'My Name is Anne Frank' Brings History to Life in Berkley

The event celebrates the Farmington Hills-based Holocaust Memorial Center's acquisition of a sapling from the tree that gave the young Holocaust victim hope.

A thunderous standing ovation rewarded Berkley High School orchestra and a cappella choir students Tuesday evening for their world premiere performance of "My Name is Anne Frank: A Cantata." Composer Volker Blumenthaler and lyricist Alexander Gruber, both from Germany, joined Holocaust survivors, parents and officials representing Berkley and Huntington Woods in the audience at Berkley High's packed auditorium. The cantata kicked off a series of events the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus in Farmington Hills will hold to celebrate its acquisition of one of 11 saplings from the chestnut tree that stood outside Anne Frank's window in Amsterdam and gave her hope as she hid during World War II. BHS Orchestra Director John …

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Berkley Students to Perform World Premiere of Cantata Based Anne Frank's Life

The May 7 event is hosted by the Holocaust Memorial Center to celebrate the Farmington Hills museum's acquisition of a sapling from the white chestnut tree that brought the young Holocaust victim solace during World War II.

The premiere of My Name is Anne Frank, the first in a series of events hosted by the Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC) in Farmington Hills, will be performed May 7 by the Berkley High School orchestra and choir, at the school's Auditorium, 2325 Catalpa in Berkley. Starting at 7 p.m. , the performance is the world premiere of the composer Volker Blumenthaler's complete and original orchestration, celebrating the life of a young girl who is arguably the most well known Holocaust victim. The program features solos by Hazzan Daniel Gross (of Adat Shalom Synagogue) and Cantor Penny Steyer (of Temple Shir Shalom). This event celebrates the HMC's acquisition of a sapling from the white chestnut tree that brought Anne Frank solace as she and her …

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Holocaust Memorial Center Hosts Armenian Genocide Speaker April 10

Dr. Robert Melson will speak on the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust.

The Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus announced Dr. Robert Melson as the featured speaker for a presentation on the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust at 7 p.m. on April 10. Titled, “Two Survivors' Perspectives: The Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust,” Melson explores perpetrators’ means and motives, as well as survivors’ courage and survival during the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, focusing on the stories of Armenian Bishop Grigoris Balakian and the Jewish Mendelsohn family. Melson is Professor Emeritus at Purdue University and past president of the International Association ofGenocide Scholars.  His publications include “Revolution and Genocide: On the Orgins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust.”  He also …

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Holocaust Memorial Center Hosts Annual Yom HaShoah Event

The Farmington Hills museum offers free admission and parking for the day.

The Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus in Farmington Hills will host its citywide annual Yom HaShoah Commemoration Day on Sunday, April 7, beginning at noon with the project “Unto Every Person There Is A Name.”  Volunteers from both the Great Lakes Region B’nai B’rith and the Holocaust Memorial Center will share the reading aloud of the names of some of those whose lives were taken in the Holocaust. The formal program starts at 1 p.m. with the Posting of the Colors by members of the Jewish War Veterans, United States of America. An original Kaddish as a responsive reading led by Holocaust Memorial Center Executive Director Stephen M. Goldman, and the traditional candle lighting led by Holocaust survivor Michael Weiss of Oak …

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Anne Frank Tree Sapling Coming to Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills

The museum is one of 11 facilities in the U.S. to receive saplings from the historic chestnut tree.

Holocaust Museum Opens New Multimedia Exhibit March 15

“Where the Past Meets the Future" will be on display Mar. 15 through July 21.

The Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus in Farmington Hills will display the multimedia art exhibit, “Where the Past Meets the Future,” by artist Fay Grajower, Mar. 15 through July 21. The exhibit features 140 small-scale paintings and mixed media pieces. It revisits the vibrant Jewish life in Poland before the Holocaust and reflects hope and interest in contemporary Polish Jewish life and culture. Grajower uses her acquired memories of her mother and siblings’ experiences to work through issues of the past.   Eleven other works by Grajower, including two very large-scale paintings, oil on canvas works, paintings on vinyl, among other mixed-media pieces, also will be on display. “When we decide which exhibits we would like to …

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UPDATED: Museum Director Says Nazi Slogan at Packard Plant 'More Ignorant Than Sinister'

Stephen Goldman of the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills said the words “Arbeit Macht Frei” were designed to trick Jews who entered concentration camps.

UPDATE: "i killed it." That was the simple message posted Tuesday night on the dETROITfUNK.com Facebook page in reference to the Nazi slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei” that recently cropped up in big red letters at the Packard Automotive Plant in Detroit. Randy Wilcox of Harper Woods, who runs the photo blog, along with another man whose name was not given, removed the sign Tuesday, deadlinedetroit.com reports. "I didn't want this image of this sign to go nationwide or international, because it is that kind of thing that they would report on in Russia, Saudi Arabia. ... Germany. Israel. I decided to publish my photos and talk about taking the sign down to steal thunder away from whoever did it, and turn the control back around to our side," …

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Detroit Tigers Present Jersey to Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills

Representatives from the team visit the museum as part of the Detroit Tigers Caravan

The Holocaust Memorial Center on Thursday hosted a private stop on the 2013 Detroit Tigers Winter Caravan, a series of fan events presented by FOX Sports Detroit and Pure Michigan.  Team manager Jim Leyland, president, CEO and general manager David Dombrowski, bench coach Gene Lamont, hitting coach Lloyd McClendon and FOX Sports Detroit broadcaster Rod Allen didn't have time to tour the center, but listened to a brief orientation by docent Donna Sklar.  The Tigers also presented a framed jersey to the museum, in memory of those who died in the Holocaust, in honor of those who survived, and recognizing the museum's contributions to "maintaining and open and free society," Dombrowski said. 

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Presentation in Farmington Hills Marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day

The Holocaust Memorial Center hosts a museum tour and program featuring survivor Fred Findling.

The Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus announced that it will host a museum tour and special presentation on Sunday, Jan. 27 in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. A museum tour will take place at 1 p.m. and walks attendees through the nation's first freestanding museum, dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust. Included among the stops is The Henrietta and Alvin Weisberg Gallery, the Holocaust Memorial Center’s newest permanent gallery, which houses an authentic World War II-era boxcar.   Visitors also will visit the popular Time Line, a circular exhibit that tracks the history of the Jewish people against major events in world history over a period of 4,000 years. Additionally, the tour will feature exhibits …

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Stories of Soviet Jewish Soldiers Featured in New Holocaust Memorial Center Exhibit

'Lives of the Great Patriotic War' remains on display through Jan. 27 at the Farmington Hills museum.

Learn the stories of Soviety Jewish soliders who served during World War II in a new exhibit on display at the Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC) in Farmington Hills. Open now through Jan. 27, 2013 “Lives of the Great Patriotic War" details the largely unknown chapter of Jewish history – the participation of 500,000 Soviet Jewish soldiers in the fight against the Nazis. According to an HMC press release, the exhibit is presented in cooperation with The Michigan Association of Russian Speaking Jewry in America. The soldiers' stories are told through wartime diary and letter excerpts, reproductions of archival photographs and documents and oral testimonies. The free standing exhibit details the overall story of Soviet Jewish participation in …

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