Recalling the elements of such a violent past as the Holocaust is not an easy assignment, but it is a task that children—and all, for the matter—should undertake, simply to help prevent future destruction and genocide.
Kyrene Corridor residents will soon have a permanent remembrance of the devastating impact of the Holocaust.
Steve Tepper, executive director of the East Valley Jewish Community Center, is preparing for the introduction of a “Tolerance and Holocaust Museum,” dedicated to spreading awareness of the violence and hatred created by the Holocaust and showing how genocide affects millions around the world.
The museum will be built in Chandler, off Ray and Alma School roads.
To help fund the project EVJCC is holding a series of fundraisers to help offset construction costs of approximately $20 million.
Helen Handler, one of the few Holocaust survivors still living, said the impact of the museum will add awareness to our violent past.
“In a matter of a very short time, all of the survivors are slowly walking away into the sunset; after all, it happened close to 70 years ago,” she said.
“I feel like it’s important for me to talk about it, especially in schools, because this is probably the last generation who can hear a survivor.”
Handler was only 15 when she was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. She was the only one in her family who survived.
“One minute I was surrounded by all the love of my family, including grandparents, and the next thing I know I’m in the middle of Auschwitz,” she said. “The only strength that I could get was from believing in God; it was my life jacket.”
Handler commented on her experience during a media event at the Chandler City Hall that unveiled initial plans for Chandler’s museum.
“There is no language in the whole world that can describe the situation in the Holocaust, and yet in spite of that, I’m sharing this…,” she said. “This (building of the tolerance museum) is a necessary thing.”
Handler was one of the 30 prisoners out of 800 who survived the death march.
“I couldn’t believe in goodness, because it didn’t surround me; I couldn’t believe in laws because they didn’t protect me; I couldn’t believe in the compassion of all of human beings because the whole world closed the door to us,” she said.
After being liberated, Handler was hospitalized for five years due to tuberculosis and other illnesses that developed from extreme physical abuse.
Handler never went back to Auschwitz.
“I didn’t have to,” she said. “I never (really) left.”
Former Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano will serve as strategic advisor for RSP Architects, which will design the museum, Tepper said.
