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Lifetime Achievement Award for New York City College of Technology Foundation Vice Chair Lorraine Beitler
Professor Emerita Lorraine Beitler, EdD, accepting the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award from ICOR Chairman Jerry Jacobs at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on October 18.
Architect and World Trade Center master planner Daniel Libeskind accepting the 2003 Visionary Award from ICOR Chairman Jerry Jacobs at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on October 18.
Professor Emerita Lorraine Beitler, EdD, who currently serves as vice chair of the New York City College of Technology Foundation, was presented with the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award by the prestigious Interfaith Committee of Remembrance (ICOR) at its 13th Annual Concert of Remembrance at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on October 18. Also honored with the International Visionary Award for 2003 was internationally acclaimed architect Daniel Libeskind, whose master plan for a new World Trade Center is shaping the redevelopment of Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan.
The awards were presented by Jerry Jacobs, chairman of ICOR, an organization that works tirelessly to make certain that the world never forgets the Holocaust, one of history's most horrendous crimes against humanity. Jacobs has also served as vice president of the Brooklyn Philharmonic for nearly 30 years.
Beitler, who was nominated for ICOR's Lifetime Achievement Award by James Goldman, PhD, retired former acting dean of City Tech's Division of Continuing Education and vice president of the Jewish Historical Society of New York, has been active throughout her life in defending democratic ideals, particularly in education and human rights. In addition to her service on the board of directors of the City Tech Foundation, she is an honorary curator at the University of Pennsylvania, has served on the Executive Committee for the National Workshop on Christian-Jewish Relations, and is a Lifetime Member of the NAACP. Her sponsorships include educational programs for the Association of College Unions International, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the United States Military Academy at West Point. Beitler is also president and director of the Beitler Family Foundation.
"Each generation has a responsibility to transmit history's truths in order to maintain and add to the moral foundations of society and government," says Beitler, "and to inspire an understanding of the ethical issues that face every one of us."
Beitler's renowned collection on the "Dreyfus Affair," which consists of original artifacts from the period, has been exhibited across three continents. It tells the story of Jewish French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who, in 1894, was accused of selling military secrets to Germany. Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a rigged court martial behind closed doors and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island off the coast of South America. The French media fostered a frenzy of anti-Semitism in the wake of what became known worldwide as "The Dreyfus Affair." Twelve years later, the great French writer and journalist Emil Zola published his now famous letter, J'Accuse, which led to a public retrial and the eventual exoneration of Dreyfus.
This fall the Beitler collection will tour Central Europe with a presentation at the Cultural Center in Auschwitz, Poland. The Dreyfus exhibit reflects Beitler's personal philosophy to promote tolerance and an awareness of the responsibilities of the individual in a democracy. Beitler has been widely acknowledged as a leader in the development of programs that create understanding and respect among diverse groups worldwide.
Also honored by ICOR on October 18 was renowned architect Daniel Libeskind. The son of Holocaust survivors, he was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1946. His family later relocated to Israel, where the precocious 11-year-old won an America-Israel Cultural Foundation Music Scholarship. Libeskind then moved to New York City, where he spent his teen years attending the Bronx High School of Science.
In New York, he left the field of music to study architecture at Cooper Union and later pursued postgraduate work at Essex University in England. After many years of teaching, he won the 1989 competition to design The Jewish Museum in Berlin, where he established his first architectural office. The museum took more than 10 years to complete, but opened in 2001 to international acclaim by both leading architectural critics and the general public. This achievement was followed by designs for the Felix Nussbaum Haus in Osnabruck, Germany, the Imperial War Museum in Manchester England, and the spiral extension at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. More recently, his master plan was selected from those submitted by top architects worldwide for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. Libeskind's ideas have had an enormous influence on a new generation of architects and others interested in the future development of cities and culture.
Established 16 years ago, ICOR is the only
organization in New York City that produces an annual concert and
other cultural events to memorialize the millions of lives lost
in the Holocaust. While there have been those who in recent years
have urged moving on and trying to forget, ICOR believes that 9/11
changed all that. The destruction of the World Trade Center and
attack on the Pentagon, together with the loss of some 3,000 lives
more than two years ago are a vivid reminder that hate, intolerance
and evil remain powerful forces in the world. ICOR believes that
neither the Holocaust nor the events of 9/11 must ever be allowed
to become mere footnotes in history books.
Photos courtesy of ICOR
