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Russian Research and Educational Holocaust Center was registered in June 1992. The Interregional Holocaust Foundation was established in Moscow in 1997. It is the first organizations in the post-Soviet era aimed at preserving the memory of Holocaust victims, creating museums and documentary exhibitions, including the subject in the curricula of schools and institutions of higher education, organizing commemorative events, erecting monuments, and gathering of evidence and memoirs. The first President of the Center was Mikhail Gefter (1918-1995), Russia's outstanding historian and philosopher. The Center and the Foundation brings together more than 200 Russian professional scientists, journalists, public figures and teachers as well as former ghetto prisoners and veterans of WW2. There are branches or regional representatives of the Center in St. Petersburg, Blagoveschensk, Kaliningrad, Krasnodar, Nizny Novgorod, Voronezh, Vladimir, Rostov, Smolensk, Taganrog and Brest (Belarus).
Alla Gerber in the presentation of annual award "The men of the year"
The International Forum "The Holocaust: 70 Years Later" was held in Moscow on the 22-26 of June. It was conducted by the Russian Holocaust Center, the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH) and the Institute of Contemporary History (Germany), supported by the Russian Jewish Congress. Researchers and teachers from 20 Russian regions and 12 countries attended. The international conference "Holocaust Lessons and Contemporary Russia" was organized within the Forum, the panels were held in the Russian State University for the Humanities.
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31 / Family Reunion
Today at Yad Vashem two cousins who have found each other thanks to Yad Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names met for the first time. It was a very emotional and unexpected meeting. The grandmothers of Tatiana Zuckerman of Moscow (66) and Shalhevet Sara Ziv of Kfar Sava (67) were sisters.
Tatiana came especially from Moscow to take part in an educator's seminar at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, coordinated in partnership with the Holocaust Foundation based in Moscow. She believed all her life that she had almost no extended family, and that apart from her mother, Rachel Perelman (Milenki) (87), a survivor of the Minsk Ghetto and Auschwitz (who now lives in New York), and a very small number of distant cousins, no family members who survived the Holocaust. During her visit, Tatiana asked for assistance in searching Yad Vashem's databases to check for information about her family and their fate during the Holocaust. To her surprise Tatiana found a Page of Testimony on the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names commemorating Tzeril Milennki, her grandmother who was killed in the Minsk ghetto. The Page of Testimony was submitted in 2011 by Shalhevet Ziv, a grandniece of Tzeril.
Yad Vashem staff helped Tatiana locate Shalhevet and through searches on Facebook- were able to connect Tatiana and Shalhevet. The two talked (with the help of a translator – since Tatiana speaks only Russian) and confirmed that they are in fact related. Shalhevet came to Yad Vashem the next morning (today) to meet Tatiana before she returns to Moscow on Tuesday. The two cousins were so thrilled to meet each other. Tatiana and Shalhevet immediately felt a strong family connection and talked for hours comparing their family narratives and history as well as their lives today. Shalhevet showed Tatiana the family pictures and documents that she had found over the years and explained how her grandmother, Sarah Milenki, Tzeril's sister, was burned alive along with other Jews of her town in the synagogue in Rakov.
This was especially meaningful and poignant for Shalhevet who has invested many years and much effort investigating the roots of her family. As a tribute to her grandmother Sara who was murdered in the Holocaust, Shalhevet has made it her mission to share her family's legacy. After meeting with Tatiana, she is now able to continue and develop her research of the family tree, making corrections and additions based on information she has learned from her newly found cousin. She is preparing to publish a book based on her research, in which she was able to trace the roots of her family as far back as 1838. Tatiana feels that she has been given the gift of a family, "I cannot wait to share this discovery with my mother, she will be deeply moved to know that others survived. All these years we believed we were the only ones."
Shalhevet said elatedly with tears in her eyes to Tatiana, "You have a big family now in Israel!"
The other educators participating in Tatiana's seminar also joined to meet Shelhevet and take a photograph together. They were very excited for Tatiana and her discovery of her new family in Israel.
The International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem serves as a world hub for Holocaust education, attracting educators from around the globe. Pedagogical materials and teacher-training activities are being constantly developed to create tailor-made programs for each visiting group, thus training an international cadre of educational leaders who continue to disseminate the School's unique teaching philosophy across a variety of cultures. In 2014, the International School engaged with over 20,000 educators. Among its scores of pedagogical activities, the School conducted more than 150 long-term seminars and 370 teacher-training days.
03 / Tenth Annual Russian Holocaust Essay Laureates Received by UNESCO
UNESCO, Paris, 3 July
This university Holocaust essay competition programme, co-organized by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre-Europe, (CSW), the Association Verbe et Lumière-Vigilance (VL-V) and the Russian Holocaust Centre (RHC), each year. invites to Paris the five student winners from across the former Soviet. Union, to present their research findings at UNESCO.
The 2014 laureates from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Orel in Russia and Vitebsk in Belarus were chosen from almost 3,000 submissions.
Attended by the Delegations of Russia, Belarus, Canada, Germany and Israel, the proceedings were opened by Genc Seiti, Director of the UNESCO Division for National Commissions and Civil Society. He commended the laureates' initiative for, not only keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust in Russia, but contributing to respect, tolerance and human rights worldwide.
10 / Training for the Pedagogues at the House of the Wannsee Conference (HWC)
May 10.
The educational seminar in Berlin for Russian and Belarusian teachers brought together 14 teachers from 11 regions of Russia (Moscow, Kaliningrad, Kostroma, Kirov, Taganrog, Tambov, Tver, Smolensk and Republics of Buryatia, Kalmykia and Mordovia) and one from Grodno (Belarus) selected by the Russian Holocaust Center.At the beginning of the seminar, the participants were introduced to the exhibition of the HWC, with an emphasis on its pedagogical aspects. Afterwards they worked with the documents from the HWC archive. This was followed by a tour to the Jewish Museum of Berlin.
On the next day the teachers worked with schoolchildren at a Berlin Secondary School. The aim was to improve the teachers' skills in group- and project-working. Regarding to the Holocaust theme, the result of the work should have been the erection of a memorial at the schoolyard, devoted to the fate of former Jewish pupils expelled from the school in the 1930s.
Back in the museum, the participants listened to the lecture of the museum's deputy director Dr. Wolf Kaiser about memorials in Berlin.An exercise testing the participants' knowledge about the Holocaust was offered by Elisabeth Griglevski and Tatiana Manykina.
On May 7, the teachers continued working in groups with documents and photographs of the museum's archive and prepared lectures about the problems connected with it.In the afternoon there was conducted a memorial ceremony at the former train station Grunewald, wherefrom Jews were deported to death camps or places of extermination at the Soviet territory.
On May 8, the pedagogues went to the museum "Topography of Terror" and the Russian-German Museum at Berlin-Karlshorst, both located at places imbued with historical importance.
Then, they visited the museum of the former concentration camp Sachsenhausen and on the Victory Day, dome of the Reichstag.
29 / St. Petersburg. Discussion Forum "Human Rights and the Holocaust in Documentary Cinema"
April 29.
The two-day discussion forum "Human Rights and the Holocaust in Documentary Cinema" was organized by the Russian Holocaust Center together with the International Institute of Banking and the St. Petersburg Academy for Post-Graduate Pedagogical Education. The Commission for Education of St. Petersburg City supported the forum.Approximately 180 pedagogues, students and pupils from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Leningrad and Murmansk area, Kaliningrad, Novgorod and Pskov attended the event.
24 / Memorial Evening for the Holocaust Victims held at the Moscow theater at Nikitski Gates.
April 24.
President of the Holocaust Foundation Alla Gerber, co-chairman of the Russian Holocaust Center Ilya Altman, and the former ghetto prisoner and active participant in the Center's activities Mr. Victor Gecht took part in the lighting of memorial candles as a part of the memorial evening. It was held at the initiative of the Embassy of the State of Israel in Russia and conducted on April 24 at the theater at the Nikitsky gates in Moscow.
At the event there were also lighted memorial candles: the Israeli Ambassador to Russia Mrs. Dorit Golender, the Chef Rabbi of Russia Berl Lasar, the Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinkhas Goldschmidt, the President of the Russian-Jewish Congress Yury Kanner and the evening moderator, the theater's producer, Mark Rosovsky. The evening came to an end with the premier of a theater performance of the Israeli project "Orto-Da" – "STONES". See the broadcast of the First Channel of the Russian TV at:
22 / Evening devoted to the victims of the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust victims
April 22.
Every April Jews and Armenians all over the world carry out memorial evenings devoted to Holocaust victims and the heroes of the resistance. This takes place on April 19, the day of the Warsaw uprising in 1943 and on April 24, the day that marks the Armenian genocide in 1915.
In Moscow the event was carried out on April 22 at the N.A. Nekrasov library. It was the first time that it was organized by the Russian Holocaust Center, the Armenian Culturul and Educational Society "Ararat" and the Moscow-based "Russian-Armenian Commonwealth". The evening was supported by Moscow government
Attempts of a "Final solution" of the Armenian question in Ottoman Turkey and the liquidation of the European Jewry by Nazi Germany led to the murder of more than 1.5 million Armenians and 6 Million Jews.Public and political figures attended the event; in the artistic section there were classical musical works of composers from different countries.
