The Holocaust Educational Foundation, a private nonprofit organization established by Theodore Zev Weiss and friends, will become part of Northwestern University in order to continue the Foundation’s mission of preserving and promoting awareness of the Holocaust. Northwestern will continue the Foundation’s efforts to support academic research and educational outreach on the Holocaust.
“Memory is the most important thing we possess as humans, memory of both good and evil,” said Mr. Weiss at a recent meeting on the Northwestern campus.
Mr. Weiss is the long-time president of the Skokie-based Foundation, and is himself a Holocaust survivor. Weiss was deported to Auschwitz with his parents, a brother and a sister. Upon arrival they were separated and he never saw them again. He was in Birkenau, an extermination camp, and also worked as a slave laborer before finally being liberated in Austria by the American army. He came to the United States in 1956 and was a teacher and principal for 35 years in addition to being president of the Holocaust Educational Foundation.