Mark Weitzman discusses the actions to be taken to continue the mission of the Generations of the Shoah organization with Holocaust remembrance and education, and defeating anti-Semitism.
Interview with Myra Berkovits by Barbara Tabach on August 21, 2014. In this interview, Berkovits talks about growing up and starting her teaching career in Chicago. When she moves to Las Vegas, Berkovits eventually purchases a dining concierge business, but returned to teaching, and is now involved with the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center.
Myra Berkovits was born Myra Mosse in 1944 in Chicago, Illinois. She became an elementary school teacher in Chicago before moving to Las Vegas in 1980. Myra has made contributions to Las Vegas in the public and private sectors. She owned several businesses then returned to teaching, heading to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) to renew her teaching license and later received her master's degree. After a year of teaching in multicultural education, Myra was then in charge of the school district's homeless program, seeing its growth from serving 1,200 to 6,000 students. Myra's other passion was for Holocaust education and she became one of six interviewers in the city for the Shoah Foundation, documenting survivors' stories. One interviewee, David Berkovits, would later become her husband of fifteen years. Myra's own Holocaust education was aided by powerful trips to Israel and Poland. She used these experiences to develop and lead student-teacher conferences and classroom curriculum for the whole state. Myra still serves at the Education Specialist at the Holocaust Resource Center.
Oral history interview with Lyn Robinson conducted by Barbara Tabach on September 18, 2014 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Robinson talks about her participation with the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center as an official photographer of survivors for the Center.
Oral history interview with Henry and Anita Schuster conducted by Claytee D. White on various dates from March 01, 2011 to April 25, 2011 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Henry discusses his experiences during the Holocaust, including losing his mother and one sister, while reuniting with another sister after she escaped from a concentration camp. Anita discusses growing up with her family in New York, marrying Henry in 1948, and moving around until arriving in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1993. They also discuss their involvement with the Holocaust Survivors Group in southern Nevada.
Simone Salen's parents survived the Holocaust, and she describes her life as a miracle. She was reunited with her father's diary, which he kept during the Holocaust, and translated it into English.
At the age of thirteen, the incredible life journey of Stephen “Pista” Nasser (b. 1931 - ) is preserved in his heart. His ordeal begins when his family are ripped from their home to be interred in a Nazi concentration camp in 1944. Fifty years later, he sits in his Las Vegas home and reflects on his calling to write and speak about his survival and losses. His ordeal is preserved in his book My Brother’s Voice (2013) and in his follow up stage production Not Now Pista. He is also the author of a companion memoir, Journey to Freedom. Stephen and his wife Francoise are tireless in their travels throughout the United States and the world. At the time of this 2018 oral history interview, Stephen had done over 1092 presentations about his harrowing life story to thousands of people of all ages and denominations. Each presentation fills a spot in his heart as he honors his brother and reminds listeners that such devastating episode in history should not be forgotten, and should never occur again. The timing of this interview also coincided with the premiere of a 20-minute documentary based on his writings and the play production. It was shown at the 2018 Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival. Note: the photo above of Stephen and Francoise Nasser was taken shortly after this interview on their next cruise. (2018)