SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK (June 15, 2016) — Dr. George Elbaum of San Francisco, a businessman and aerospace engineer, who writes and speaks about his experience as a child survivor of the Holocaust, was awarded an Honorary Fellowship on June 5 from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The ceremony took place during the Technion Board of Governors (BOG) meeting (June 4-8, 2016) on the university campus in Haifa.
Accompanied by his wife, Mimi Jensen, Dr. Elbaum was recognized for “devotion to the Technion and Israel . . . business accomplishments that have spanned the globe and bridged countries . . . and for sharing (your) story, in order to impart the message of tolerance to present and future generations.”

A steadfast supporter of the Technion and Israel, Dr. Elbaum is an active member of the American Technion Society (ATS) National Board of Directors, the ATS North Pacific Region Board and the Technion Board of Governors.

Together with his wife, he is a Technion Guardian — an honor reserved for those who support the Technion at the highest level. The couple has supported the Technion with gifts that include the George J. Elbaum Fund for the Satell Technion-MIT Leadership Program, the Whiteman International Foundation Fellowships (named after Dr. Elbaum's mother) in the Grand Technion Energy Program, and the Formula Student Race Car project.

Dr. Elbaum was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1938. As a child, he was smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto and lived with a series of Polish families who hid him and his Jewish identity from the Nazis. Only he and his mother survived, as they lost 10 family members to the Holocaust. In 1949, Dr. Elbaum immigrated to the U.S., and in 1955 he enrolled at MIT, where he earned four degrees — a bachelor’s and a master’s in aeronautics and astronautics, along with a second master’s and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering.
He began his career in Los Angeles in the aerospace industry, and then moved into the international business arena. In 1972, he co-founded Intertorg, a consulting firm representing American and European corporations in the Soviet Union (including General Motors, U.S. Steel, Reebok, etc.), where he marketed their products and services. After 25 years, he switched gears again, turning to commercial real estate investment and development.

In 2010, he wrote and published Neither Yesterdays Nor Tomorrows, a book of vignettes from his childhood during the Holocaust, and started speaking to student groups across the U.S. and in Poland about survival and tolerance. In 2014, he followed his first book with a second volume, Yesterdays Revisited, about the feedback/letters he’s received from students at the 100-plus venues where he’s spoken.

The five-day BOG meeting was comprised of award ceremonies and dedications, presentations by speakers that included Middle East expert Ambassador Dennis B. Ross, and other events such as an Innovation Panel Discussion, featuring Technion graduates such as Dov Moran, inventor of the DiskOnKey (USB flash drive). Other San Francisco-area participants included Ruth Owades and Lou Lenzen.

Photo: George Elbaum (right) receiving an Honorary Fellowship from Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie at an awards ceremony on the Haifa campus on June 5, 2016.

"This book is expertly written and illustrated in a way that will keep any grade schooler’s attention while learning about the heartache and turmoil during this dark period of time." - Public speaker and educator Jeannie Opdyke Smith 

 PRE-ORDER A BOOK

The Graphic Novel:

What is it like for a child of eight to leave the only home he’s ever known, traveling alone by land and sea to an uncertain future? On the eve of World War II, this was the journey of young Steve Adler. Born in 1930 to a German-Jewish family, Steve was one of the lucky ones: finding refuge from persecution and danger during the Holocaust in England and later the United States.

This true story takes the reader swirling along with moments in history as seen through Steve’s eyes: from the moment his happy world in Berlin was shattered; to separation, evacuation, and foster homes in England; and finally, to stability and strength in the United States. Steve’s refugee story transcends time and place to illuminate the costs of war and bigotry, while also offering a beacon of human hope and resilience.

Steve later emigrated to the United States, ultimately settling in Seattle, Washington. Throughout his adult life, Steve used his story to champion the importance of Holocaust education as a longstanding member of the Holocaust Center for Humanity's Speakers Bureau.  

About the Authors:

Julia Thompson and Paul Regelbrugge, with their joint passion for Holocaust education, were an obvious choice when it came to selecting authors for the Holocaust Center's new graphic novel. 

Watch a timelapse video to see how the art was created:

Thanks to donors Krijn & Judy de Jonge, Debbie Killinger, and Michele Rosen for making this project possible.

Reviews

Learning about the events and details surrounding the Holocaust are a must. However, because of the cruelty and unimaginable crimes against humanity, teaching the subject to children can be difficult at best. The book, More Than Any Child Should Know, shares the true account of one 8 year old Jewish boy, whose life was forever changed by the events of the Holocaust. The reader follows young Stefan and his family as history unfolds from its subtle beginning through its end.  This book is expertly written and illustrated in a way that will keep any grade schooler’s attention while learning about the heartache and turmoil during this dark period of time.  I highly recommend the book as a good introduction to a very large and important topic. As a child of a survivor and rescuer, I know firsthand the necessity to keep history alive by sharing and teaching the message about what hate and prejudice can do, and how even one person can make a difference in doing something to help. - Jeannie Opdyke Smith, public speaker, educator, and daughter of Holocaust rescuer Irene Gut Opdyke