Part of the event included the opening of the personal exhibition of the young artist from Gjumri (Armenia) Vachagan Pogosjan. It was devoted to the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust.
See: http://www.nor-hayer.ru/gallery/?album=204
14 / Notions of the Russian Holocaust Center proposed to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs
April 14.
The co-chairman of the Russian Holocaust Center Ilya Altman attended a meeting with the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, with representatives of internationally-oriented Russian NGOs. Mr. Lavrov stated that "the connivance of neo-Nazi development – in the Ukraine or in other states – bears obvious danger for the European stability. In this connection we are paying special attention to the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War and all dates preceding it. (…)"
Ilya Altman made some concrete proposals, which gained encouraging comments from the Minister: to give a state award to the organizer of the Sobibor uprising (1943) A. Pechersky (posthumously); to introduce a National Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Holocaust and liberating Soldiers in Russia; to draw the attention of the international audience to the 10 years anniversary of the tragedy at Beslan.
13 / Russian Holocaust Center: gratitude to Russian Protestants
April 13.
The co-chairman of the Russian Holocaust Center thanked the Russian Protestants for their active participation in erecting memorials commemorating Holocaust victims as a part of the project "Returning dignity".
06 / Professor Yehuda Bauer spoke about the variety of the Holocaust in Yad Vashem
06th April 2014
Today the famous Israeli Professor Yehuda Bauer spoke about genocides and the Holocaust as a part of the workshop of Russian teachers in Yad Vashem. After his lecture the participants asked questions. Dr. Ilya Altman, Co-Director of the Russian Holocaust Center, presented to Professor Bauer the current Issue of the bulletin "Holocaust". Afterwards the teachers presented educational methods to teach the Holocaust in schoolMore news
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Sokhrani Moi Pis'ma…: Sbornik pisem evreev perioda Velikoi Otechestvennoi Voiny [Save my Letters: Collection of Jewish letters from the period of the Great Patriotic War]. Vypusk 3. Comp: Il'ia Altman
This volume is the third installment of a collection of letters penned by Soviet Jews during the Great Patriotic War which has been compiled and published by Russian Holocaust Center. The volume brings to light about 250 written documents and rare photographs that reveal a great deal about Soviet Jewish life during the war years. Most of them were received by the Russian Holocaust Center in the recent three years and resulted from the exposure of the audience in Russia, post-Soviet states, Israel, and other countries to second volume of letters published by the Center in 2010. The bulk of the collection consists of letters sent by Soviet Jewish soldiers at the front to their families in the rear. Their stories give the reader a glimpse of everyday life at the frontlines. The soldiers and officers, among whom well-known public figures and rank-and-file military men offer incredible accounts of their experiences in battle and reflect upon their thoughts during those critical moments when their lives seemed to hang by a thread. Of special interest are the letters shedding light on the life of evacuated Jews, as well as providing new details on the Holocaust in the occupied territories. One of the most fascinating aspects of the correspondence are soldiers' accounts of the Red Army's liberation of the occupied Soviet territories, especially where they were less enthusiastically welcomed (Baltic states, West Belorussia) and Germany.
The publication of the volume was made possible thanks to the support of the Russian Jewish Congress and Claims Conference.Elena Ivanova. Calling Fire upon Myself: Situation of the Jews under the "New Order" of Hitler's Occupiers, 1941–1943.
Elena Ivanova. Calling Fire upon Myself: Situation of the Jews under the
"New Order" of Hitler's Occupiers, 1941–1943. I.A. Altman, L.A.Terushkin, E.V. Testova (compilers). I.A .Altman (ed.). Moscow: Russian Holocaust Center; Rostov on Don: Feniks, 2012. 160 pp. In Russian.
This book has a unique history and a unique author. Elena Alexeevna Ivanova was a great nephew of Fedor Dostoevski. She authored many books on Soviet partisans and underground workers during the Great Patriotic war, and a village teacher. She amassed a huge documentary collection, which served as a basis of the first Soviet TV series on the war "Calling fire upon ourselves". The last doing in her life, which took her more than ten years, was a collection of evidence on Holocaust and Jewish resistance. Her efforts led to the opening of a memorial dedicated to the Jews murdered in Roslavl in Smolensk district.
In the late 1960 s–1970 s this topic was actually tabooed in the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, Elena Ivanova prepared for publication her manuscript. It is based on the author's field diary in which she recorded information collected through oral history methods, i. e. by questioning her country fellowmen and other respondents. Certainly there was no chance that her book would be published in her life time.
The audience for this publication based on the manuscripts from the author's
more on the history of the Holocaust and
the Second World War.
Publication of this new series is supported by the Russian Jewish Congress.
We cannot remain silent: Students and university students on Holocaust. D.I. Poltorak and I.A. Altman (eds.). Eighth edition. Moscow: Center and Foundation Holocaust, MIK, 2011. 144 pp.
We cannot remain silent: Students and university students on Holocaust. D.I. Poltorak and I.A. Altman (eds.). Eighth edition. Moscow: Center and Foundation Holocaust, MIK, 2011. 144 pp.
The reader contains contributions of the winners of the Ninth International contest of works on Holocaust consisting of research papers, essays and drawings. They were created by students from schools and universities representing 6 regions of Russia, as well as students from Ukraine and Belarus. It includes results of interviews of Holocaust victims and eyewitnesses, research in archives, thorough study of literature and independent philosophical and literary approaches. The reader addresses researchers dealing with WWII, teachers, and students from schools and universities.The project was supported by grants of the President of the Russian Federation and the Claims Conference.
Frieda Michelson. I survived Rumbula. Moscow 2011.
Frieda Michelson. I survived Rumbula. Moscow 2011.
The book is an account of the annihilation of the Jews of Riga during WWII in what is one of the Nazi's and their collaborators' most brutal crimes on the occupied Soviet territories. The mass murder near the Rumbula forest is with out a doubt on the same level as other places of human tragedy such as Babi Yar, Paneriai and the Kaunas Ghetto.
«I survived Rumbula» is based on the personal memories of one the only two survivors who miraculously survived the shooting of the Jews of Riga. In two large-scale operations in late 1941 nearly all 30 000 inhabitants of the Riga Ghetto were murdered. The chances of a successful escape were almost zero. But Frieda Michelson did survive and so did the memory of the atrocities. To forget these events is impossible, even if one tries to. In the sixties she wrote down her memories in her mother tongue Jiddish. These served as literary inspiration for David Silberman's book in Russian language that was recently released in fourth edition. Due to the comparatively small number of copies, the book is mainly known within Latvia.
Silberman was born in 1941 in the town of Preili, Latvia. His family managed to leave their home before the arrival of the Wehrmacht. During his time in Riga in the 1960ies he actively fought for the rights of Jews in the USSR – a goal for which he risked severe repressive measure towards him by the Soviet government. In 2004 a memorial monument for the victims of the Holocaust was built in Pereili thanks to the financial means provided by David Silberman.
Yitzhak Arad. In the Shadow of the Red Banner: Soviet Jews in the War against Nazi Germany. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, The International Institute for Holocaust Research; Gefen, 2010. 384 pp.
The claim that Jews did not contribute sufficiently in the war effort of their host country, or to put it otherwise, stayed in the rear instead of fighting, is not new and was never limited to Russia. Suffice it to mention the accusations made against German Jewry during the First World War and its aftermath at the official level and in public opinion. In the Tsarist Empire such charges were especially pronounced during the First World War when they were made by the country's military and civil authorities.
The situation in the Soviet Union during the Second World War was different. Soviet government never accused its Jewish citizens of sitting on the fence. Yet, Soviet public opinion was permeated to no small extent by such accusations. This came partly from traditional centuries-long perception of Jews as a nation that did best to refrain from getting involved in fighting. Much more perilous, however, was the Nazi propaganda claim that attempted to inculcate in the Soviet population the idea of Jewish cowardice and of their sending non-Jews to fight for Jews.
In a way, it seems to me that Nazi propaganda succeeded, at least partly, in this respect. That Soviet Jews excelled on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, as the Soviet-German war in 1941-45 came to be known in the USSR, was known to masses of Soviet Jews by virtue of the fact that very many of them served in the army, worked in military plants, and, to a smaller extent, were involved in anti-German activities in the occupied territories. Yet, apart from a circle of those with whom Jews fought and worked to achieve the victory over Nazi Germany, this was far from being clear to many in the midst of the Soviet population.
Furthermore, the fact that many Soviet Jews, whether in the occupied territories or in those under Soviet control, struggled and were "not led to slaughter like cattle" remained for years far from being clear to Western and Israeli audience. This had to do with the main Holocaust narrative underlining suffering and martyrdom. In Israel, Jewish heroism was largely associated with the Warsaw ghetto uprising. But the main reason why this knowledge escaped the attention of Western and Israeli public was "Iron curtain". During the Cold War, the overwhelming trend in Holocaust research was to downplay the affinity of Soviet and Jewish interests in the Second World War. Only the fall of the USSR made it possible for Holocaust scholars to acknowledge high profile fighting of Jews on the Soviet side or alongside the Soviet side. And Yitzhak Arad, himself a Jewish fighter who fought on the Soviet side against the Nazis, and who rose to prominence in Israel both as a public figure and a leading Holocaust historian, is probably the ideal one to chronicle the heroic saga of Jews who struggled "under the Red banner" against Nazi Germany.Arad's account is truly panoramic, multidimensional account and encompasses, to borrow his own words, "the broad spectrum of Jewish activities during the war in their entirety: the army, the underground, the partisans, the battle waged by the prisoners of war for survival and the development and manufacture of weapons" (p. xvii).
