20 | OCTOBER 31 • 2024 J
N
O
n Sunday, Sept. 22, JHSM
honored the founders of the
West Michigan Holocaust
Memorial with the L’dor V’dor Award
for their commitment to handing
down the history of the Holocaust
and the stories of survivors to this
and future generations.
Honorees Linda Pestka, Steven
Pestka, Nicole D. Katzman, Peg
Finkelstein and Rob Franciosi
“have worked together to create an
extraordinary set of teaching tools
that already have had far-reaching
effects,” said Catherine Cangany,
Ph.D., JHSM’s executive director.
“We are honored to recognize their
achievement.”
The story of the West Michigan
Holocaust Memorial began with
Linda Pestka and Steven Pestka,
children of Holocaust survivor Henry
Pestka (1919-2013), who in 2022
donated a sculpture to the Frederik
Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in
Grand Rapids to honor the memories
of their father and the Six Million
murdered in the Holocaust. Called
“Ways to Say Goodbye,” by prominent
Israeli artist Ariel Schlessinger, the
statue features a 20-foot aluminum
cast of a fig tree adorned with shards
of glass representing the horrors
of Kristallnacht, the 1938 attacks
on Jewish people and businesses in
Germany that marked the beginning
of the Holocaust.
Steven Pestka is pleased that Grand
Rapids’ first Holocaust memorial
statue is having a widespread impact
on the community. “It has helped
educate the public about the horrors
of the Holocaust and the barbarity
human beings are capable of,” he said.
Desiring that the project have
an active educational component,
the Pestkas worked with Jewish
Federation of Grand Rapids (JFGR)
Executive Director Nicole D.
Katzman to provide resources for
programming and cultural events
related to the Holocaust.
Katzman said she was honored
to work with the Pestka siblings. “It
was an extraordinary experience,
definitely a highlight of my career.”
Among the programs they
developed is the Henry Pestka Art
and Poetry Contest for students in
grades 6-12, now in its third year.
Peg Finkelstein, the longtime
director of the archives at Temple
Emanuel, Ahavas Israel and JFGR,
envisioned taking the educational
component a step further through
the creation of a website that would
preserve the stories of Holocaust
survivors who settled in Western
Michigan and feature a Holocaust
curriculum for high school and
college students designed by the Anti-
Defamation League.
Through a generous gift from Peg’s
husband, the late Mort Finkelstein,
and his brothers, the late Raleigh
Finkelstein and Edward Finkelstein,
and Edward’s wife, Kay Finkelstein,
the website — hosted by JFGR — is
now live at jhwmi.com.
Finkelstein turned to Rob
Franciosi, professor of English at
Grand Valley State University, and his
undergraduate students, to research
the biographies and create the
website.
The group used an innovative
digital humanities technique called
“story maps”— interactive profiles
that range across space and time.
Through the extraordinary
efforts of Linda Pestka, Steven
Pestka, Nicole D. Katzman, Peg
Finkelstein and Rob Franciosi, the
West Michigan Holocaust Memorial
— the website, programming and
sculpture — will reach over 1 million
individuals each year and provide
exceptional teaching tools for this
and future generations.
JHSM honors West Michigan Holocaust Memorial founders.
2024 L’Dor V’Dor Award
MARGERY JABLIN JHSM PRESIDENT
OUR COMMUNITY
COURTESY OF JEANNIE WEINER
Honorees Rob Franciosi, Steven
Pestka, Linda Pestka, Nicole D.
Katzman and Peg Finkelstein
received JHSM’s 2024 L’dor V’dor
Award during a ceremony in
Grand Rapids on Sept. 22 for their
commitment to handing down
history and culture to this and the
next generations.