Barbara Weiner and Craig Weiner are flanked by NSU staff and officials at a May gala event. (Submitted photo)

Beginning in September, Nova Southeastern University in Davie will open its new Holocaust Reflection and Resource Room at its Alvin Sherman Library on campus.

The room will be created as a result of a gift from Craig and Barbara Weiner presented to the University at the Alvin Sherman Library Circle of Friends gala event that took place last May.

The room will be formally known as the “Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Reflection and Resource Room,” as announced at the May gala.

“We must strive to provide opportunities for our current generation and those of tomorrow to reflect on the horrific events of The Holocaust and the lessons to be learned from it,” said Craig Weiner, who is president of the Holocaust Learning and Education Fund.

The gift from the Weiners will build, equip, fund and furnish the new room to be located on the second floor of the ASL.

The Holocaust Reflection and Resource Room will consist of two sections. The first section is a computer room enabling faculty, staff, students and visitors to NSU to have access to testimonies from hundreds of survivors, films on the Holocaust, a Holocaust encyclopedia, and wall maps outlining the locations of the larger extermination and slave labor concentration camps.

The second section of the Holocaust Reflection and Resource Room will feature numerous American newspapers dated from the 1930s and 40s for review, a wall mounted screen showing continuous film footage from the Holocaust including home video from the era, a number of bookcases filled with Nazi propaganda material, a large number of wall mounted images including prisoner drawings, as well as display cases containing original artifacts from concentration camps located at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau among other sites.

“It is important that we do not forget the lessons of the past,” said NSU President Dr. George Hanbury.

“With so few survivors of the Holocaust remaining, resources like this one are vital to help tomorrow’s generation avoid the atrocities of past generations. We’re pleased to receive this gift and proud that this new educational resource will be available to NSU students, members of the faculty and staff and to the community at large.”

Barbara and Craig Weiner co-founded the nonprofit Holocaust Learning and Education Fund in 2013 to encourage the expansion of Holocaust education in the United States.

Beginning in 2014, HLEF partnered with NSU to host the annual “Holocaust Reflection Contest” in which middle and high school students submit original art, film, poetry and other creative projects expressing the meaning of the Holocaust. HLEF has awarded annually to winning students an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. to visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and meet with national and international dignitaries.

“Barbara and I could not be happier nor more honored than to be a partner with this university (NSU),” said Craig Weiner.

“The Holocaust Refection and Resource Room will be a wonderful resource for our students and the community to enjoy and learn from for many, many years.”

Weiner elaborated that a university education is not only about helping students develop skills to advance society, but also to become conscientious members of society.

Weiner was specific about the vital lessons one can learn from the Holocaust.

“The most vital lesson to be learned from the atrocities that occurred during the period of the Holocaust is the need to stand up and reject all forms of hate and intolerance.”

“Don’t be a bystander simply going through life ‘pretending’ that we did not know about injustices that we clearly saw, when in fact we did and knew very well what was happening.”

“Had enough people stood up and actually done something to combat racism, anti-Semitism and bigotry and all of these other cancers that have permeated our global society, perhaps these genocides would have been prevented,” said Weiner.

For more information about Nova Southeastern University, 3301 College Ave., Davie, call 800-541-6682 or go to www.nova.edu

Originally published HERE