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As the Holocaust recedes further into historical memory with each passing year, the need to enshrine its lessons and impart them to future generations only grows more urgent.
3GNY is a non-profit organization founded in 2005 by a group of grandchildren of Holocaust survivors with this vital aim in mind.
This week, 3GNY Executive Director Dave Reckess spoke with CAM Editor-in-Chief Barney Breen-Portnoy about the organization’s work, which has become even more relevant amid the global surge of antisemitism triggered by the October 7th massacre in Israel.
When and why was 3GNY established?
“We’ve been around since 2005. We were started by grandchildren of survivors who were looking for a way to connect and to do something with this legacy and inheritance that we were burdened with, we didn’t ask for, but were trying to make sense of and turn into something productive in our lives.”
“Some of those folks went to meetups of children of survivors, called 2Gs, or second-generation descendants, and found it to be a really powerful space to be in, to connect with others with that shared upbringing and history. Yet at the same time, they felt that the experience of the 2G generation was often a little bit different than the 3G generation. So they created a group, 3GNY, to specifically bring grandchildren of survivors together, understanding that the experience of grandchildren of survivors was often different than our parents. Sometimes our grandparents by the time we came around were more willing to talk about their experiences, and the relationship between a grandchild and a grandparent is a little bit different than being raised by the survivors themselves.”
What is 3GNY’s mission?
“Our mission is to educate diverse audiences about the dangers of intolerance and to create a supportive forum for descendants of Holocaust survivors.”
“For most of our history, we’ve been focused on bringing 3Gs together to create community, find support, and help us process what it means to carry this legacy. Also, since 2010 we’ve built an educational mission about using our family stories to teach others the history and the danger of what can happen when antisemitism and hatred goes unchecked, and to inspire future generations to remember the Holocaust and to understand the relevance of its lessons for us today.”
Can you speak to the programming offered by 3GNY?
“There are two main branches of programming. First, there is our educational programming, which is really core to our mission. Our WEDU program engages 3Gs to learn how compellingly share their family’s story, and then we coordinate opportunities for volunteers to go into schools and community settings and tell the stories to middle school, high school, and community audiences. This is really the bread and butter of education work, because as the last living link to the stories, we know it is our responsibility to transmit them to the next generation.”
“By doing so, we can help students focus in on the individual, bring the history to life for them, and create an empathetic connection that lets them see that the Holocaust was not just some distant historical event, but is something that has resonance and relevance in our lives today, and is still impacting our communities now.”
“The other branch of our programming is community programming for 3Gs and our supporters. This takes the shape of lectures, webinars, film screenings, Broadway show outings, discussion groups, things like that, that are aimed to give us opportunities to continue our learning as well as to forge meaningful connections with other people with a similar shared background, and create support both to help us process that part of our identity and also provide strength and support for us as we advocate for Holocaust education and speak out against antisemitism and hatred.”
Has October 7th and its aftermath impacted 3GNY’s work?
“Yeah, it has. On one level, I think there is unfortunately a greater need for our education work. As we witness the frightening rise of antisemitism in our own communities, and in our schools, and in our neighborhoods, we as the 3Gs see the need for more and better Holocaust education and connecting people with real personal testimony.”
“We also have gotten more requests from schools that are either responding to incidents in their communities or trying to be proactive and help provide educational opportunities for their students to think about the consequences of antisemitic hate speech and symbols. It has been encouraging to engage with schools that are looking for solutions and ways to support their students having those tough conversations.”
“At the same time, the past few months have sparked a lot of interest in the 3G community in being more vocal and more active in our communities. We have seen a spike in volunteer engagement and people who are reaching out to their school boards and community centers and trying to be a voice for education and for letting people know about the Jewish community in the area and the impact of antisemitism that they are seeing and feeling locally.”
“In addition to the regular school outreach that we have been doing, and it’s been growing this spring, we are soon going to be launching a few additional initiatives to even further engage 3Gs and the greater community in using our family testimony as a launch point for rich discussions about antisemitism today, and our collective and individual roles in addressing it.”
To learn more about 3GNY, please visit: 3gny.org