The volume provides a solid background describing the developments in Eastern Europe from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939 to the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The author then studies meticulously the participation of Jews in fighting in the ranks of the Red Army on the fronts, in the branches (including medical corps, political administration, air forces, navy, and intelligence) throughout the entire war period. Part two covers Jewish participation in the war industries. Arad then turns to depicting the Nazi occupation of the Soviet territories and the activities of varied partisan movements operating there. This serves him as a background for the Jewish armed resistance in the occupied territories (underground in ghettos -- the subject where the book is particularly strong -- and fighting in forests) described in the next chapters.
One of the delights of this volume is the verve with which its author knowingly describes the Jewish fighting. He does not write in numbers -- although his conclusions rely heavily on statistics, Arad admits that in too many cases such data are controversial or simply unavailable – but describes in details hundreds of examples of Jewish heroism.
In the Shadow of the Red Banner corresponds to no small extent with previous books by Yitzhak Arad, in particular with his "History of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union" (two volumes in Hebrew and one volume in English). In my opinion, part of this background information, could be omitted from the present volume, without jeopardizing its integrity.
I feel a certain amount of discomfort because in such a big (in all senses) book Yitzhak Arad did not tell us explicitly how he gauges Jewish contribution to the Soviet military effort, below the average, at the average, or over the average. Nor did he provide a clue to the question that haunted me: why did the Jews fight the way they did? Was it only fighting against the Nazis because understandably, they had no choice? If so, what about the first period of the war, when the news of German mistreatment of Jews did not reach Jewish soldiers and civilians?
Despite my concerns and questions, In the Shadow of the Red Banner, offers a rich and comprehensive history of Jewish contribution to the Soviet victory. The author should be particularly praised for a wide range of sources in several languages and an updated bibliography. In short, this is a wonderful and well-written study of a critically important case that continues to have impact both for the Jewish audience and beyond its borders.D-r Kirill Feferman,
Martyrdom and Resistance 37, 3 (January-February 2011).
We can not remain silent – pupils and students about the Holocaust (7th edition)
The collection includes Russian scientific papers, essays and drawings by students from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, who won the 7th International writing and drawing competition to commemorate the Holocaust. Another section of the book contains selected speeches and presentations of the International Youth Conference on Holocaust remembrance. Many works are based on interviews with victims and witnesses, careful research in archives, as well as new historical and philosophical theses. The collection is aimed primarily at historians, teachers, students and pupils.
We can not remain silent – pupils and students about the Holocaust (7th edition), written by I.A. Altman, Prokudin DV, eds: Center Foundation and "Holocaust" in 2010, 176 p., ISBN 978-5-87902-223-0
25. November / "Preserve my letters" (Russian: "Сохрани мои письма...") – Presentation of the second edition
On the basis of more than 1000 letters, diaries and photos from the archives of the Holocaust Center in 2007, the first collection of Soviet-Jewish memories of the Second World War was published. Due to this book, the archive of the center was substantially complemented with new personal documents. They include among other things, letters and diaries of many well-known writers, poets, scholars and war heroes. The anthology includes also some other letters from other museums and archives. The documents examplify the events from the beginning to the end of the war. The book is not only intended for historians, but also to the wider readership.
"Preserve my letters… A collection of Jewish letters from the time of the Great Patriotic War (2nd edition). Eds: IA. Altman, LA Terushkin, IV Bordskaya; text and foreword by IA Altman, 2010, 328 p., ISBN 978-5-87902-222-3
Natalie Belsky
This important volume is the second installment of a collection of letters penned by Soviet Jews during the Great Patriotic War which has been compiled and published by Moscow based Russian Holocaust Center. It is an incredible testament to the Center's painstaking efforts in collecting and bringing together family archives. In fact, as the introduction indicates, many of the letters and diaries featured in the present volume have been acquired by the Center just over the 2.5 years since the publication of the first volume. The volume brings to light a vital body of sources that reveal a great deal about Soviet Jewish life during the war years.
The bulk of the collection consists of letters sent by Soviet Jewish soldiers at the front to their families in the rear. Their stories give the reader a glimpse of everyday life at the frontlines. They describe the living conditions servicemen had to contend with and the responsibilities that they shouldered. Moreover, the soldiers offer incredible accounts of their experiences in battle and reflect upon their thoughts during those critical moments when their lives seemed to hang by a thread. Surrounded by the enemy with bullets whizzing by inches above his head, Aleksandr Abramovich Anikst contemplated the landscape all about him – the trees, the ground, the sky, and the ant unhurriedly climbing the tree trunk: "I lay on the fallen autumn leaves, holding in front of me the self-loading rifle on the ready. Squeezing it in my hands and concentrating on what lay ahead, I thought: is this really the end? And I could not believe that….A tree trunk stood right in front of me, behind which I planned to hide in case of danger. A brown ant crawled along its uneven bark." (p. 85). Along with the letter writers, the reader celebrates victories and laments the setbacks of the Red Army. Though the letters are largely personal, they convey the patriotism of the soldiers, their commitment to liberating their homeland from the Nazis, and, to some extent, their dedication to the Soviet project. We hear about their disappointments about the progress of the war, expectations of future developments, and, most of all, hopes for victory and a bright future ahead.
One of the many benefits of the collection is the inclusion of accounts from men and women who served in different capacities and in different zones. The collection features accounts from artillerymen and navy men, seasoned commanders and teenage recruits, war correspondents and medics, and even the director of a jazz orchestra that entertained soldiers at the front. The diversity of the authors allows the reader to get a multi-faceted view of the events and appreciate the distinct perspectives of the participants. Deeper insight into the daily routines of Soviet Jewish soldiers at the front is provided by excerpts from several diaries. This is truly a unique source that gives the reader a sense of the daily tribulations soldiers faced and the rhythm and pace of their days and weeks on the frontlines. While soldiers certainly tried to be optimistic in their letters home in order to assure their loved ones of their well-being, diary entries can be trusted to be more candid about the grim realities of life. Diaries also allow us to examine the changing tide of the war effort and the transformations within the authors themselves. At the same time, we must pause before assuming that these materials are either objective or representative of the perspective of the 'typical' Jewish soldier. First of all, while many letters were carried to their destinations by fellow soldiers who were traveling to the rear, soldiers still had to contend with the possibility that their letters and diaries would fall into the hands of censors. Thus, they had to be careful about the kind of information they shared. Moreover, it is important to bear in mind that letter and diary writers are a self-selecting group – descriptive and well-written letters like the ones included in the collection could only have been written by soldiers who were relatively well-educated. Furthermore, the collection privileges letters from urbanites who had been living in cities in the RSFSR (particularly Moscow and Leningrad) and eastern Ukraine in 1939. The reason for this is simple – letters would only have survived if their recipients were fortunate enough to not fall under Nazi occupation. Most of the letters were written to family members who had evacuated to the East; evacuation initiatives largely targeted the cities and were most successful in the RSFSR, and eastern Ukraine and Belorussia (the western regions of the Soviet Union, where significant populations of Jews lived, were occupied so quickly that it often did not allow for effective evacuation).
