Our Goals
Our Goals
Students need to understand the following
- The Holocaust was no accident. It occurred because people made deliberate choices employing all of the apparatus in a fascist state to engage in the mass murder of 6,000,000 Jews.
- The Nazis murdered millions of non-Jews too. This includes political dissidents, intellectuals, LGBTQA+, labor union leaders, Disabled Persons, Roma, and civilians in every country the German military conquered.
- Prejudice, bigotry, and racism are social poisons that erode the fabric of a democratic society.
- Silence, apathy, and indifference are the enemies of a pluralistic democracy.
Staff and Leadership
Abby Gilbert
Director, Institutional Advancement
Katie Lowe
Director of Programming and Collections
Joe Chudzinski
Donor/Member Services Coordinator
Rycki Joy Freedman
Program Assistan
Donald Wittenberg
Curator
Leah Dukes
Education DirectorExecutive Board Directors
Yaakov and Sheila Riz*
Founders:
Chuck Feldman
President:Donald Wittenberg
Vice President, EducationCarol B. Irvine
Vice President, DevelopmentAaron Finestone
SecretaryIona Riz, Esq.
Treasurer:Paula Weiss, Esq.
Legal AdvisorBoard Members
Connie Berman
Ronnie Breslow
Dr. Adam Denish
Gary Erlbaum
Rhonda Fink-Whitman
Shari Glauser
Robert Greenberg
David Hardy
Kurt Herman*
Ruth Kapp Hartz
Linda Hershman
Michael Herskovitz*
Tonya Herskovitz, Esq.
Phil Holtje
Jody Kessel
Dan Lodise
Lise Marlowe
Alberta O’Brien
Debbie Rosenberg
Hal Rosenthal, Esq.
Sue Rosenthal
Daniel Schwarz, Ph.D.
Lori Shaffron
Steven Shotz
Dina Lichtman Smith, Ph.D.
Rabbi Lance Sussman. Ph.D.
David Tuck
Klara Vinokur*
Jack Weiss
*of blessed memory
Our Mission
Our Mission
Our mission is to educate students and adults in the Philadelphia area and throughout the world.
Using the resources of the museum, our mission is to educate students and adults in the Philadelphia area and throughout the world, personalizing the Holocaust so that they learn the consequences of racism, ethnic cleansing, and intolerance. The Holocaust was a watershed event, not only in the 20th century, but in the entire history of humanity. We believe that studying and discussing the Holocaust provides one of the most effective ways to work with students to examine basic moral issues and value systems. What are the lessons of the Holocaust for us today?
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Museum History
The Jewish Identity Center’s Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center, America’s first Holocaust museum, is 60 years young. Yaakov Riz, the museum’s founder, was a Holocaust survivor who lost 83 members of his family in Adolf Hitler’s concentration camps. Riz vowed that if he survived he would dedicate his life to establishing a museum that would memorialize the millions of Jews and Non-Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis. The museum’s genesis, growth and struggle against intolerance are the realization of his dream, courage and commitment. The Museum was initially founded in the basement of Riz’s home in Northeast Philadelphia and since then it has wandered around the Delaware Valley. As a matter of fact the Museum has been in Melrose Park, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, KleinLife in Northeast Philadelphia and in August 2020, the Museum found a new and larger home at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park.
Yaakov Riz, HAMEC Founder
The museum’s educational and community outreach is ecumenical and comprises a population that ranges from elementary school to older adults. Many students come from disadvantaged homes and some are from Syria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Serbia which are countries in conflict.
During the last 59 years, the Museum has educated hundreds of thousands of students and adults in schools, community groups, and organizations. Additionally we provide teacher training opportunities. Our programs emphasize the message that racial, ethnic, and religious hatred are social poisons that weaken the American democracy.
Accomplishments
During the last 59 years, more than 200,000 students and adults have participated in museum programs. Our programs primarily take place in public, archdiocesan, and private schools though we certainly welcome home-schooled students and their parents. We have also presented at federal installations and universities throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. During the 2019/2020 school year, our Educational Programs reached 23,750 students and adults in 175 schools, organizations, and businesses.
