Holocaust Center of Northern California

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The Holocaust Center of Northern California (HCNC) is a non-profit organization formed to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust never be forgotten. HCNC provides services and programs to fulfill its mission of education, research and remembrance. [1]

Contents

In 2010, the Holocaust Center of Northern California's collections and programs were relocated to Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties to form the "JFCS Holocaust Center". [2]

History

The Holocaust Center of Northern California, formerly known as The Holocaust Library and Research Center of San Francisco, was established in 1977 in reaction to the opening of a Nazi bookstore in a neighborhood in San Francisco where a large population of Holocaust survivors lived. Enraged, several Holocaust survivors broke into the bookstore and set fire to its inventory. Two individuals – Mr. Morris Weiss and his son Allan Weiss – were arrested. [3]

The Jewish Community Relations Council intervened on behalf of the Weisses who were released. A Committee of Remembrance was formed, composed of Holocaust survivors and refugees, who decided to initiate three projects:

The first Yom HaShoah commemoration was held in April 1978

The Holocaust Library and Research Center of San Francisco, opened in 1979.

"Holocaust," dedicated in November 1984 in Lincoln Park, was created by the sculptor George Segal.

The Holocaust Center of Northern California is in collaboration with the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service.

The Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project merged with the HCNC.

HCNC Programs and Services

Education

HCNC provides educational opportunities to students and educators through its various programs: [1]

HCNC also provides adult education opportunities by sponsoring lectures and film series, and collaborating with other cultural institutions to co-sponsor community performances, exhibits, films, conferences and seminars.

HCNC is a primary sponsor of annual community Yom HaShoah commemorations throughout the Bay Area.

Tauber Holocaust Library

HCNC's Laszlo N. Tauber Library and Research includes over 12,000 volumes on the Holocaust and genocide, as well as an archives which features personal papers, government records, rare books, photographs, artifacts and special collections. Special collections include a Historical Pamphlet collection, Periodicals collection, Survivor Testimony collection, and oral history transcripts. [4]

HCNC has one of the largest Yizkor (memorial) book collections in the world, with over 500 rare Yizkor books. [5]

Oral History Project

HCNC's Oral History Project records interviews with Holocaust survivors, including refugees, hidden children, children sent on the Kindertransport, as well as interviews with liberators of concentration camps and witnesses to the events of the Holocaust.

OHP has over 2000 recorded video and audio oral testimonies, which are available for research, as well as 800 transcripts.

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Anita Friedman

Anita Friedman is the executive director of Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin & Sonoma Counties in California, one of the largest family service institutions in America. JFCS operates more than 40 educational and social service programs, among them assisted living for seniors, adoption, refugee resettlement, assistance to the disabled, services for victims of abuse, counseling, and mental health and education services for children and youth. Each year, JFCS serves more than 100,000 individuals. JFCS, founded in 1850, is also the oldest charitable organization west of the Mississippi River.

References

  1. 1 2 Holocaust Center of Northern California Archived 2009-04-11 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "What’s old is new: Holocaust Center now part of JFCS" J Weekly, January 27, 2011
  3. "Holocaust Center to open in new space" San Francisco Chronicle, March 11, 2005.
  4. "Holocaust Center's vast library finds breathing room in new home" J Weekly, October 29, 2004.
  5. Yizkor Books in the Tauber Holocaust Library (formerly the Center of Northern California), accessed 2013-05-21.