3 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 15, 2022 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
CUNY chancellor tours Holocaust center at Queensborough Community College
BY ETHAN MARSHALL
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez
took a tour of Queensborough Community
College’s (QCC) Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg
Holocaust Center in Bayside on Th ursday,
April 7.
He was accompanied by QCC President
Christine Mangino; executive director of the
Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC) Laura B.
Cohen; Holocaust survivor and current chairman
of the KHC advisory board Manfred
Korman; Associate Director at the Kupferberg
Holocaust Center Marisa Hollywood; and
Dr. Cary Lane of the school’s Department of
Academic Literacy, among others.
Th e exhibit, “Th e Concentration Camps:
Inside the Nazi System of Incarceration and
Genocide,” focuses on the complexity of the
mechanism of Nazi terror and extermination
and explores the broader ramifi cations of prejudice,
racism and stereotyping. In order to better
convey the physical feeling of the ghettos and
concentration camps, some of the walls in the
building had were made from bricks and wood.
Additionally, an iron gate at the entrance of the
exhibit symbolizes those found at entrances to
concentration camps.
According to Cohen, many of the students
prefer physical exhibits compared to reading
about people, places or things related to the
Holocaust online.
“You can’t just read or write about the Final
Solution in one sentence,” Cohen said. Interpersonal
connection has proven to be a great
way to draw their attention.
According to Hollywood, a big challenge
had been making the students better relate to
the atrocities committed, as they happened
so far away from New York City. Bringing in
artifacts from the Holocaust for the exhibit and
survivors to speak to the students has proven
eff ective at drawing their interest.
“Many of these survivors were teenagers or
children then,” Hollywood said. “Students
can relate to that.” Recorded interviews the
school had done with 13 Holocaust survivors
in February 2020 are available to be viewed at
the exhibit. In them, each survivor described
their experience at the camps and the aft ermath.
One of the most impactful items in the exhibit
is a concentration camp jacket that was
worn by Holocaust survivor Benzion Peresecki
while at Dachau. While he and his mother both
survived the Holocaust, his older brother Levi-
Ichak was killed in July 1941 as one of over 300
victims via a fi ring squad of Lithuanian Activist
Front and Nazi soldiers. He was 17.
Rodríguez said he found the exhibit very
interesting.
“I’m already making plans to come back again
and see everything the exhibit has to off er,”
Rodríguez said.
He noted that with hate crimes rising in the
city, it could do a lot of good for people to see
this exhibit and remember what atrocities that
state of mind can cause.
“You certainly feel the sense of refl ection by
the end of the exhibit,” Rodríguez added. “Th e
KHC has long been one of our city’s most eff ective
leaders in sustaining the memory of that
dark period so that today’s students and future
generations understand the consequences of
antisemitism as well as ethnic hatred, racism
and bigotry against all groups and in all forms.
Th is new exhibitionis diffi cult and sobering but
so important. Its relevance to today’s world, and
this week’s horrors in Ukraine, is all too clear.”
With Yom Ha’Shoah — Holocaust Remembrance
Day in Hebrew — set to begin the evening
of April 27 and end the following evening,
it’s now a very good time to visit the exhibit and
remember just how much those in the concentration
camps went through. It’s also worth
keeping in mind that the Jewish people weren’t
the only ones persecuted and killed in the camps,
according to Cohen, who added that some of
the other groups include Jehovah’s Witnesses,
homosexuals and people with mental disabilities.
Th e KHC was initially opened as a research
center in 1983 before being converted into one
of the fi rst research archives devoted to the Holocaust
on the East Coast of the United States
shortly aft erward.
Today, the KHC off ers approximately 20 public
programs and special events for Holocaust
survivors, and it hosts over 150 tours reaching
over 2,000 students and community members.
Photo by Queensborough Community College
KHC Executive Director Laura B. Cohen talks to CUNY hancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez about the section of
the exhibit they are in. The concrete wall behind them is meant to symbolize Jerusalem.
Leaders celebrate co-naming of Ganesh Temple Street in Flushing
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
CMOHAMED@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and Councilwoman Sandra Ung joined
civic leaders and members of the Ganesh Temple in Flushing on April 2 to co-name the
intersection of Bowne Street and Holly Avenue as “Ganesh Temple Street” honoring the
history of the temple in the neighborhood.
Thousands of devotees participate in numerous cultural activities at the temple, located
at 45-57 Bowne St., where Ung and Richards joined Dr. Uma Mysorekar, president of the
Hindu Temple Society of North America, for the unveiling of the street sign.
“Today was a day of immense joy as the Flushing community came out to celebrate the
co-naming of Bowne Street as Ganesh Temple Street,” Ung said. “I’m so glad for Dr. Uma
and the Ganesh Temple to see this co-naming turn into a reality. A special thank you to
Dr. Uma for being such a powerful advocate in our community.”
After the ceremony, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards tweeted, “Bowne
Street in Flushing is now also Ganesh Temple Street! What a day to celebrate.”
The borough president congratulated Mysorekar and everyone at the Hindu Temple
Society of North America for “all they do to spiritually support families and uplift the
collective soul of Queens.”
When the Ganesh Temple opened in 1977, it was the first Hindu temple in the tristate
area. It was built with traditional granite stones imported from India, making it one of
the most historically and architecturally important temples in the West.
Thousands of devotees in Queens participate in the numerous religious and cultural
activities that take place at the temple.
The temple canteen opened in 1993 to prepare authentic South Indian food, primarily
as offerings to Hindu deities. But it also appealed to devotees, and in 1998 moved to a
larger space in the community center to serve food to worshipers and the greater Flushing
community.
Photo courtesy of Councilwoman Sandra Ung’s offi ce
Local elected offi cials and community leaders celebrate the unveiling of “Ganesh Temple Street” in Flushing.
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