Spaghetti & Meatball Dinner at the
Fort Edward Fire Department
116 Broadway, Fort Edward, NY
JULY 24, 2011
4:00-7:00 PM
Take Outs Available
6:00 Talk by Matthew Rozell
Completing the Circle: Honoring Liberation and Defeating the Legacy of Hitler-Reuniting 200 Holocaust survivors with their US Army liberators 65 years later.
Matthew Rozell, a Hudson Falls High School (New York) history teacher and Rogers Island Heritage Development Alliance board member, became a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Teacher Fellow in 2008. Established in 1996, The Museum Teacher Fellowship program trains and maintains a national corps of skilled secondary teachers who serve as leaders in Holocaust education. Through his ongoing work, Mr. Rozell has reunited the living American soldiers with a train transport of Holocaust survivors whom they liberated in Nazi Germany on April 13th, 1945, literally moments before execution.
Matt Rozell, survivor Bruria's son, Frank Towers, two survivors Bruria Falik (of Woodstock, NY) and her sister at Israel's Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem.
To date, over 200 child survivors from all over the world have reconnected with each other and their American liberators in seven reunions which have been highly emotional, cathartic, and healing. For this, Mr. Rozell and his students were named ABC World News “Person of the Week” in September, 2009.
In 2010, Mr. Rozell was selected as the National Organization of American Historians’ American History Teacher of the Year, and he was also the only teacher in the nation invited to participate in the National Days of Remembrance ceremonies in the Capitol Rotunda with General David Petraeus and 171 World War II American soldier liberators, commemorating the 65th anniversary of the liberation.
Working closely with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Mr. Rozell and his students devote themselves to rescuing the evidence of the greatest crime in history, and combating the growing scourge of Holocaust denial.
In May, 2011, Matthew traveled to Israel to meet over 60 survivors whose lives have been effected by his work. Mr. Rozell’s work can be seen at the websites he maintains, teachinghistorymatters.wordpress.com and hfcsd.org/ww2, and also at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website, http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor/years/2010/liberation/.
Proceeds for the dinner benefit the Fort Edward Fire Department and Rogers Island Visitors Center.
Call for reservations and to purchase tickets: 747-3693 or 747-4654
Teaching History Matters 