Yale’s Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies has established a fellowship program that invites artists to produce creative works based on its collection.  a 12-year-old girl escaped a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Belarus she coated herself in goose fat and swam under ice to evade guards before fleeing into a nearby forest where she rendezvoused with her older sister Her daring escape is recounted in “The Empty Shell of War,” a new play by Belorussian playwright, filmmaker, and dissident Andrei Kureichik based on testimonies from Yale’s Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies.  exiled for his opposition to the authoritarian regime of Belorussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is playwright-in-residence at the Fortunoff Archive which houses more than 4,400 video testimonies of witnesses of Nazi persecution 19 with a staged reading at Yale’s Slifka Center was created through an artist residency program established by the Fortunoff Archive (which is a collection and program of Yale Library) to invite artists of various stripes to explore the testimonies for creative purposes.  “The testimonies are a primary source for scholarship and Holocaust education but they’ve also been a source for documentaries and other creative works,” said Stephen Naron and visual artists can combine those research and educational components creating works of public history that engage people who might not otherwise contemplate the Holocaust or think about the experiences of survivors and those who did not survive.” Every story in the collection should have its moment I’d like to see each taken off the shelf and used in some meaningful way Two other artists-in-residence are currently working in the archive: author and illustrator Nora Krug who is conducting research for an illustrated non-fiction book based on the collection and poet and musician Grzegorz Kwiatkowski and his own artistic vision into a work that speaks to the enduring importance of remembering the atrocities of the Holocaust.  Additionally, the Fortunoff Archive recently released, “Shotn/Shadows,” the third volume in its “Songs from Testimonies” series in which Zisl Slepovitch locates poems and songs that are sung or recounted in testimonies and arranges and records versions of them with his ensemble The archive has a tradition of supporting creative engagement with the collection that have relied on testimonies or been inspired by them.  “All of these creative efforts are another means of unlocking and activating the collection and pushing it out into the public sphere,” he said “Every story in the collection should have its moment I’d like to see each taken off the shelf and used in some meaningful way.” The Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble and vocalist Sasha Lurje performing songs drawn from testimonies in the Fortunoff Archive Kureichik, who has written more than 30 movies and TV films, arrived in New Haven in the summer of 2022 to participate in the Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellows Program a four-month program at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs that allows talented energetic people from across the globe the time and space to develop their skills and share their knowledge with the campus community.  he had gained an international following as a political playwright for his activism in the wake of Belarus’s contested 2020 presidential election when the authoritarian Lukashenko clung to power amid allegations of vote rigging Kureichik was forced to flee the country for belonging to a group that was working with perceived winner Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s transition team including a seminar titled “Art and Resistance in Belarus he has pursued research and creative work through his fellowship with the Fortunoff Archive.  “The Empty Shell of War” draws on testimonies of women survivors from Belarus which Nazi Germany occupied from June 1941 through August 1944.  Kureichik weaved stories of survival and resistance from the accounts of three women — along with details from the testimonies of dozens of others — into a single character who describes the trauma of war and persecution as well as the lingering suffering that accompanied liberation and immigration to the United States (One of the three women upon whom the character is based was the partisan fighter whose younger sister dove under the ice to safety.)  Kureichik combed through testimonies in the Fortunoff Archive for gripping stories to shape into a compelling dramatic arc “The whole idea of playwriting and dramaturgy is to capture the essence of the testimonies — the essential thoughts and stories expressed within them — and put them in the right order,” said Kureichik whose two-year fellowship with the archive concludes in the spring The play also adds a sense of immediacy to events that happened generations ago “Part of the magic of theater and the magic of art is that they can function as a time machine,” he said “The audience can see the story unfold in real time The Fortunoff Archive also supported Kureichik on “New Voices of Belarus,” an art-documentary film he made that presents monologues of Belarusian or political prisoners persecuted by the Lukashenko regime as recited by Yale faculty members.  His status as a dissident in exile made listening to the testimonies especially poignant who is working to get approvals for his family to come to the United States.  “Perhaps the terrible experiences recounted in the testimonies were more understandable to me as I’ve had my house taken by the Lukashenko regime the author and illustrator who is also an associate professor of illustration at Parsons School of Design in New York approaches the material in the testimonies as a native of Germany a country that has wrestled collectively with its responsibility for the Holocaust.  “I am from the country of the perpetrators,” she said “My grandparents were not in the resistance or victims of the Nazi regime as somebody with this ‘heritage,’ deal with the subject matter in a way that is respectful and is true to the narrative of the survivors?” “Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home”— winner of the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award — examines her family’s history during the World War II era said she aims to be sincere in her approach to the Holocaust testimonies and will focus on representing the narratives accurately and empathetically in a way that is accessible to readers.  