Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony
Each year the CHGS hosts a regional Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony, which seeks to honor survivors and their families. Started in the early 1980s by Holocaust Center Boston North co-founders, Harriet Tarnor Wacks and Holocaust survivor Sonia Schreiber Weitz, the Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony provides a space for community members, friends and relatives to honor the memory of those lost in the Holocaust. Led by rabbis from the North Shore, the program consists of memorial prayers, traditional Jewish songs and a candle lighting ceremony. Survivor stories are told by survivors themselves, their children, or their grandchildren. During the ceremony, the CHGS also highlights outstanding students with the Sonia Schreiber Weitz Upstander Award. Additionally, scholars, artists and authors are invited to deliver keynote addresses at the conclusion of the ceremony.
Sonia Schreiber Weitz Lecture Series
Named after Sonia Schreiber Weitz, Holocaust survivor, poet, and co-founder of the Holocaust Center Boston North, this signature program brings renowned speakers to the North Shore to advance our knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust, comparative genocide, and human rights. Over the years, many speakers have participated in the series, including Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Balakian, Nuremberg lawyer Benjamin Ferencz, Holocaust historian Dr. Jan Grabowski, and Dr. Ilan Stavans who spoke about his travels through Jewish Latin America. Most recently, Dr. Caroline Sturdy Colls spoke about her work at Treblinka where she and her team used new archaeological techniques to map previously unmarked mass graves.
Public Talks
The CHGS sponsors several research conversations and public lectures throughout the year with scholars, artists, filmmakers, and photographers on their research and projects in progress. These talks expose students and members of the community to cutting-edge research in the fields of Holocaust studies, comparative genocide, and human rights. In addition to research conversations and public lectures, we also work with other centers at SSU, including the Center for Creative and Performing Arts, to bring artists and musicians to the North Shore whose work illuminates the lived experiences of individuals living through the horrors of war and genocide and their aftermaths. Speakers have come from a variety of backgrounds and countries including Cambodia, Lebanon, Serbia, Syria, Ukraine as well as the United States.
Traveling Museum Exhibitions
The CHGS has partnered with the Lynn Museum/Lynn Arts to host several traveling exhibits.
Evidence and Artifact: Documenting the Holocaust Through Images
In 2021, the CHGS presented a collection of large-scale photographs of artifacts from the Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück concentration camps at the Lynn Museum/Lynn Arts. Photographed by renowned photographer Richard Wiesel, each reproduction in the exhibit is a subtle and often tragic journey into the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust. In 2023, the traveling exhibition was displayed at the Masconomet Regional High School as part of an enrichment program for students led by CHGS staff.
Immigration Stories: An Oral History of Russian Speaking Jews in Massachusetts
This exhibit illuminated the lived experiences of refugees from the former Soviet Union, notably Jews, who settled in Massachusetts and the many local groups who advocated for, welcomed and assisted them in the resettlement process. The exhibit featured excerpts from oral interviews with community members regarding their lives in the Soviet Union, their decisions to emigrate and their experiences living in the United States. Family photographs and artifacts together with reproductions of archival documents were displayed alongside these interviews.