Commending Judith Meisel, a Civil Rights Activist and Educator, For Her Efforts to Teach Tolerance and Combat Racism Through Her Experience As a Holocaust Survivor.

WHEREAS, Judith Meisel was born Judith Beker and lived in Jasvene, a shtetl in Lithuania with nearly 150 of her relatives; and

WHEREAS, After the death of her father, the family moved to the city of Kovno where Judy could find work; and

WHEREAS, In 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Lithuania and Judy went to a Russian school and her family had to practice their Jewish faith in secret; and

WHEREAS, The following year, the Nazis invaded Lithuania, and Judy and her family were forced into the Kovno Ghetto where Judy worked in a factory making boots for the German army; and

WHEREAS, In June of 1944, Judy and her family were sent to the Stutthof Concentration Camp in Poland where she was separated from her brother, and she witnessed the loss of her mother who was sent to a gas chamber; and

WHEREAS, Judy and her sister Rachel escaped during an allied air raid while on a death march out of Stutthof in the dead of the winter; and

WHEREAS, Eventually, Judy and her sister made their way to Denmark, fleeing by boat with other Germans escaping the advancing allies; and

WHEREAS, In 1963, while in her Philadelphia home, Judy Meisel was watching the evening news and witnessed a story about an African-American family who had moved into all-white suburb; and

WHEREAS, The images on the television screen depicting an angry mob of rioters shouting racial slurs and throwing rocks at the family's home shocked Judy and brought back her own childhood memories of being terrorized and threatened simply because of her faith; and

WHEREAS, At that moment, Judy became involved with the Civil Rights Movement and began telling her story of the Holocaust as an example of what racism can lead to when it goes unchecked; and

WHEREAS, Judy Meisel, an activist and educator, has drawn on her experiences to exact modern social change; and

WHEREAS, Judy Meisel is being honored at the Germantown Jewish Centre for her work and achievements; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby welcome Judith Meisel back to Philadelphia and commend her for efforts to teach tolerance and combat racism through her experience as a Holocaust survivor.

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