Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on January 27th every year. Pine Crest prides itself on spreading awareness and education about this horrific event to all Upper School students through assemblies, literature, and educational experiences.

One of the most moving contributions to this effort comes from Pine Crest biology teacher Sara Edelman, who shares the story of her grandmother, Helen Lazarovics, a Holocaust survivor. After hearing the details of her grandmother’s story throughout her childhood, she decided to share it with the world with her novel Helen of Valor. Dr. Edelman shared the story with the entire Upper School last year and is now passing it on to this year’s freshman class. Originally starting in an isolated area in Bilke, Czechoslovakia, Helen Lazarovics was deported with other Jewish people to Nazi, Germany. After witnessing the horrific incidents, she managed to survive due to the power of love for her mother and sister. Her grandmother’s story is a profound testament to the resilience and courage she showed throughout the Holocaust. Through sharing this story, Dr. Edelman ensures that future generations remember the horrors of the Holocaust to fight against antisemitism in the present.

To preserve the awareness of the Holocaust, the English department requires the freshman class to read Night by Elie Wiesel. This memoir depicts Elie Wiesel’s horrific experience as a teenager who was deported to a concentration camp in Auschwitz. He recounts the relentless dehumanization and suffering he experienced and how he began to question his faith as a Jewish man. Through the help of his father, who later passed away, and his determination to stay alive, he was able to escape the concentration camp. Freshman English teachers Mrs. Zingarello, Dr. Irons, Dr. Parsons, and Mrs. Dailey use this memoir to teach students about the Holocaust in order to raise awareness and prevent such atrocities from happening again.

The class of 2028 also had the opportunity to take a trip to the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center in Dania Beach on January 31st. This center, created in 1980, is committed to documenting the memory of the Holocaust and educating today’s generation about the dangers of genocide, antisemitism, and hatred. Its first-hand artifacts, testimonials, and interviews with Holocaust survivors have all been implemented into this center to educate students and create a one-of-a-kind experience. This year, the HDEC held their conference with Pine Crest in honor of Norman Frajman, a survivor who recently passed away.

In addition to the astoundingly organized and prepared exhibits that hold about 2,300 stories from survivors, there exists a temporary exhibit centered on examining the life of famous writer Anne Frank, a victim of the Holocaust. The exhibit includes photos taken by Otto Frank, the only Holocaust survivor of the family. The photos are included to emphasize the normality of life before the Nazi regime, and how that was destroyed slowly but surely by passionate hate. “The photos added a more human aspect to everything; everything seems very hypothetical to some people until you see photos and hear stories about it actually happening,” explained Morgan Cole ‘28.