Concern about loved ones and consternation over lack of information of their family's whereabouts is a main theme in the correspondence. Most soldiers regarded service at the front as both a duty and an honor, but they often felt frustrated at their inability to support their families. Far away from the frontlines, soldiers' wives, parents and children often confronted a great deal of deprivation as well. Soldiers' letters reflect their concern that, with men at the front, their families would find it difficult to make ends meet; many soldiers tried to send as much of their earnings home as possible. Of course, the separation caused not only material troubles but also emotional tribulations. Among the most memorable letters within the collection is Solomon Mendelevich's birthday greetings to his daughter whom he has never met because she was born after he left for the front: "It is possible to send birthday greetings in a letter to a friend, an acquaintance, a relative. But it is very difficult to send birthday greetings in a letter to my own one and only daughter, whom I have not even seen." (p. 235) An interesting and important component of the present collection are letters from evacuated family members to soldiers at the front which describe their harrowing journey East and their uncertain existence in unfamiliar lands. It is important to bear in mind that it was not only soldiers who were constantly on the move, but their families as well. Displacement coupled with poor postal service meant that many did not receive tidings from relatives for weeks and months at a time. In many cases, elaborate networks of contacts were devised to facilitate the flow of information. Stationed in Leningrad, lieutenant Mikhail Binevich found that most of his relatives and friends had left the city for various destinations. Eager to re-establish family ties, he writes to his wife: "in short, I decided to become the connecting link between all you refugees." (p. 89). Family correspondence both to and from the front help us gain a better understanding of the many facets of Soviet Jewish experience during the war years. One of the most fascinating aspects of the correspondence are soldiers' accounts of the Red Army's liberation of the occupied territories of Ukraine and Belarus and its offense into Poland and Germany. With a mixture of heartbreak and resentment, the liberators describe the devastation that they find in the western Soviet republics. For many, the pain is even more acute for these are the places where they had been born and raised. In November of 1943, Pavel Kopysitskii writes to his wife that his unit is liberating Ukrainian territory and that "local residents, who were under German occupation, tell us terrible things. The regions where they [the German forces] were able to entrench themselves are completely destroyed – the homes are burned down and the youth has been deported into slavery in Germany" (p.144). Once they enter Poland, the troops describe their encounters with local peoples and the amazement at the incredible (in comparison!) living conditions that they find there. For many, it is the first time in three years of war that they are able to sleep in a proper bed and enjoy delicacies. The diary of medic Abram Shevelev records his impressions of the three foreign lands that he has visited during his tour of duty– Bessarabia, Romania and Hungary. Shevelev describes the cities and towns through which his unit has passed, the attitudes of local peoples, their culture and habits (pp. 264-5). For many servicemen and women, it was difficult to even conceive of the incredible journey they had traversed during the years of the war. As Bela Zel'bet writes to her loved ones, "Did any one of us even think about finding ourselves so far away from our familiar places? In my childhood, I dreamt of entering German towns as a traveler, now I enter them as a master [khoziain]" (p. 210)
As they made their way to the West, Soviet soldiers confronted the gruesome realities of the Holocaust. In town after town, they found out that the Jewish population was gone and heard the tragic accounts of how Jews had been rounded up and either shot or sent to death camps in Poland. For Jewish soldiers, this news was particularly horrifying. Passing through Briansk, Lev Tsukerman learned of the fate of his relatives who had stayed behind under Nazi occupation. Writing to his parents (who had evacuated to Siberia), he recounts his eerie and heartbreaking experience there: "I was at the home of Chaim Eisef Shapiro on Sovetskaia st., no. 67, where grandfather and his family lived in the ghetto, I sat on the couch where grandfather had slept, and I was served breakfast at the table where our family had supped for the last time in Briansk, on November 6, 1942" (p. 261). At the same time, for many soldiers, their Jewish identity was a key motivating factor that pushed them to fight even harder to repay the Nazis for their crimes against the Jewish population. In a letter to his parents from the spring of 1943, Iakov Zaslavskii writes, "we must firmly avenge the Germans. And I especially, as I am a Jew" (p. 200).
Still, it is important to mention that discussion of the Holocaust and references to one's Jewish identity are relatively few and far between. There might have been several reasons for this, such as the lack of information about the catastrophe that had hit the Jewish population. The Soviet press was by and large unwilling to admit the Nazi targeted attack on Soviet Jewry and tended to group everyone under the heading of Soviet victims of Nazism. Secondly, the fear of censorship as well as the growth of anti-Semitism at the front may have encouraged soldiers themselves to avoid discussing their Jewish identity. Lastly, the fact that the majority of the letters come from well-educated, urban members of the intelligentsia would indicate that many of the letter writers were not observant and practicing Jews.
Undoubtedly, this volume will become an invaluable resource for both historians and non-specialists alike for it offers readers a privileged view of the everyday lives of the Soviet Jewish servicemen who sacrificed so much in order to secure a victory over Nazism. It will enable readers to appreciate the mentality of Soviet Jewish soldiers – their day-to-day concerns, preoccupations and hopes. Among the many volumes on the war that deal with epic battles and military strategy, this collection will fill an im
Indiana University Press is pleased to announce the recent publication of:
The Unknown Black Book
Edited by Joshua Rubenstein and Ilya AltmanIntroductions by Joshua Rubenstein, Ilya Altman, and Yitzhak Arad
Translated by Christopher Morris and Joshua Rubenstein
"These accounts from those who saw what happened convey what we cannot learn from official documents about the nature of this vast criminal enterprise, in which hundreds of thousands were transformed into monsters . . . and millions of others became helpless, dehumanized, mutilated, and finally forgotten victims." —Wall Street Journal
The Unknown Black Book provides a revelatory compilation of testimonies from Jews who survived open-air massacres and other atrocities carried out by the Germans and their allies in the occupied Soviet territories during World War II—Ukraine, Belorussia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Crimea. These documents are first-hand accounts by survivors of work camps, ghettos, forced marches, beatings, starvation, and disease. Collected under the direction of two renowned Soviet Jewish journalists, Ilya Ehrenburg and Vasily Grossman, they tell of Jews who lived in pits, walled-off corners of apartments, attics, and basement dugouts, unable to emerge due to fear that their neighbors would betray them, as often happened.Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
496 pp., 20 b&w illus., 2 maps
paper 978-0-253-22267-1 $24.95
For more information, visit:
http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?isbn=978-0-253-22267-1For Instructors:
If you are interested in adopting this book for course use, please see our exam copy policy:
SOVIET JEWISH STEPCHILD von Kiril Feferman
July 14, 2009. Dr. Kiril Feferman's fascinating book analyzes the Soviet Union's treatment of the Holocaust from 1941-1964 through the litmus text of the Babi Yar massacre of 1941. "In the West, while we are familiar with the concept of Holocaust denial, the Soviet concept of Holocaust suppression is quite foreign to us," explains Feferman, Yad Vashem lecturer, researcher, and overall expert on the Former Soviet Union, the Holocaust, and the Second World war. Feferman attempts to answer such questions as: Why and how did the Soviet views towards the extermination of Jews aim at avoiding Nazi accusations that that the Soviets were fighting a Jewish war ? Why the Holocaust did not fit in the simplistic, black-and-white Soviet mindset of "he who is not with us, is against us ? Finally, Why the Bolsheviks, who never had any scruples about the many millions of Soviet civilians they themselves killed, were forced to accept over time that the Holocaust had to be treated differently than other, related topics? Feferman does a masterful job of answering these questions and many more in this carefully"Antisemitism- The Generic Hatred: Essays in Memory of Simon Wiesenthal"
researched, fascinating work.
The book is now published in Russian- language. It was edited and co-edited by Shimon Samuels, Mark Weitzman and Ilya Altman and the tributes for this version are from:
-St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvieienko-Former President Mikhail Gorbachov
-Former Minister of Minorities Valeri Tishkov
-Father Vyacheslav Chaplin, Spokesman of the Patriarch of the Russian
Orthodox Church
The book was launched under the co-auspices of the Russian Holocaust Centre, Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Verbe et Lumiere-Vigilance and the UNESCO.
It was presented at various locations:
--The Central Synagogue of Moscow chaired by Jewish CommunityChairman, Leopold Kaiymovskiy
--The RIA- Novosti Press agency
-The official Moscow Holocaust Commemoration ceremony at the Central
House of Literature in Moscow
- The Herzen Pedagogical University of St. Petersburg at a seminar onthe Holocaust (UNESCO Chair in Education in the Multicultural Society
also attended). The session was chaired by Vice-Rector Sergei Shilov.
-The Interfax Press agency of St. Petersburg
-In a meeting with St Petersburg's Governor, Valentina Matveienko, at
the Smolny Palace. The Governer announced to the press, who were present
at the meeting, the purchase of 700 copies of the book for high
schools in St. Petersburg.


text:
Speakers and Performers
Kim Jordan | Eli Pariser | Majora Carter | Seth Goldman | Matthew Stinchcomb | Danae Ringelmann | Ysaye Barnwell | Robert Raben | Paul Polak | Jacqui Patterson | Sonia Lo | Jeffrey Hollender | Dan Levinson | Rha Goddess | Mike Tidwell | Elizabeth Scharpf | Liz and Ben Bohannon | Kavita M. Shukla and Swaroop Samant | Tim Jahnigen and Lisa Tarver | Michael Murphy and Alan Ricks | Cara Pike | Eben Bayer | Mal Warwick | Meika Hollender | Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev | Kristen Barker | J. Bob Alotta | Eric Leenson | Michael Peck | Ali Smith | Atman Smith | Shilpa Jain | Mark Watson | Invincible | Jessy Tolkan | Joseph Mouzon | Kevin Jones | Beth Williams | Connie Evans | Lori Hanau | Joe Steele | Erica Wheeler | Imani Uzuri | Flip Brown | Mike Rowlands | Lisa Hall | Austin Willacy | David Brodwin | Cara Bradley | Leanne Krueger-Braneky
Kim Jordan, New Belgium Brewing Company
Kim Jordan is co-founder and CEO of New Belgium Brewing. She has cultivated her passion for social work, the environment and community to create one of the most successful corporations in America. Her lifelong commitment to developing healthy communities has informed New Belgium's culture through progressive policies like employee-ownership, open book management and philanthropic giving. Awards include: "2009 Trailblazer Award" – Entrepreneur Magazine, "Entrepreneur of the Year" – Colorado Biz Magazine, "Wirth Chair Award" – CU, Denver, Governor's "Excellence in Renewable Energy Award", "Green Power Business Leadership Award" – Environmental Protection Agency, "Mid-sized brewer of the Year" – Great American Beer Festival. As CEO and President of New Belgium Brewing, Kim is active in day-to-day Sales, Branding and Organizational Development aspects of the business. Much of her time is spent on mid-range and long-term strategic development.
