New York Students Learn About the Holocaust
through the Personal Story of Lisa Jura
The United Nations Department of Public Information, in partnership with the Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations, the Austrian Cultural Forum, Facing History and Ourselves and the New York City Department of Education, held a multimedia presentation titled The Children of Willesden Lane on 26 April 2017 at New York Headquarters. Mona Golabek shared her mother Lisa Jura’s experience as a Jewish child refugee and musical prodigy, who escaped the Nazis on the Kindertransport to the United Kingdom, just before the Second World War. The event also marked Yom HaShoah, which is Holocaust Memorial Day on the Hebrew calendar.
Music was a refuge for Lisa, a connection back to the family and life she had left behind in Vienna. Lisa’s music remains a bridge between the past and the present. More than 400 middle and high school students and their teachers will attend the presentation at the United Nations. It is the culmination of a year-long project that has included teacher workshops that have prepared educators to use the book written by Mona Golabek and Lee Cohen “The Children of Willesden Lane” as a learning tool. The event will also feature short welcome remarks by H.E. Mr Jan Kickert, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations. Other sponsors of the event include Hold on to Your Music Foundation.
Statements:
Welcoming remarks by Ms. Kimberly Mann,
Chief of the Education Outreach Section,
the United Nations Department of Public Information
Opening Statement by H.E. Mr. Jan Kickert, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations