About-face: Holocaust survivor set to address NYC middle school over principal's objections
Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos apologized to Sami Steigmann, 85, and reversed a rejection of the pro-Israel speaker .
In a stunning reversal, the city Department of Education has now invited a Holocaust survivor to speak at a Brooklyn middle school over the principal’s objections that his views on Israel and Palestine are “not right for our public school.”
Sami Steigmann, 85, is set to address 8th-graders at MS 447, The Exploratory School, on Feb. 5, he confirmed.
Brooklyn superintendent Rafael Alvarez called Steigmann last week to offer the invitation.
“It went extremely well; he was very friendly,” said Steigmann, who happily accepted.
Earlier, Steigmann received personal apologies from Alvarez and Department of Education Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos after MS 447 principal Arin Rusch refused a parent’s request that he speak at the school, citing “his messages around Israel and Palestine.”
Rusch has not yet called Steigmann, he said.
The principal still opposes Steigmann’s visit, said a source with knowledge of the situation.
Alvarez imposed no restrictions on his visit, Steigmann said.
He will tell kids he served in the Israeli air force because “that is part of my identity.”
Steigmann will also “make a connection between the Holocaust and the State of Israel. During the Nazi time, Jews died because they did not have a country. It’s important for us to have a country.”
Now living in New York, Steigmann says he and his parents suffered near-starvation in a Ukraine labor camp from 1941 to 1944. At ages 2 to 5, he was subjected to Nazi medical experiments which he cannot recall but says have caused lifelong physical pain. He later received several thousand dollars from a German compensation program, documents show.
Steigmann and his parents finally escaped to Israel. He counts 35 relatives murdered by the Nazis.
The octogenarian urges students to stand up against injustice, saying the Holocaust happened due to worldwide inaction: “People did not react in time, and it kept escalating.”
A prominent Jewish community leader who asked to remain anonymous was “stunned” at Principal Rusch’s outright rejection of Steigmann, saying the incident was handled “really, really poorly.”
“There are fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors alive by the day. Sami Steigmann is a living memorial to what took place.”
Steigmann is grateful for the support of City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov and Moshe Spern, president of United Jewish Teachers, for helping publicize the principal’s snub and triggering the DOE’s about-face.
“I became the face of the Holocaust,” Steigmann said. “So this is a victory for the survivors and the Jewish people.”