Eli Pariser, Upworthy
Eli Pariser is an author, online organizer, and the co-founder of Upworthy, a new startup focused on making content that matters go viral. During his time at MoveOn.org, from 2001 to 2008, the organization grew by 10 times and collected nearly $120,000,000 in small donations. His book, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You, is a New York Times bestseller, and his TED talk on the same topic has been seen over 2 million times and was called one of the top talks of the year by TED curator Chris Andreson. Eli also helped start Avaaz.org, a global online movement with over 15 million members in nearly every country, and has served on the boards of the Open Society Foundations' US Programs, the New Organizing Institute, Avaaz, MoveOn, Access, and a number of other organizations.
Majora Carter, Majora Carter Group
Majora has been a pioneering leader in the social sustainability field for over a decade. After launching highly successful local and national organizations, she took her award winning work out of the nonprofit sector and traveled the world in search of ways to help poor people better engage positive economic & health trends. Some of her findings along the way are surprising and potentially disruptive, but grounded in a track record of success and growth.
Seth Goldman, Honest Tea
Seth Goldman is President and TeaEO of Honest Tea, the company he co-founded in 1998 with Professor Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management, which was acquired by The Coca-Cola Company in March 2011. Today, Honest Tea is the nation's top selling ready-to-drink organic bottled tea, and is carried in more than 100,000 outlets. Over the past fifteen years the company has thrived as consumers have shifted toward healthier and more sustainable diets. Mission in a Bottle, the Story of Honest Tea, written by Seth and Barry, will be published by Crown Business Books in September, 2013.
Matthew Stinchcomb, Etsy, Inc.
Matthew Stinchcomb is Etsy's VP, Values & Impact. In this role he oversees the stewardship of the company's mission and values, and works to maximize the positive social, economic, and ecological impact Etsy can have in the world. Stinchcomb has worked at Etsy since its earliest days. Prior to his time at Etsy, he was an indie rock musician and a screenprinter. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Benedikta and young son, Francis.
Danae Ringelmann, Indiegogo
Danae Ringelmann co-founded Indiegogo in 2008 with a mission to democratize fundraising and has since helped to propel the company into the world's largest crowdfunding platform. Danae was listed as one of Fast Company's "Top 50 Women Innovators in Technology" in 2011 and was awarded with the AWNY "No Apologies" Changemaker award in early 2013. She is a CFA charterholder and holds an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
Ysaye Barnwell, Former Member, Sweet Honey In the Rock®
Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell is a dynamic, multi-faceted woman who holds a PhD in Speech Pathology, a Master of Science in Public Health and four Honorary Doctorates. She is steeped in African American history and cultural tradition. For 34 years, Dr. Barnwell was a member of the internationally renowned a cappella quintet Sweet Honey In The Rock®, and composed some of their most popular songs. She is composer of the cantata FORTUNE'S BONES: THE MANUMISSION REQUIEM and curates the Fortune's Bones Project®. She is a recording artist, actress and author, and for 30 years, has led Community Sings and conducted her workshop, Building A Vocal Community®, on three continents.
Robert Raben, The Raben Group
Robert Raben is founder and President of The Raben Group, a culturally diverse and values-driven public affairs firm. Robert delights in helping his clients identify and achieve complex public policy objectives and brings a nuanced understanding of the intersection of law, policy, politics and media to his work. Robert's approach was honed during a highly respected legislative career that began on Congressman Barney Frank's (D-MA) staff and culminated in his appointment to the Justice Department as Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs.
Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises (IDE) and Windhorse International
Dr. Paul Polak founded International Development Enterprises (IDE), a nonprofit that is harnessing the power of the market to alleviate poverty, and Windhorse International, a for-profit social venture with the mission of inspiring and leading a revolution in how companies design, price, market and distribute products. Windhorse International aims to benefit the 2.6 billion customers who live on less than $2 a day, combining radically affordable technology with radically decentralized supply chains to earn profits serving bottom billion customers.
Jacqui Patterson, NAACP
Currently the Director of Environmental and Climate Justice at the NAACP, Jacqui Patterson, MSW, MPH, has worked on international and domestic issues including gender justice, racial justice, economic justice, and environmental and climate justice, with organizations including Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, IMA World Health, United for a Fair Economy, ActionAid, Health GAP, and the organization she co-founded, Women of Color United. She also currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute of the Black World and the US Climate Action Network, as well as on Steering Committee for Interfaith Moral Action on Climate Change.
Sonia Lo, Chalsys LLP
Sonia Lo is a financial advisor and direct investor in the impact investment industry. She has run her own firm for the last 9 years advising major corporations and family offices around the world. Her firm and its clients have made several investments in Silicon Valley since she moved to California in late 2011. They include an investment as an LP in an impact investment fund, and direct investments in industrial lighting, natural cosmetics, agricultural technology and a beverage company. Sonia has personally made 12 investments and exited 4 at an average multiple of 8x. Sonia has lived in 16 countries and speaks 7 languages. She has an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Jeffrey Hollender, Sustain
Jeffrey Hollender is the founder and CEO of Hollender Sustainable Brands, who introduced Sustain condoms, the first fair trade, non-toxic brand in the US. He is also Adjunct Professor for sustainability and social entrepreneurship at New York University and co-founder of Seventh Generation. Jeffrey is also the Co-Chair of the Greenpeace US; co-founder and Board Chair of the American Sustainable Business Council, a coalition of 200,000 business leaders committed to progressive public policy and the author of his seven books, including The Responsibility Revolution: How the Next Generation of Businesses Will Win.
Dan Levinson, Main Street Resources
Dan Levinson has spent his career in private equity running Main Street Resources and executing complex human-scale opportunities – and over the last few years has turned his energy to non-profit and new economy. Dan co-founded/chairs Green Village Initiative, chairs The Schumacher Center for New Economics, and assists/advises/funds many nonprofits and socially responsible businesses. Dan believes it will only be through enlightening our economic system that we can address our core social, economic and environmental challenges.
Rha Goddess, Move The Crowd
Rha Goddess is the founder and CEO of Move The Crowd an entrepreneurial training company dedicated to helping the next generation stay true, get paid, and do good. With an interdisciplinary curriculum that acknowledges, honors and elevates the whole person, Move The Crowd works with clients to leverage their unique creativity, strengths and passion into viable projects, ventures and initiatives into tangible, profitable results. Entrepreneurs emerge with the vision to move forward, the knowledge to up their game and the power to achieve their own flavor of success. Move The Crowd uniquely focuses on cultural creatives and innovators from a variety of sectors who are re-defining their "work" as a vehicle for creative expression, financial freedom and societal transformation. More at www.movethecrowd.me.
Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Mike Tidwell is founder and Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. His newest book, focusing on Katrina and global warming, is titled The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Race to Save America's Coastal Cities. Tidwell has been featured in numerous national media outlets including NBC's "Meet the Press", The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He writes regular op-eds about climate change issues for The Baltimore Sun and is a regular commentator on WAMU, the premier NPR radio station in Washington, DC.
Elizabeth Scharpf, Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE)
SHE is a social venture that invests in people and ideas that are typically overlooked (and often taboo) as vehicles of socio-economic change. Their first initiative, SHE28, addresses girls' and women's lack of access to affordable menstrual pads resulting in significant costs to their reproductive health, educational achievements, work productivity, and dignity. Coupling these new businesses with public health and hygiene education and advocacy will have a significant social and economic impact on these communities.
Liz and Ben Bohannon, Sseko Designs
Sseko Designs is an ethical fashion brand that uses fashion to educate and empower women. Sseko hires high potential young women in Uganda to make sandals to enable them to earn money through dignified employment that will go directly towards their college educations and ensure they will continue pursuing their dreams. By working for Sseko during their gap year, these talented young women from impoverished backgrounds gain access to a comprehensive social impact program tailored to their needs and will earn enough income to finance their educations.
Kavita M. Shukla and Swaroop Samant, Fenugreen
While the world's farmers harvest enough to feed the planet, 25% of our food supply is lost to spoilage. Fenugreen is taking on this massive global challenge with a simple innovation: FreshPaper. Low-cost, compostable, and made with organic spices, FreshPaper keeps produce fresh 2-4 times longer Fenugreen aims to revolutionize the food economy from farm to fork, and transform the lives of the 1.6 billion who lack access to refrigeration with its mission of "Fresh for All."
Tim Jahnigen and Lisa Tarver, One World Futbol Project
One World Futbol inventor Tim Jahnigen was inspired to create a nearly indestructible ball after watching news footage of kids in Darfur playing a soccer game using a ball of trash tied up with twine. Tim set out to design a ball that played like a real soccer ball, but would never need a pump and never go flat – even when punctured multiple times. Their mission is to bring the healing power of play to youth worldwide by making, selling and distributing nearly indestructible balls that survive the harshest environments.
