Nassau center's exhibit on Holocaust a mix of remembrance and resilience

On the day designated to remember more than 6 million Jewish people killed in the Holocaust, one center on Long Island unveiled an exhibit that celebrates the resilience of those who survived.

“Survivor,” on display at the The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, opened on Sunday, Yom Hashoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day. It includes large photo portraits of 18 survivors with expressions ranging from contemplative to joyous.

“To be alive and dance and enjoy life,” was the quote under the image of a beaming Rachel Epstein, of Roslyn. As a young child in France, she was hidden and protected by a family in France after her parents were taken under order of the Nazis. She never saw them again.

Survivors at the event marking the somber anniversary, as well as their children and grandchildren, lit candles. Those in attendance recited the Mourner’s Kaddish, a traditional prayer for the dead. Mireille Taub, 85, of Freeport, read a poem titled “We Remember Them.” Taub was one of several speakers who expressed concerns about a rise in anti-Jewish sentiment across the United States and the world in the months since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. She also stressed the importance of speaking out.

“I’m horrified that it’s happening again,” said Taub, who as a toddler made a perilous journey to the United States, escaping France with her family just hours before the Nazis took over.

“If we don’t stand up and speak we are all, as humanity, lost,” she said.

Alan Mindel, who chairs the center's board of directors and is the child of Holocaust survivors, became emotional as he described what his parents endured and how it made them more driven to succeed.

“When you are the child of a survivor, they don’t want you to do well just for you,” he said. “They are thinking about everyone else who didn’t have that opportunity.”

Photographer Daniel Weiss and project coordinator Dinah Kramer have already interviewed and photographed an additional 18 survivors for the next phase of the project. Taub will be featured in those portraits.

“We all know the power and value of first-hand testimony,” Kramer said. “As you view the exhibit we encourage you to look at their faces. Read about them. Read their quotes, get to know their stories and continue to tell them.”

She said the photos are especially powerful in reaching students.

“Today we can see how much we continue to learn from survivors, even those who are sadly no longer with us,” Kramer said.

Weiss was unable to attend the ceremony but he gave Kramer a statement to read that included a commitment to continuing his work

“This project will continue until there are no survivors left to photograph,” he wrote.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misattributed the quote from Alan Mindel, the chair of the center's board of directors, about being the child of Holocaust survivors.

By Lisa L. Colangelo

lisa.colangelo@newsday.com@lisalcolangelo

Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.