Wilton Library, together with Temple B’nai Chaim and Riverbrook Regional YMCA, invites the Wilton community to a very special Kristallnacht Commemoration on Monday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. as they welcome Connecticut organization Voices of Hope and 93-year-old retired educator Ruth Weiner, who will speak about the Night of Broken Glass, Nov. 9-10, in her Vienna birthplace, and how that was the beginning of the end of life as they knew it for the Jews of Austria and across Europe.
As Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel believed, “Whoever listens to a witness becomes a witness, so those who hear us, continue to bear witness for us. Until now they’re doing it with us. At a certain point in time, they will do it for all of us.”
Ruth Weiner was born in Vienna, Austria in 1931. The only child of a professional couple, Ruth was part of a large, close-knit, loving family and lived a happy life, enjoying everything that a beautiful, cultured city had to offer. All this ended abruptly with the Anschluss when Austria was invaded and annexed by Nazi Germany.
Life became even more difficult following Kristallnacht. In the summer of 1939, Ruth became part of the Kindertransport, escaping to England. Her parents also escaped only weeks before World War II broke out. The family came to the United States in 1940 and settled in Hartford.
Today, a retired educator, Ruth speaks with students and people in communities, having encountered thousands of them over the years to share the story of the Holocaust. Ruth is married to Myron Weiner, a retired University of Connecticut professor; she is the mother of Jonathan Weiner, Ethan Weiner and Adina Kennedy, the grandmother of five and delighted great-grandmother of five.
The moderator for the program will be Voices of Hope Director of Programming Robin Landau, who has been at Voices of Hope since 2019. Landau currently serves on the Hartford Youth Scholars and Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford boards and is an active volunteer at Beth El Temple in West Hartford. She is a past president and board member of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford and Children’s Reading Partners. She has lived in West Hartford for 25 years and is the proud mother of Arielle and Dylan.
The event is co-sponsored by Wilton Library, Temple B’nai Chaim and Riverbrook Regional YMCA. Registration is required, and can be done online.
Inspired by the vision of Alan Lazowski and established by the families of Holocaust survivors across Connecticut, Voices of Hope’s bold mission is to promote a culture of courage to stand up against hatred through Holocaust and genocide education and remembrance. Voices of Hope is a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit organization providing community-based educational and commemorative programming throughout the state. Voices of Hope’s program the HERO (Holocaust Education Resource and Outreach) Center provides educational programming and professional development for Connecticut’s students and educators. After playing a key role in Connecticut adopting a mandate requiring Holocaust education in 2018, the HERO Center has reached over 26,000 students in 88 schools.