Michael Murphy and Alan Ricks, MASS Design Group
MASS Design Group is a nonprofit architecture firm committed to building better buildings and enabling the people who build them. Their first project, the Butaro Hospital (Rwanda, 2011), employed architectural solutions to mitigate the transmission of airborne disease and spurred local markets by hiring and training over 4,000 community members. Today, the team conducts immersive research in communities across the world not only to build context-appropriate, safer, and healthier facilities, but also to leverage local material markets, lead training workshops, spur craft development and foster economic empowerment.
Cara Pike, The Social Capital Project
Cara Pike is the founder and Director of The Resource Innovation Group's Social Capital Project and Climate Access, a network for those engaging the public in the transformation to low-carbon resilient communities and is CEO of Pike Productions, an environmental communication consulting firm. Her work includes creation of the Ecological Roadmap, a values-based approach to building support for environmental protection; Climate Communications Behavior Change – A Guide for Practitioners, and other widely used publications and toolkits. Cara regularly advises government agencies and nonprofit organizations including the Obama Administration, the state of Oregon, British Columbia's Ministry of the Environment, the city of Seattle, World Wildlife Fund, National Resources Defense Council, Union of Concerned Scientists, Tides Canada and others. She is currently serving on the engagement and communication working group of the federal National Climate Assessment Development Advisory Committee.
Eben Bayer, Ecovative
Eben Bayer is the CEO and co-founder of Ecovative, a bio-materials company that grows sustainable materials and products using unique living organisms. Ecovative has been recognized by the World Economic forum as a "Tech Pioneer," for its potential impact on climate change by the PostCode Lottery Green Challenge and recently won an environmental quality award from the EPA. Ecovative has been widely covered in the media, including articles in Wired Magazine, Popular Science, and Time.
Mal Warwick, One World Futbol Project
Mal Warwick is the co-author with Paul Polak of The Business Solution to Poverty: Designing Products and Services for Three Billion New Customers. He is a prolific author, impact investor, and activist who reviews books on his blog ("Mal Warwick on Books") and is one of three partners in the One World Futbol Project, a social enterprise based in Berkeley. From 1979 to 2010, Mal focused on the nonprofit sector as a consultant and public speaker on marketing and fundraising for nonprofit organizations. He chaired the SVN board from 2002 – 2006.
Meika Hollender, Sustain
Meika Hollender is the co-founder and Junior Marketing Partner at Sustain Condoms, a new brand she's developing with her father, Seventh Generation co-founder and CEO, Jeffrey Hollender. Meika is a recent MBA graduate of New York University's Stern School of Business, where she was the President of the Social Enterprise Association. Prior to matriculating at Stern, Meika worked at the brand strategy and design firm, Sterling Brands. This past summer Meika worked in Johnson & Johnson's consumer products division as a Sustainability Summer Associate. Some of Meika's other accomplishments include co-authoring the book Naturally Clean as well as her work with Sustainable Health Enterprises and Women for Women International.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Isha Foundation
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is a yogi, mystic, and visionary humanitarian. Traversing seamlessly from the ancient to the modern, he bridges the gap between the known and the unknown, enabling all those who encounter him and his works to explore and experience the deepest dimensions of life while thriving in today's everyday world. Sadhguru's vision and understanding of current social and economic issues have led to interviews with BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNNfn, and Newsweek International. He has been a sought after keynote speaker at many of the most relevant global forums, corporations and universities. Isha Foundation, created by Sadhguru, is an entirely volunteer-run, international nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating human potential.
Kristen Barker, Cincinnati Union Co-op Initiative
Kristen Barker is the President of the Cincinnati Union Co-op Initiative (CUCI), which is based on the Mondragon-USW union co-op model. CUCI has launched one co-op and has five projects in various stages of feasibility/business planning. As a community organizer for the past 12 years, she fosters faith, labor & community partnerships. She is the mother of a resilient daughter with special needs. She is a lifelong Cincinnati resident (except 2 years in El Salvador).
J. Bob Alotta, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
Filmmaker and technologist turned Executive Director, J. Bob Alotta leads the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, an LGBTQI rights foundation working for social, racial, gender, and economic justice around the globe. Through film and at Astraea, Bob engages philanthropists, leaders, and community members to transform the marginalization of LGBTQI rights in our societies. Representing a new generation of social change philanthropists, Bob's work builds new models of social justice, expanding the relevance of rights and dignity for LGBTQI people.
Eric Leenson, Sol Economics
Eric Leenson is President of Sol Economics, a company that promotes responsible enterprise Solutions and Solidarity in the Americas. Currently he leads a multinational initiative supporting socially responsible enterprise and local development in Cuba which works closely with Cuban organizations central to the economic opening taking place there. He is a pioneer in the field of socially responsible investment in the US having cofounded and serving for many years as President of Progressive Asset Management.
Michael Peck, MONDRAGON Corporation
Michael Peck founded MAPA Group (www.mapagroup.net) in 1994 as a creative and transactional, "doing well by doing good" business development company, and has served since 2000 as the North American delegate for Mondragon, the world's largest industrial worker cooperative. In October 2009, Michael participated in forming the Mondragon and United Steelworkers Union (USW) partnership to create union-coop hybrids with the goal of revamping US manufacturing through worker cultural empowerment and equal share ownership. On March 26th, 2012, the USW, Mondragon North America, and the Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC) unveiled the union-coop template model, www.union.coop, in Pittsburgh with related community initiatives and collaborative partnerships currently in ten US metropolitan regions.
Ali Smith, Holistic Life Foundation
Ali Smith is co-founder and Executive Director of the Holistic Life Foundation. He is a graduate of Friends School of Baltimore and the University of Maryland, College Park. Since 2001, the Holistic Life Foundation has facilitated yoga, mindfulness, and environmental based programs for underserved communities around the country, with a focus on Baltimore, Maryland. Their programs have served over 5,000 youth and 1,000 adults, and have been featured on "Making a Difference" on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
Atman Smith, Holistic Life Foundation
Atman Smith is co-founder and Director of Fundraising for the Holistic Life Foundation. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was a letter winner for the men's basketball team. Since 2001, the Holistic Life Foundation has facilitated yoga, mindfulness, and environmental based programs for underserved communities. Their programs have served over 5,000 youth and 1,000 adults, and have been featured on "Making a Difference" on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
Shilpa Jain, YES!
Shilpa Jain is currently rooting herself in Oakland/Berkeley, CA, where she serves as the Executive Director of YES!. YES! works with social change makers at the meeting point of internal, interpersonal and systemic change, and aims to co-create thriving, just and balanced ways of living for all. Shilpa has facilitated dozens of transformative leadership gatherings in India, Jordan, Senegal, Lebanon, Egypt, Thailand, Canada, Peru, Turkey, Pakistan, and the US, working with hundreds of young leaders from over 65 countries. Shilpa is committed to supporting authentic relationships, a deeper sense of self, an essential shift in consciousness, and aligned living practices.
Mark Watson, Keel Asset Management, LLC
Mark Watson is an investment advisor with over 28 years of experience in the financial services industry including banking, asset management and organizational financial/strategic planning. He has extensive non-profit board experience, as a chair and treasurer, an SVN Board Member, a US/SIF member, member of Overseers Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and Board Chair of The Highlands Center on Truro Cape Cod.
Invincible, EMERGENCE Media
As a co-founder of EMERGENCE Media, Invincible released their debut album ShapeShifters (2008) and produced award-winning videos like The Revival (2009) and Locusts (2008). They have performed around the world for over a decade, both as a solo artist, and featured as part of the Hip-Hop collective ANOMOLIES. Additionally, Invincible has worked with Detroit Summer, a multi-racial, inter-generational collective in Detroit that is transforming communities through youth facilitative leadership, creativity and collective action for the past decade. They were also the co-coordinator and co-founder of the Detroit Future Youth network to support social justice and media-based youth projects throughout the city. Invincible is currently working with renown producer Waajeed and visual artist Wesley Taylor on Complex Movements, an interactive multimedia installation based hip-hop collective exploring the relationship between complex sciences and social justice movements.
Jessy Tolkan, Campaign for Global Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
Jessy Tolkan works as the Global Director of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Development for two multi-national automakers, and consults with the Working Families Party. Her work focuses on creating massive shifts in the auto-industry with an eye towards ensuring a more sustainable planet, and simultaneously building political power on the left. Most recently Jessy served as Citizen Engagement Labs's Co-Executive Director. Prior to her leadership of Citizen Engagement lab she held a Senior Fellowship with the New Organizing Institute where she focused on progressive infrastructure building, the 2012 youth vote, and the next steps for the climate & energy sector. Before switching her attention to the progressive movement at large, Jessy was the Executive Director for the Energy Action Coalition. In 2008, Rolling Stone Magazine named her one of the "100 Agents of Change in America".
Joseph Mouzon, Tides Advocacy Fund
Joseph Mouzon has been working on several projects that are consistent with his personal mission - using capitalism to achieve societal balance. He is very comfortable developing and implementing creative solutions to solve seemingly intractable problems. Joseph (aka DJ MAJ) will also demonstrate how this works by DJing our Fall Conference official dance party and showing how an eclectic group of SVNers spanning three generations can have a great time for a long time Saturday night!
