CAFÉ EUROPA
Café Europa has always been central to what the Holocaust Museum & Center for Tolerance and Education stands for in Rockland – building community and treasuring the victims of the Holocaust and memorializing their stories. For over ten years Café Europa of Rockland has invited local Holocaust survivors each month to share a meal and to build connections to each other and the larger community. It gives Holocaust survivors a place to go where they can feel comfortable, appreciated and connected. Our in-person events have included guest lecturers, live music, art projects and holiday celebrations, all accompanied by a warm meal and the enthusiasm and compassion of our program coordinators and volunteers. Local holocaust survivors are joined by World War II liberators and guests who come in service and friendship. Guests are invited in advance, so that they have something to look forward to on their calendars – an occasion to get dressed up, leave their homes and socialize with people who understand their triumphs and traumas.
Café Europa is a program of the Holocaust Museum in partnership with Rockland Jewish Family Service. Café Europa is supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany.
Upcoming Café Europa Events
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11.9.22, 5:30PM
Join us for dinner before we come together as a community to commemorate Kristallnacht and honor you, our local Holocaust surivors.
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12.14.22, 11AM
Café Europa Hanukkah Celebration.
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1.18.22, 11AM
Details to Follow
June 2022
It was a joyous afternoon outside of the Museum on the campus of Rockland Community College as we welcomed fifteen local Holocaust Survivors for our Café Europa program. It felt wonderful to be back together again as we hosted our first in-person gathering in over a year at the Museum, enjoying a delicious hot lunch, getting to know each other, sharing difficult stories and then ultimately laughter as we enjoyed the beautiful weather. Rabbi Dov Oliver and a group of RCC Hillel students came to mingle with the survivors and talk about their upcoming trip to Poland. After sharing their stories with the students, the Survivors ended the afternoon laughing and even exchanging contact information with the students so they can keep in touch beyond today.
September 2022
Our Holocaust Survivors were excited to meet the senior class Holocaust studies students from the Torah Academy of Bergen County at the JCC Rockland for our September Café Europa event. More than twenty Survivors happily clapped and sang along as the students performed highlights of Fiddler on the Roof. After the performance, each Survivor introduced themself to the group and shared where they were from and how and when they came to the United States. The students then joined the Survivors for lunch, where they learned in more detail about their heroic stories of survival. The students had such an impactful experience learning from the Survivors that they plan to come back to volunteer at future Café Europa events.
December 2022
Café Europa hosted a festive Hanukkah party in December. The Holocaust Survivors enjoyed lunch, latkes and sufganiyot and then sang along with the live holiday music performance. Bar Mitzvah boy Tyler Lipke put a smile on the Survivors’ faces when he talked about his bar mitzvah project raising money for Café Europa in honor of his very special Savta. Tyler then presented each Survivor with a specially packaged holiday gift, that included a fuzzy blanket to keep them warm during these cold months.
Recent Café Europa Programs
