The Young Israel of Teaneck announced that Wednesday night, November 9, at 8 p.m., Holocaust historian and Nazi hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff will speak in the main sanctuary at the Young Israel of Teaneck as part of the Dr. Bertram J. z”l and Ann Newman Adult Education Program commemorating Kristallnacht. Dr. Zuroff’s topic will be “My Life as a Nazi-Hunter: Successes, Failures and Insights.”
For the past 36 years, Dr. Zuroff has been actively involved in the worldwide efforts to bring Nazi war criminals to trial, initially as a researcher in Israel for the office of special investigations of the U.S. Justice Department, and since 1986 as the chief Nazi-hunter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. He is also concurrently the director of the Center’s Israel office and Eastern European affairs.
A noted Holocaust historian, Dr. Zuroff is the author of four books, among them “Operation Last Chance: One Man’s Quest to Bring Nazi Criminals to Justice” (2009) and “The Response of Orthodox Jewry in the United States to the Holocaust: The Activities of the Vaad Ha-Hatzala Rescue Committee 1939-1945” (2000). His most recent book, “M siškiai: Kelion Su Priešu” (2016) [Our People: Journey With an Enemy], which chronicles Lithuanian complicity in Holocaust crimes and the efforts of all Lithuanian governments since independence to hide the important role played by local Nazi collaborators in the Shoah, has inspired a very intense and highly significant public debate in Lithuania on this issue.
Dr. Zuroff is a graduate of Yeshiva College (1970) and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
“We’re honored to host Dr. Zuroff,” said Rabbi Binyamin Krohn, rabbi of the Young Israel of Teaneck. “His tireless efforts to bring Nazis to justice are an inspiration, and to be able to listen to him as we commemorate the 78th anniversary of Kristallnacht is indeed something I know our members and guests will come away from both inspired and moved.”
The Young Israel of Teaneck is located at 868 Perry Lane in Teaneck. The event is free and open to the entire community. For more information, email [email protected].
By Sara Kosowsky Gross
