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Preserving the stories of West Michigan Survivors
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2024-2025 Pestka Art & Poetry Contest
The Pestka Family, in memory of their father and grandfather, Henry Pestka, a Holocaust survivor, is proud to begin a new tradition in West Michigan – to bring Holocaust awareness and education to West Michigan students in grades 6-12 through an art and poetry contest. This contest is designed for students who have completed the Michigan state requirement on Holocaust education and enables them the opportunity to process and reflect on the concepts they learned through writing or art. Contest closes on March 9th.
Claims Conference Partnership: #ItStartedWithWords
The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), a nonprofit organization with offices in New York, Israel and Germany, secures material compensation for Holocaust survivors around the world.
They have partnered with the Henry Pestka Art & Poetry contest to promote their Holocaust education campaign in which Holocaust survivors from around the world reflect on the moments leading up to the Holocaust using the phrase: “It Started With Words”.
The Stories of Holocaust Survivors
Explore the collection of Interactive Maps, Interviews & Photos.
L'dor V'dor: An Eternal Tree
Henry Pestka survived the horrors of Auschwitz. Pestka and the millions of Jews murdered during the Holocaust are now remembered with the dedication of the sculpture, Ways to Say Goodbye. There we talk with the sculptor and family unveiling West Michigan’s first public Holocaust memorial. L’dor V’dor explores art as education and its generational commitment to exposing atrocities against humanity.
“As time goes on and memories of the Holocaust fade, it is important to remember the barbarity human beings are capable of"
- Steve Pestka, Son of Holocaust Survivor, Henry Pestka (ז״ל)
Picture to the right, Henry Pestka in prison uniform
Picture 1-5: Ways to Say by artist Ariel Schlesinger
Picture 6: Front, Ariel Schlesinger, Back, Linda Pestka (Daugther of Henry Pestka)
Ways to Say Goodbye
The Jewish Federation of Grand Rapids received a generous gift from the Pestka Family in memory of their father, Henry, and the millions of Jews who perished in the Holocaust, for Grand Rapids’s first Holocaust Memorial, located at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.
This sculpture is dedicated to the memory of Holocaust survivor Henry Pestka (1919-2013) and the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and honors the brave Holocaust survivors who settled and thrived in West Michigan.
- David Hooker, Former President & CEO Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
ADL Education
ADL Education is a leading provider of anti-bias programs, trainings and resources for K-12 schools and college campuses. Our goal is to empower students and educators to challenge bias in themselves, others and society as well as promote allyship, inclusion and equity. We also have programs and resources to help students stand up to antisemitism as well as explore and critically reflect on the lessons of the Holocaust.
"What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.”
- Elie Wiesel, Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Eli Wiesel, 1928-2016
About the Project
The West Michigan Holocaust Memorial, a website of the Jewish Federation of Grand Rapids, seeks to build a collection of stories on the survivors of the Holocaust that settled in West Michigan, and ensure its accessibility through preservation and digitization. The collection of stories serves as an educational teaching tool for the new Holocaust sculpture, Ways to Say Goodbye by artist Ariel Schlesinger, at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. It is our hope that the website will grow and become a resource for educators and our community on Holocaust education and programs. In addition, the website serves as proof of the Holocaust, countering those who deny or manipulate history.
Mort, Raleigh & Edward (ז״ל) Finkelstein