Holocaust Center for Humanity

06/21/2026

We’d like to wish fathers, grandfathers, and father figures a Happy Father’s Day! Today we are highlighting the remarkable story of Fred Roer, father of Carl Roer.
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In October 1941, Fred and his family were deported to the Lodz Ghetto in Poland. He was separated from his mother and brother and sent to a forced labor camp in Poznań. Fred dug irrigation ditches before being deported to Auschwitz, where he was forced to march from Gross-Rosen and then to Regensburg. He was finally liberated by the U.S. Army near Mauthausen at the German-Austrian border.
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Fred immigrated to the US in 1949. In Seattle, he married Sara Israel and had three children, Carl, Greg, and Elizabeth. For many years, Fred shared his story as a member of the Holocaust Center’s Speakers Bureau. He passed away in 2010. His son Carl continues to share his father’s story and honor his legacy as a Speakers Bureau member.
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The Holocaust Center for Humanity is grateful to Fred Roer and all fathers who have shown incredible resilience in creating a better life for themselves and their children.

06/19/2026

Today, we commemorate Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery. Juneteenth honors not just the emancipation, but the resilience and achievements of Black Americans.

The Northwest African American Museum is hosting a Juneteenth celebration focused on the Sound of Connection, highlighting local artists, community conversations, and more. Click here to learn more about this incredible event: https://www.naamnw.org/juneteenth-2026

06/17/2026

Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈 We're excited to invite you to march with us in the Seattle Pride Parade on Sunday, June 28. This year, we're adding a truck to our group offering another way for you to participate and celebrate with us.

If you’re interested in walking with us, we’d love for you to join. 🧡💚 Please reach out to [email protected] for more information. We can't wait to celebrate Pride together!

06/09/2026

Please join us next Tuesday for our June Lunch & Learn, Never Again is Now: Learning from LGBTQ+ History to Fight for the Future.

This webinar will explore LGBTQ+ history to establish context for understanding challenges in the present. We’ll identify the top 10 key lessons for understanding the N**i persecution of LGBTQ+ people and its relevance for today. Attendees will also be equipped with action items that will help them confront homophobia and transphobia in their own communities.

Dr. Jake Newsome is an award-winning scholar of German and American LGBTQ+ history and the Founder and President of the Pink Triangle Legacies Project which honors the N**is’ LGBTQ+ victims and fights q***r and transphobia through education and advocacy.

Click here to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_L-r_I7YlQCybpbYEj9gL5w #/registration

Thank you to our partners:
Alabama Holocaust Education Center
Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center
Wassmuth Center for Human Rights

06/08/2026

The Holocaust Center for Humanity is excited to announce that we were nominated again as the “Best Museum” in the The Seattle Times Best in the PNW contest! 🎊 We were honored to win gold in 2025, and we’re asking for your help to secure the recognition in 2026 👇

Voting is simple 🗳️ Go to www.votethepnw.com, select “THINGS TO DO,” then “MUSEUM,” and you’ll find us there. Don’t forget to click “REVIEW AND CAST MY BALLOT” and submit. You can vote every day until June 26th!

Thank you for aiding our mission to teach the history of the Holocaust and inspire action. We look forward to seeing you at the Holocaust Center soon!

Vote once per day from June 8 through June 26.

06/03/2026

This week, we’re introducing you to our newest team member, Megan Moore! 👋 In her role as Operations Manager at the Holocaust Center for Humanity, she expertly manages multiple systems and processes across HR, IT, facilities, and administrative operations. Although she grew up in the Midwest, Megan feels incredibly lucky to now call the Pacific Northwest home.

Megan’s favorite artifact in our museum is the Tallit Bag, donated by Marian Zelman. As systematic deportations began, individuals hid important items in these bags in the hope they could retrieve them after the war. To Megan, this artifact highlights the resilience of humanity. Even in their darkest moments, people chose hope for the future.

Drop Megan a comment below! 👇

05/28/2026

Staff superlatives! 🌟 Swipe to see how each of our team members distinguish themselves.

*Ilana: MVP = Most Valuable Professional (aka “Most Vanishing Professional” - especially as she quietly sneaks out of a room)

05/22/2026

Thank you to everyone who attended Inheritors of Memory last Sunday! 🤩

As one of our newest Legacy Speakers, Jack Goldberg shared the remarkable story of his grandparents, Sam and Esther. Sam was conscripted into the Soviet Army and later imprisoned in a German POW Camp. He escaped, but was eventually deported to the N**i death camp Treblinka. When Sam escaped from Treblinka and found safety in a nearby forest, he met Esther, who had already established a hiding place there after fleeing Stozeck, Poland. Esther and Sam survived in hiding with the help of the non-Jewish Stys families.

This was the last Inheritors of Memory of the series, but don’t miss our exciting new exhibits coming up: https://www.holocaustcenterseattle.org/visit/plan-your-visit

05/13/2026

This week, we’re introducing you to Liisa Spink! 👋 Liisa is the Sr. Institutional Giving Manager at the Holocaust Center for Humanity. She leads our grants, foundation, and corporate giving efforts—crafting compelling proposals, building impactful reports, wrangling more spreadsheets than she can count, and, with the rest of the Development Team, helps secure the funding that makes the Center’s vital work possible.

Liisa’s favorite artifact is the pipe that belonged to the grandfather of local survivor Steve Adler. This artifact was featured in Paul Regelbrugge and Julia Thompson’s book, More Than Any Child Should Know: A Kindertransport Story of the Holocaust. Liisa saw a student who had read this book come into the Holocaust Center. When they saw the pipe, they connected deeply with it and began to talk about the story and how it made them feel. Liisa says small objects can carry so many memories for people coming in, and it is an honor to witness how our artifacts impact those individuals.

Drop Liisa a comment below! 👇