With More Than Any Child Should Know, the Holocaust Center for Humanity offers teachers and students across grade levels a resource that engages the reader with the story of the Alder family and carefully situates their experience within the larger scope of the Holocaust. While the interplay between the image and text in graphic novel offers teachers a range of opportunities to engage students in critical thinking through multimodal reading, the book also strategically integrates primary sources within the imagery of the book that prompts a more sophisticated layer of thinking for students. Aligned to Stefan “Steve” Adler’s goal in sharing his story, the authors smartly refer to various topics ranging from Japanese incarceration to Holocaust memorialization and, thus, provide teachers and students with starting points for civics-based, justice-oriented inquiry beyond More Than Any Child Should Know. - Dr. Jeff Eargle, Clinical Assistant Professor in Secondary Humanities Education, University of South Carolina

A poignant and beautifully illustrated tribute to Steve Adler, who shared memories of his boyhood in Nazi Germany, escape to Great Britain on the Kindertransport, and immigration to the United States with thousands of children in his lifetime. Through this book, full of honesty, humor, and historical context, Adler’s bravery and empathy will inspire many more generations. Highly recommended. - Rebecca Erbelding, historian and author of Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America's Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe

Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts

Click Here for discussion questions, writing prompts, and activities. 

UPCOMING LUNCH-AND-LEARN PROGRAMS:

12:00 - 1:00pm (Pacific Time) Every Tuesday.  Join us for our weekly Lunch-and-Learn series to hear children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, notable speakers on timely issues, and historical experts. 

These programs aim to present perspectives and voices that challenge and inspire people to confront bigotry, racism, and indifference, and to consider how their actions make a difference. 

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed in these programs are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Holocaust Center for Humanity and its employees.   

VIEW PREVIOUS LUNCH-AND-LEARN PROGRAMS 

My Family's Story: Survival, Escape, and Immigration

Tuesday, October 19, 2021 | 12pm PT

Daphna Robon tells the story of her parents, Imre Friedmann and Naomi Kraus. Both natives of Budapest, Hungary, they endured not only the antisemitism of pre-war Europe, but the persecution of the Nazi regime; Imre in a labor camp and Naomi hidden in a Swiss “safe house” under a false identity. Following the war, Imre escaped to Vienna where he was able to earn his Ph.D., eventually immigrating to become a professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem where he met Naomi. She also earned a Ph.D. at the university and they eventually relocated to the U.S. to highly successful careers.

Daphna was born in Israel and spent most of her childhood years in Houston, Texas. She now lives in the Seattle area with her family and began sharing her family story as a Holocaust Center speaker in 2021.  

The Ravine: A Family, A Photograph, A Holocaust Massacre Revealed

Tuesday, October 26 | 12pm PT

With Dr. Wendy Lower

register today

In 2009, Dr. Wendy Lower, the acclaimed author of Hitler’s Furies, was shown a photograph newly revealed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. While the documentation of the Holocaust is vast, there are only a few known images of Jewish families at the actual moment of murder, in this disturbing photo, by German officials and Ukrainian collaborators. A Ukrainian shooter’s rifle is inches from a woman’s head, obscured in a cloud of smoke. The woman is bending forward, holding the hand of a barefoot boy. And—only one of the shocking revelations of Dr. Lower’s 10-year investigation of this image—the shins of another child, slipping from the woman’s lap. 

Dr. Lower’s detective work—in Ukraine, Germany, Slovakia, Israel, and the United States—recovers astonishing layers of detail concerning the open-air massacres in Ukraine. Her search for the identities of the victims, of the killers—and, remarkably, of the photographer who openly took the picture, as a secret act of resistance—are dramatically uncovered. Finally, in the hands of this scholar, a single image unlocks a new understanding of the place of the family unit in the history and aftermath of Nazi genocide.

Wendy Lower, Ph.D., is the John K. Roth Professor of History and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College and chairs the Academic Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and served as its Acting Director at the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies.  

My Father Was One of the Lucky Ones

Tuesday, November 2, 2021 | 12pm-1pm (PT)

With Ron Gompertz

REGISTER NOW

In the late 1920's, there were 1,500 Jewish people living in the Krefeld, Germany. One of them was young Rolf Gompertz. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Rolf remembers his world changing. On November 9, 1938, Nazi soldeiers banged at the door of his parents' apartment, demanding to be let in. They stormed into the apartment, ready to arrest Rolf's father. The Nazi's left before arresting him, but that night they would arrest 30,000 other Jewish men in what became known as Kristallnacht, a turning point in the Holocaust.  Rolf would prove to be one of the lucky Jewish individuals to find refuge in the United States. Rolf's son Ron, tells his father's story of antisemitism and persecution and eventually building a new life as an immigrant in the United States. 

Ron Gompertz works in the tech industry, a published author, and is a member of the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau.

clicK HERE to view previous Lunch-and-Learn programs

Thank you to our 2021 Lunch-and-Learn Sponsors:

    

The Frances Roth & Stanley R. Schill Foundation    

Thank you to the grantors, companies, and individuals who have made this year's Lunch-and-Learn series possible. If you or your company are interested in sponsoring one or more Lunch-and-Learns throughout the year, please contact Ilana Cone Kennedy: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..