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Coconut Creek holds 2nd annual 'A Night with Holocaust Survivors' with cattle-car exhibit and survivor services
Summary
The City of Coconut Creek hosted its second annual Holocaust-education event on International Holocaust Remembrance Day featuring a replica cattle car exhibit, survivor testimonies and a resource table from Goodman Jewish Family Services offering reparations and support for local survivors.
On behalf of the City of Coconut Creek, city officials welcomed residents to the 2nd annual "A Night with Holocaust Survivors," an evening of survivor testimony, music and a mobile exhibit timed to International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation.
The program included the Hate Ends Now replica cattle car exhibit, described by its CEO, Todd Cohen, as "a replica of a Holocaust-era cattle car" with "a 360-degree fully immersive multimedia presentation" that traces survivors' stories and the history of Nazi persecution. City organizers said buses from several local high schools attended during the day and that the exhibit and related artifact displays remained available after the program.
Rami Spiegel, assistant director of the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program at Goodman Jewish Family Services of Broward County, told the audience the agency helps survivors with reparations paperwork and direct supports. "We are available to help all Holocaust survivors with reparations assistance," Spiegel said, adding that the program serves "over 700 survivors in Broward County" through a team of 12 care managers and provides services ranging from transportation and home-care assistance to help with incontinence supplies and other needs.
Panelists and survivors spoke about life during and after the war. One survivor introduced as Rebecca recounted being sent to a summer camp in 1939, evacuated east and ultimately relocated to Israel after the war. Saul Dreyer, introduced by event hosts as a survivor and musician who has performed widely, spoke briefly about surviving and marked his approaching 100th birthday. Eric Lipperts described his family's flight from Belgium, travel to Portugal and eventual passage to the Philippines after facing U.S. immigration quotas; he said the family later sailed to the United States when arrangements were secured.
City commissioners attending — named by the event host as Mayor Sandy Welch, Vice Mayor Jackie Railey, Commissioner John Brody, Commissioner Josh Bridal and Commissioner Wasserman — and other officials praised the program as a local effort to preserve survivors' testimonies and to educate younger residents. The host emphasized the program's educational goals for students and younger audiences.
Organizers encouraged attendees who had not toured the cattle-car exhibit earlier to visit after the program; Goodman JFS staffed a resource table in the lobby with flyers and information on survivor benefits and services. Todd Cohen urged attendees to experience the exhibit and said its closing section is intended to "empower" students to stand against hate.
The program combined first-person testimony, music and informational resources; no formal actions or votes were recorded at the event.
