house arrest with the help of the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). Then there was the family’s escape to Latvia that was managed by Poupko’s mother. She planned the escape with the help of the rowboat on the Dvina river that is in the middle of the night. The JDC also secured their passports and the family made their way eventually to Poland. After that in 1931, they came to the United States. Poupko was ordained at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at the Yeshiva University in 1941. He studied history at Columbia University and also obtained his doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh in 1952. He arrived in Pittsburgh in the year 1942 visiting the Rabbi at the Shaare Torah which was then in the hill district that was followed by the death of the rabbi at the age of 45 years. Poupko has described Sivitz in the historical recordings as the “revered and venerated throughout the Jewish world” and also by adding that it was a challenge to replace him. In his own words “ To me, it was a frightening thing to step in the boots of such a personality. … Here, I could fashion something not the way it was handed to me, but how I would like to see it.” According to him, the new generation is going to have new challenges and needs. Well, Poupko took on the challenge and made his mark in Pittsburgh. According to Edie who is the director of the holocaust center of the United Jewish Federation, Poupko visited the UJF leadership in late 1970 in order to create a living memorial for the holocaust victims. The holocaust center was established in the year 1981 which predated the holocaust museum system by almost 13 years. Well, for most f the years Poupko remained active with the holocaust center commission and various subcommittees. Well, Poupko never forgot the jews in the soviet union who faced discrimination and who frequently provided at times of starvation with care packages from the JDC. Well, Poupko also pioneered and sent the letters to the rabbinate throughout the United States in order to enlist their support. Well, making the campaign public, which he described in the recording, is going to be the key in order to produce mass results. He described “Everything which is done in the free world to arouse public opinion is of help.