the personal narrative is sometimes overlooked,” she said “Or maybe it’s used to draw conclusions or establish facts rather than to create empathy The goal of the artist in the widest sense is to give you a sense of the experience and not reach a conclusion but raise a set of questions about humanity and about why it is that we wage war and how we can avoid it happening ever again.”  she has been researching testimonies for her project which will focus on the notion of revenge as applied to survivors of the Holocaust and other atrocities and conflicts.  I find it easier to listen to the testimonies because it’s about a moment of perceived strength,” said Krug who illustrated the graphic version of Yale historian Timothy Snyder’s book “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.” “Not everybody chose to take revenge And whether they regretted it later or not is another question but those testimonies speak to a moment of power.” I try to bring readers as close as I can to this unimaginable reality by capturing the genuine voices of those involved in it and activism to preserve and amplify the memory of the Holocaust in his native country had been imprisoned in the Stutthof concentration camp east of Gdansk his grandfather took him to the museum at the site of camp’s remnants — it was the first time the elder man had been to Stutthof since the war — and was overcome with emotion.    and I didn’t know what was going on,” said Kwiatkowski It was one of the most important events in my life because it led me to ask questions about why people kill each other; why people build concentration camps; why people build gas chambers.” Kwiatkowski has advocated for the preservation of about a half-million pairs of shoes that were discarded in the forest near Stutthof which was a leather reclamation center in the Nazi’s network of concentration camps His literary works tackle themes of violence and perpetrators of Nazi terror.  “The horror of the Holocaust is unimaginable,” he said “I try to bring readers as close as I can to this unimaginable reality by capturing the genuine voices of those involved in it he has entered a moral trap because he must imagine what he would do in these circumstances who is also the front man for the post-punk band Trupa Trupa says he believes in the power of art to improve the world He is hopeful that amplifying the voices he discovers in the Fortunoff Archive will prompt people to appreciate the humanity of the survivors and consider the evil they faced “I think that by facing the horrors from the past we can be better people,” he said.  an Orzech stepped foot on Polish soil for the first time in two generations never returned to his home country after the Holocaust and she has never been able to return to Poland either I set out to travel across Poland with a group of Jewish genealogists I was selected for the 2022 JewishGen Future Scholars Fellowship, which partners with The Matzevah Foundation and Friends of Jewish Heritage in Poland to take Jewish students — many studying genealogy — to Poland meeting with scholars and religious leaders and ultimately working to restore the Przysucha Jewish Cemetery it was a way to give back to family or fellow Jews lost during the Holocaust I was struck by many people and perspectives while touring so many incredible cities across Poland, particularly the prevailing attitude that Poles were not responsible for the persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust instead simply doing what they had to do to get by under Nazi persecution (One notable exception to this rule was Sabina Sklepik a non-Jewish Pole and Przysucha native who worked with our group to clear overgrowth at the Przysucha Jewish Cemetery and spoke of her personal guilt for playing there as a child.) in Krakow’s “Jewish quarter,” it was philosemitism that seemed to be on display In what our tour guide coined “Jewish Disneyland,” Krakow restaurant owners advertised their “authentic Jewish restaurants” — most of which served pork vendors sold Judaica alongside SS memorabilia including gold menorahs and swastika stamps and patches While every Polish town seemed to love the Jews the preservation of actual Jewish architecture and land seemed to be hit-or-miss we were pleasantly surprised with the dedication of Tarnow residents to the Jewish cemetery and old synagogue’s bima remains the only remaining synagogue seemed to be rotting away covered in dust and supported only by ugly Sabina explained to us that this site was once used for public toilets the physical preservation of Jewish life varied from town to town while cultural preservation seemed to be alive and well as long as it was slightly altered for tourist consumption one of the most moving aspects of the trip for me was more personal than it was a learning experience My visitation of Majdanek represented my family’s first return to the camps Though my grandfather was imprisoned at Auschwitz and Mauthausen I was overcome with emotion a few times while touring Majdanek While I won’t delve into the details for fear of being too graphic After placing a stone in front of the gas chambers to honor the victims of Majdanek a little portion of the camps that could be controlled by a Jew I plan to place the rock — in addition to rocks from the Szydłowiec Jewish Cemetery — on my grandfather’s grave to give him back a bit of the homeland taken from him where we aided in cleaning up the Przysucha Jewish Cemetery The cemetery itself was an incredibly important space but it wasn’t what made the experience so meaningful to me There was no doubt that finding tombstones clearing trees and honoring those buried at the cemetery was significant work the broken headstones and mass graves were heartbreaking for us all the cemetery became a place both of suffering and heritage I felt that there was great power in the legacy that we were leaving behind The Przysucha Jewish cemetery was overgrown, neglected and littered with trash. The headstones were broken and thrown