Queens community on Parsons Boulevard.

For additional information about Jewish Heritage Day at St. John’s, contact Joseph Sciame, Vice President for Community Relations at St. John’s University at (718) 990-1941. 

For media inquiries, please contact Elizabeth Reilly, Assistant Director of Media Relations, at (718) 990-5789, or by e-mail to reillye@stjohns.edu. For additional news about St. John’s, please visit www.stjohns.edu/news.