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Tangible Reminder

Dedication of Weisberg Gallery signals

opening of boxcar exhibit.

A

crowd of 315 people attended the public ceremony at the
Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC) Nov. 20 dedicating the
Henrietta and Alvin Weisberg Gallery, a new addition hous-
ing an authentic World War II-era boxcar. The Nazis used boxcars to
transport millions of European Jews and other victims to concentration
camps and their deaths during the Holocaust.
A generous gift from local philanthropists Henrietta and Alvin
Weisberg funded construction of this new gallery, built in memory of
Henrietta's family murdered in the Holocaust — her parents, Sara and
Israel Gastfrajnd, and brothers Rubin and Hershel Gastfrajnd. Henrietta
and her sister, Rachel Schwartz, were the only family members to survive.
The Weisberg gift also is being used toward an education endowment.
The gallery now is open, with the boxcar and accompanying museum
labels in place adjacent to the HMC's main entrance. Acquired in
September 2011 with the cooperation of the German National Railroad
and the Technical (Railroad) Museum in Berlin, the boxcar is believed
to be one of the last in existence and the only one exported to the United
States from Germany.
Henrietta Weisberg remembers that this type of boxcar was similar to
the one she and her family, along with other Jews, rode to Nazi concen-
tration camps. Forced to endure crowded, deplorable conditions, many
perished in the boxcars before they reached their destinations.

Henrietta and Alvin Weisberg, center, with their family in front of the boxcar at the dedication.
Rachel Schwartz of California, front left, is Henrietta's sister, who also survived the Holocaust.

Henrietta Weisberg and Bette Shapiro at
the dedication

❑

F leu r de Lace by Be lle Eto i le © 20 12 be lleeto i lejewe lry. co m

For a related piece by Contributing Editor Robert Sklar, see page 40.

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The new Weisberg Gallery houses the Nazi-era
boxcar from Germany.

October 1st to December 31st!

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24 December 6 • 2012

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