into piles, covered with moss and buried in mud. They had been thrown there after the Holocaust and probably never moved since to the point where the gates around the cemetery were nearly invisible A Jew could not find a loved one in this cemetery had there been any Jews left in Przysucha at all It was a stark contrast to the monuments mounted for non-Jewish Holocaust victims in nearby towns we cleared the foliage overtaking the Przysucha cemetery I spoke with many of the fellows and volunteers about the legacy that we were leaving We had an intense focus on respect and preservation and our presence made it obvious to the local community that someone cared we were cutting down trees and uncovering tombstones But the plants would grow back and the headstones would be lost again in a few years the neighbors of the cemetery would remember the Americans Ukranians and Poles that came to clean the cemetery and honor the Jews of Przysucha Many of the fellows being Polish-American Jews A band of Jewish Americans and non-Jewish Europeans dedicated to Jewish preservation is something that our persecuted grandparents and great-grandparents could probably have never imagined But the Przysucha cemetery wasn’t the only Jewish cemetery we visited While on the bus on our first day of cemetery work a fellow named Jake learned from our bus driver that there was a Jewish cemetery in Szydłowiec the town where my grandfather and his family had lived The town had once been predominantly Jewish and now harbored only one Jewish cemetery and almost no Jewish residents Our bus driver agreed to take us to the Szydłowiec Jewish Cemetery at the end of the day Despite being completely beat after a long day of work we detoured the bus to my family’s cemetery This sort of genuine kindness is something that I will never forget Lia would do some genealogical research and discover an ancestor of mine featured in a photo I unknowingly took in the cemetery I was definitely emotional while walking through the cemetery Gratitude that I had the opportunity to finally return to an ancestral homeland but also an intense gratitude for the group — who decided to do this kindness for me though they all would have probably preferred a shower The respect and appreciation for each other and our lineage was overwhelming and I was sobbing as I exited the cemetery We completed our cemetery work and I jetted off for JFK I filled my family and friend’s ears with Polish town names and residual gratitude I hope to continue working with incredible organizations who brought me to Poland in the first place And the next time I step foot in Szydłowiec Victoria Dozer (she/her) is a junior at Wesleyan University studying Astronomy and Physics but is loving her time on the East Coast as a student hike and spend time at CA’s beautiful beaches By submitting I agree to the privacy policy the first deportation train set out from Eisenach for the Belzyce Ghetto were deported a few months later to Theresienstadt The remaining few Jews were deported a short time later Very few members of Eisenach’s Jewish community survived The Yad Vashem website had recently undergone a major upgrade The page you are looking for has apparently been moved We are therefore redirecting you to what we hope will be a useful landing page For any questions/clarifications/problems, please contact: webmaster@yadvashem.org.il Joseph Friedenson, the founder and long-time editor of the Agudath Israel organ Dos Yiddishe Vort, passed away February 23 at his home in Manhattan, the Forverts reported. Friedenson founded the monthly Yiddish journal in the Feldafing and Landesberg displaced persons camps in Germany and edited it continually in New York since 1953 was one of the leaders of the Beis Yaakov school movement in Poland After the outbreak of World War II the family fled to Warsaw where they were imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto and were reunited a few months after the end of the war In a 2007 profile of Friedenson for the Forward Toby Appleton Perl described him as “an avid newspaperman” who read multiple publications daily in several languages Dos Yiddishe Vort boasted a readership of up to 8,000 people and published many highly regarded Yiddish writers Watch Forverts editor Boris Sandler interview Joseph Friedenson in 2011: The Forward’s staff contributors are listed in our masthead I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward American Jews need independent news they can trust At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S rising antisemitism and polarized discourse This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up Copyright © 2025 The Forward Association A celebration of Marek Fiutowski's life will be held today at Coffee Friday, 2nd June 2017 — By Alina Polianskaya with Amanda Cassidy and Deborah Cesanelli at Coffee Cake and Kisses  TRIBUTES have poured in for a selfless and kind chef who has died suddenly from a brain haemorrhage who worked as a chef for 17 years in Fitzrovia and lived in Maida Vale Cake and Kisses café in Warren Street after 16 years at the Café Rive Gauche across the road Cake and Kisses – which celebrates love and relationships of all kinds – will be holding a celebration of Marek’s life today (Friday) at 6pm His younger brother Piotr Fiutowski said: “He was someone who would give you everything he’s got he just wanted to help his friends and family What everyone liked about him was that he always offered help “Marek was born in Poland in 1974 and grew up in the nearby town of Szydłowiec he enjoyed playing football and loved watch- ing Formula 1 and worked for some time as a painter an decorator and a delivery driver in Poland settling in Maida Vale in search of a better life and began his job as a chef Cake and Kisses which Marek joined last year said he was “the kind of person who would get stuck in with any hard work and get on with it We made sure to give him credit as he never sought it himself.” We used to meet three or four times a week family and all those who knew him are welcome to join the celebration of Marek’s life at Coffee Ms Cassidy said the café was a fitting place to hold a final farewell for Marek “We live in a society where grief and loss and not nearly acknowledged and honoured enough,” she said