Kevin Jones, Good Capital
Kevin Jones founded Good Capital, one of the first Impact investment funds. It has exited one of its four portfolio companies, the nonprofit, Root Capital, with a 13% IRR, with two other companies, Better World Books and Alter Eco, both more than tripled in revenues. It has one failed company, a fair trade juice company, Adina, which delivered a multitude of lessons. It expects to start exiting Better World Books next January using bank debt and is collaborating around goals with Alter Eco. Two of its three companies have Mission Insurance.
Beth Williams, Roxbury Technology Corporation
Beth Williams is the CEO, President and owner of Roxbury Technology Corporation (RTC), an eco-friendly, full service re-manufacturer and distributor of recycled toner and ink cartridges. Roxbury Technology Corporation had been named from 2004 thru 2008, as one of the top "20 Fastest Growing Inner City Businesses in America" by Inc. Magazine and the ICIC (Initiative for a Competitive Inner City), culminating in 2008 as the #2 "Fastest Growing Inner City Business in America," the #1 "Fastest Growing Woman-Owned Business" and the #1 "Fastest Growing Minority-Owned Inner City Business." Beth has been honored as a "Leading Woman" by several organizations such as the Girl Scouts of America, and the National Association of Black Professional and Business Women, among others.
Connie Evans, Association for Enterprise Opportunity
Connie Evans is the President and CEO of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) with a strong track record of innovative leadership and a background as a social entrepreneur. Prior to AEO, Connie was the founding president of the Women's Self-Employment Project in Chicago, the first and largest urban micro-enterprise development organization in the US and the first adaptation of the Grameen Bank model to a US urban setting. She founded WSEP Ventures, a social enterprise nonprofit that catalyzed new ventures by nonprofit community-based leaders serving disenfranchised communities; and she founded CSolutions, a consulting boutique focused on solutions for social change in the US and internationally. She has served on numerous and diverse boards including the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Social Venture Network, Ms. Foundation for Women, Global Fund for Women and the CDFI Advisory Board at the US Treasury Department.
Lori Hanau, Global Round Table Leadership
Lori Hanau is the founder of Global Round Table Leadership (GRTL) whose mission is to support the personal and shared leadership capacities required to meet the call and needs of our times. GRTL envisions a world in which individuals and communities come together through the best of our collective humanity for the good of the whole. To this end, GRTL engages people across all sectors in leadership development to build flourishing relationships with the self, one another and the systems of which we are a part.
Joe Steele, Steele Consulting
An exceptional consultant and client partner with impeccable communication skills and Harvard educated, Joe Steele has proven a valued resource for his stable of clients worldwide. Whether strategically managing human resource needs to generate high performance results or monitoring and evaluating workforce environments, Joe always considers input/feedback from a myriad of stakeholders, before presenting appropriate strategies. Joe Steele advises his clients how to adapt an organization's culture and policies to effectively meet the changing needs of the global marketplace.
Erica Wheeler, Musician
Erica Wheeler is a sense of place artist, songwriter, speaker and educator whose mission is to enrich lives, engage communities and inspire stewardship through creative programs that touch the heart and mind. She specializes in providing professional development for organizations whose work involves connecting people and place. She also provides inspiring and educational community programs. With 20 years of experience and six CD's to her credit, her programs have taken her from professional trainings at Yosemite National Park to Walden Pond, and keynotes from the American Horticultural Society's Youth and Garden Symposium to Antioch Graduate School's Communicating Science Conference. Her work connecting people and place has been featured in Yes!, Orion and Yankee magazines. Her most recent CD "Good Summer Rain" was sponsored by the Trust for Public Land, (a national land conservation organization).
Imani Uzuri, Vocalist, Composer and Cultural Worker
Recently praised in The New York Times for her "gorgeously chesty ruminations", vocalist and composer Imani Uzuri is an eclectic interdisciplinary artist who travels and performs internationally. The Village Voice says, "With a voice that would sound equally at home on an opera stage or a disco 12-inch, Imani Uzuri is a constant surprise...seamlessly combining jazz, classical, country and blues motifs into highly personalized compositions." In March 2013, Uzuri premiered her first orchestral composition "Placeless" at Ecstatic Music Festival and was subsequently named by The New Yorker as one of the emerging "female composers edg[ing] forward." Uzuri recently received her MFA with a special research focus on early American sacred music and has been an invited guest lecturer on Negro Spirituals at Harvard, Vassar and Columbia. www.imaniuzuri.com
Flip Brown, Business Culture Consultants
Flip Brown provides empathic support and courageous challenges to assist mission-driven owners, leaders and managers who want to "go deep" and emerge with a greater understanding of their patterns, possibilities and practical action steps. Wouldn't you like to see around the bend of your growth curve?
Mike Rowlands, Junxion Strategy
Mike Rowlands is a Principal at Junxion Strategy, an international social purpose, sustainability and brand consultancy. Mike advises companies, social enterprises and NGOs around the world on strategy, branding, and outreach and engagement – including a number of SVN member companies. Mike is also an SVN Ambassador, and an Executive Producer of Social Venture Institute – Hollyhock.
Lisa Hall, Calvert Foundation
During Lisa's tenure at Calvert Foundation, the organization grew assets under its management to more than $400 million, creating positive social impact by developing affordable housing, expanding access to financial services and promoting sustainable agriculture. Under her leadership, Calvert Foundation launched internationally recognized initiatives, including the organization's Women Investing in Women Initiative (WIN-WIN), created in 2012 as a vehicle for investors to help empower women globally. In November 2013, Lisa will join a large European family office. In her new role, Lisa will be responsible for building and managing a new portfolio focused on social, environmental and financial returns. Lisa will relocate to Europe, bringing with her to this new role more than 25 years of experience in the financial services sector and impact investing.
Austin Willacy, Musician
Austin Willacy is a Berkeley-based singer/songwriter who has toured extensively throughout the US and Europe as a member of The House Jacks, a multi-award winning a cappella rock band currently featured on The Sing-Off on NBC and on Monday Night Football on ESPN. They have performed with the likes of Ray Charles, James Brown, LL Cool J, The Neville Brothers, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Austin is also a youth mentor; he is the director of 'Til Dawn, Youth in Arts' teen a cappella group and has facilitated over 35 youth retreats. In addition, he has co-facilitated four Leveraging Privilege for Social Change Jams, two North America Jams and one Arts for Social Change Jam for YES!.
David Brodwin, American Sustainable Business Council
David co-founded American Sustainable Business Council in 2009 to help business leaders promote policies that lead to a sustainable economy. For the past decade he has worked in advocacy and provides framing and strategy support to mission-aligned businesses and non-profits. He was president of New Voice of Business and Executive Director of Rockridge Institute. Earlier he held executive positions in the management consulting and high tech industry. He was a partner at Accenture, heading the strategy consulting practice within the media and entertainment industry group; VP of marketing at Radius, a computer peripherals manufacturer, and director of the western region technology practice at Arthur D. Little. David writes a weekly column on economic issues for U.S. News and World Report and lectures on social change at Golden Gate University. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. from Harvard.
Cara Bradley, Verge Yoga Center
Cara is the founder of the Verge Yoga Center in suburban Philadelphia. She is passionate about supporting the well-being of her students – to empower each of them to embrace change, to strive for optimal health and to awaken to conscious living. In addition to teaching at Verge Yoga, Cara trains the Villanova University Football team and the Penn State Men's Basketball team. She is currently writing a book entitled, SoulForce: 7 Daily Practices to Awaken to Your Human Potential.
Leanne works with the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) as Director of Fellowship and Alumni. BALLE is the fastest growing business alliance of values aligned entrepreneurs, business networks, and local economy funders in North America, representing 30,000 innovators. For eight years, Leanne served as the first Executive Director of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia (SBN), growing it into an influential business organization working to build a just, green, and thriving economy in the Greater Philadelphia region. Leanne has received national attention for her skills in economic development, program development, and public policy. She has been invited to the White House Business Council on multiple occasions to advise them on the needs of local businesses.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
February 15, 2013
The following transcript comes from WNYC:
"But we know that there's more we can do to keep New Yorkers, particularly young men, from ending up with a criminal record. Commissioner Kelly and I support Governor Cuomo's proposal to make possession of small amounts of marijuana a violation, rather than a misdemeanor and we'll work to help him pass it this year. But we won't wait for that to happen.
"Right now, those arrested for possessing small amounts of marijuana are often held in custody overnight. We're changing that. Effective next month, anyone presenting an ID and clearing a warrant check will be released directly from the precinct with a desk appearance ticket to return to court. It's consistent with the law, it's the right thing to do and it will allow us to target police resources where they're needed most."
In January, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed decriminalizing possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana.
Although several states last year voted to legalize marijuana, for cultivation, recreational and medicinal use, the plant is still regarded by the Drug Enforcement Agency as a Schedule I narcotic, despite the fact that the current commander-in-chief two-times running has professed his own habitual use of the "drug."
Could NYC lawmakers finally be figuring out that the War on Drugs is a complete and total failure, an outright fraud meant to waste tax payer dollars and jail space? Or are citizens simply being granted a trivial right so that more egregious crimes can continue taking place below the radar?


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Note: This information is provided for reference purposes only.
