DECEMBER 14 • 2023 | 35
J
N
T
he Zekelman Holocaust
Center (The HC) celebrated
its 39th Anniversary Benefit
last month at Detroit’s Huntington
Place. Lifelong Detroiters Cynthia
and Marvin Zucker were honored
for their unwavering support of
Holocaust education as an antidote
to counter rising antisemitism.
Against the backdrop of the hor-
rors of Oct. 7, the center’s flagship
fundraising event brought together
a diverse community united in
solidarity, including Holocaust sur-
vivors and their families, business
and educational leaders, philan-
thropists and war veterans.
Over the course of the evening,
attendees remembered the past,
celebrated achievements and
looked toward a hopeful future.
In January 2024, The Center’s new
permanent exhibit opens with
updated scholarship and technolo-
gy, further centering personal sto-
ries of those who experienced the
Holocaust to humanize history’s
darkest period.
“The danger of hate is palpable,”
Cynthia Zucker, a past president
of the Highland Lakes campus
of Oakland Community College,
told the crowd. “No other entity in
Detroit does a better job teaching
the public where hate can lead than
The Zekelman Holocaust Center.
“By hearing the personal stories
of Holocaust survivors,” she con-
tinued, “we come to understand
the power of a human being’s
individual choice to commit acts
of good or evil, [and gain] deeper
understanding of — and commit-
ment to — civic engagement and
to becoming active participants in
our democracy.”
During the evening, The HC
announced a major gift from the
William Davidson Foundation in
support of the exhibit renovation.
“The William Davidson
Foundation gift supports our
Center as a premier destination
in Southeast Michigan where
people can learn the lessons of
the Holocaust in a meaningful
and relevant way,” said Rabbi Eli
Mayerfeld, CEO of The Zekelman
Holocaust Center. “We are so
fortunate for the support of our
incredible community to advance
work that has been shown to influ-
ence communities to resist acts of
hate and discrimination.”
For more information about The Zekelman
Holocaust Center, visit www.holocaustcenter.
org.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE HC
The Zekelman
Holocaust Center’s 39th
Anniversary Benefit
Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, Gary Karp, Marvin Zucker, Cynthia
Zucker, Dr. Stephen Grant and Alan Zekelman
Ben Sasse during the
keynote address
Holocaust
Survivor
and Board
Member Ed
Malinowski
Jewish War
Veterans Steve Haas
and Marc Manson
Rabbi Eli
Mayerfeld,
CEO of The
Zekelman
Holocaust
Center