Queensborough Community College (QCC) now has a new and long awaited structure on its Bayside campus – a building for The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives.
Previously located in a room in the basement of the college’s library, the center is now in its own 9,000 square foot facility.
The building features a permanent exhibition that includes video interviews with Holocaust survivors and students about their impressions of the survivors’ stories. In addition, there is space for rotating exhibitions, a library and meeting room. The meeting room displays information about other genocides that have occurred.
“The reason we did this is that we undertook a very, very important obligation,” Dr. Arthur Flug, the center’s director, said during a recent preview. “That obligation was that what happened to the survivors and the survivors would not be forgotten.”
Holocaust survivor Eddie Weinstein, who has been a member for the center for about 10 years, described the new facility as “beautiful.” He said he hoped that those visiting it will learn what happened.
Jane Keibel, also a survivor, thought the new center was “terrific.”
“It’s such an improvement of where we were,” she said. “They did a marvelous job with this exhibit.”
Dr. Eduardo Martí, the president of QCC, said that the center was not a memorial or museum, but rather a classroom and a place where people can learn to use the lessons of the Holocaust.
“Anybody can build a building. The soul of the building is really what counts and what you do with the building is really what counts,” Martí said. “Arthur had the vision to start doing what needs to be done before we even had the building.”
Describing The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives as a “beacon of civility,” Martí said that students need to be taught about the responsibility they have to take a stand and prevent something like the Holocaust from happening again.
Martí also said that he wants to make sure that no matter who is in charge of the college the center will remain. His goal is to get a $5 million endowment to accomplish this.
Holocaust survivor Werner Kleeman called the new building beautiful, elegant and very luxurious.
“And I hope it will stay a few hundred years,” he added. “It will outlive all of us.”
Flug explained that the center also offers several different forms of programming, including lectures, films, a library, Seder, internships and a speakers’ bureau.
For the first time this year, Flug said the center, along with the Genealogical Society of Long Island, will also have a Grandparents Day. The event will include workshops where grandparents will tell their grandchildren their stories.
Hannah Deutch, also a Holocaust survivor, said that having the new center “means everything.” She said that she has always been afraid about who would tell the story once the survivors and their children have passed.
Deutch, who has worked with the center for “many years” and speaks about her Holocaust experiences at schools, is one of the survivors who was interviewed for the exhibition. She said she liked that the exhibition also includes what life was like after the Holocaust.
“I feel very honored to be in the exhibit,” she said.
An official ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on October 18.
For more information about The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives or to find out about its events, visit www.qcc.cuny.edu/HRCA. – With additional reporting by Noah Rosenberg