Although the information provided here was accurate and current
when first created, it is now outdated. TRAC 5/28-29/98
Note: This information is provided for reference purposes only. Although the information provided here was accurate and current when first created, it is now outdated.
The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA) provides important new protections for the Nation's consumers, with special emphasis on measures to ensure the protection of infants and children. These provisions have broad implications for how EPA conducts evaluations of pesticide uses, and in particular, how EPA establishes pesticide tolerances. For example, FQPA requires for the first time that EPA make an explicit determination that pesticide tolerances be set at levels that are safe for infants and children.
Before the enactment of FQPA, the National Academy of Sciences began a study of the scientific and policy issues concerning pesticides in the diets of infants and children. The 1993 National Academy report Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children recommended ways in which EPA could enhance existing policies and procedures to improve protection of infants and children, including expanding the use of additional safety factors to more fully ensure safety for infants and children. As one of its conclusions, the NAS Committee specifically recommended that "an uncertainty factor up to the 10-fold factor traditionally used for fetal developmental toxicity should also be considered for postnatal developmental toxicity and when data from toxicity testing are incomplete."
It was in this context that Congress crafted the new child-focused provisions in FQPA. Responding directly to the National Academy recommendation, FQPA provides for the use of an additional safety factor. For threshold effects, FQPA states that:
"an additional tenfold margin of safety for the pesticide chemical residue and other sources of exposure shall be applied for infants and children to take into account potential pre- and post-natal toxicity and completeness of data with respect to exposure and toxicity to infants and children. Notwithstanding such requirement for an additional margin of safety, the Administrator may use a different margin of safety for the pesticide chemical residue only if, on the basis of reliable data, such margin will be safe for infants and children."
This provision went into effect upon enactment of FQPA. All tolerance decisions either associated with tolerance reassessment or new registrations have been subject to this requirement.
Evolving Approach for Applying the FQPA Safety Factor (10X)
EPA's approach to implementing the FQPA safety factor has continued to evolve on the basis of new data, along with experience and a better understanding of potential toxicity to young animals from pre-natal or post-natal exposure to pesticides and continuing peer review of decisions and policy.
Before the passage of the FQPA, EPA analyzed all the available toxicology studies to identify the most appropriate endpoints (e.g., cholinesterase inhibition, effects on central nervous system, reduced birth weight in young test animals) for risk assessments. Generally these endpoints represented the most sensitive endpoints in the most sensitive species, unless there were chemical-specific data available that identified information more appropriate for extrapolating to humans. These analyses included reproduction and developmental toxicity studies in animals, when they were available. These studies, however, were viewed as a part of the entire toxicology database and were used as the endpoint for regulation only if they represented the most appropriate/sensitive endpoint of concern.
Initial Approach
Following passage of FQPA, while still analyzing all of the available data, EPA began to look at developmental and reproduction studies in a more focused manner. After the entire toxicity database was studied and endpoints identified in the traditional manner, the developmental/reproduction studies were analyzed further to determine whether different endpoints should be used in the assessment of hazard to children and women 13 years of age and older. In general, decisions on the FQPA safety factor have been based on weight of the evidence and professional judgment with few formal decision criteria.
Current Approach
In January 1998, upon evaluation and review of the initial approach, EPA submitted a new formal approach to the FQPA safety factor to the Scientific Advisory Panel for review. This approach gives more clarity to how the Agency now considers the completeness of the toxicity database, the type and severity of the effect observed, and the nature and quality of the available exposure data. The application of the FQPA safety factor is not a matter simply of uncertainty, but is also a way of assuring an extra measure of protection for infants and children in cases where special sensitivity or exposure for these subgroups is identified. The retention, reduction, or removal of the FQPA safety factor is still based upon a weight-of-evidence evaluation of all applicable data and reflects sound scientific judgment and principles. An internal FQPA Safety Factor Committee consisting of toxicologists, exposure scientists, and risk managers recommends whether to retain, reduce, or remove the FQPA safety factor.
Review of EPA's Approach
To allow for transparency in the Agency's approach, EPA has asked advice on applying the FQPA safety factor from independent scientific experts and invited stakeholder consultation through the Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) and the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC). The SAP was generally supportive of the new formal approach but identified the need for more clarity. The Agency will be sending a revised guidance on the FQPA safety factor to the SAP in July.
In addition, on February 25, 1998, EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner and Deputy Administrator Fred Hansen requested that the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, the Office of Research and Development, and the Office of Children's Health Protection conduct an evaluation of the Agency's implementation efforts regarding the FQPA safety factor. An intra-Agency workgroup established in response to this request will soon release its initial report. The group is evaluating both the adequacy of the data used for making decisions about the additional factor and also the adequacy of procedures for consistency, transparency, and documentation.
Pesticide A
In Spring 1997, EPA denied a request submitted by Texas and other states for a Section 18 emergency exemption to use pesticide A on cotton. The request was denied because of concern for acute effects to people from dietary exposure. Agency scientists concluded that the extra ten-fold safety factor should be retained in part to provide an appropriate margin of safety for children in light of uncertainties regarding dietary exposure to people and concerns for special sensitivity to infants and children. With a 50-day window in which to make decisions on section 18s, it was not possible to peer review this decision.
This year, EPA approved a similar request for a Section 18 emergency exemption for pesticide A on cotton, but this time, the Agency applied a three-fold safety factor. The reason for this is that since last year, the Agency has received new information on pesticide A regarding the actual and potential dietary exposures to people. In addition, during a summer 1997 external peer review of the toxicity database for pesticide A, experts advised EPA that no additional safety factor was needed to account for children's sensitivity but that a three-fold safety factor was warranted to account for deficiencies in the studies involved. In short, in this case, EPA's decision to apply a three-fold safety factor was motivated by deficiencies in the final data set, and not because of a particular known hazard to infants and children.
Pesticide B
In May 1997, EPA granted a time-limited tolerance for a pesticide without retaining the application of an additional safety factor. The decision to remove the FQPA safety factor was based upon the completeness of the toxicity database. However in December 1997, the Agency concluded that it was appropriate to retain the additional ten-fold safety factor to assure an extra measure of protection for infants and children because the available toxicity studies clearly indicated increased sensitivity to infants and children.
This scenario highlights the benefit of acquired experience in applying the FQPA safety factor. In the interval between the two decisions, EPA reviewed numerous chemicals which posed a potential hazard to the developing fetus. Based on this acquired knowledge, particularly an increased understanding of the significance of potential toxicity to young animals resulting from pre-natal or post-natal exposures, the Agency placed greater significance on these effects. This increased emphasis on measures to ensure the protection of infants and children compelled the Agency's revised decision to retain the additional ten-fold safety factor for pesticide B.
For pesticide B, new data on anticipated dietary exposures showed that the margin of safety was adequate even with the additional 10X safety factor. In May 1998, the Agency approved the use.
How is the definition of "completeness" affected by emerging science and new data requirements? As new data requirements are identified, should the Agency re-evaluate previous decisions to retain, reduce or remove the safety factor?
The definition of what constitutes "reliable data" is central to implementation of FQPA, and ongoing Agency effort is focused on defining what level of data on toxicity and exposure constitutes "reliable data". There is general agreement that toxicology data required by Agency regulations (40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 158) are comprehensive; notwithstanding, there is also agreement that data requirements and test guidelines should be updated to include the adult and developmental neurotoxicity guidelines, as well as the criteria and weight of evidence factors for triggering developmental neurotoxicity studies. In addition, it has also been recommended that the revised two-generation reproduction, the pre-natal developmental toxicity testing, and the immunotoxicity guidelines be incorporated into Part 158.
In situations where as a result of the Agency's review, a need arises for additional testing, should the Agency automatically retain all or a portion of the FQPA safety factor even where the registrant has satisfied all of the requirements of Part 158, or should this decision be made by a case-by-case application of the weight of evidence approach?
If the Agency retains the FQPA safety factor based upon the need to acquire and review these newly-identified studies, what regulatory action should the Agency take if the estimated risks exceed this newly revised "risk cup"? Should the Agency do a data call-in? Should the Agency consider delaying regulatory action until it has had the chance to gather and evaluate data generated to support these new information needs? Would the answer be the same for new pesticides as for existing pesticides?
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updated May 17, 1998


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With winter upon us, the risk of accidents increases on the roadways. There are numerous weather hazards during winter, including snow, sleet, freezing rain, which don't only reduce visibility, but also can cause slick roadways. It's the invisible hidden danger that lurks on the roadways. That danger is black ice.
According to The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, in accordance with The Michigan State Police, over 25,000 accidents occurred during winter weather in 2010, 53 of which were fatal.
How does this compare to summer driving?
"The majority of crashes that occur during the winter are not as severe as dry times because the speeds are typically down a little bit, so we actually see more fatalities in the summer than what we do in the winter" states Sgt. Matt Rogers of the Michigan State Police.
But what is black ice? Black ice is ice that forms on roadways that is nearly translucent. There are a few reasons why black ice forms. Black ice can form on either nights with precipitation or nights when there is high humidity and temperatures below freezing. Snow melt refreezes on the roadway as the temperature drops, which causes black ice to form. When a vehicle drives over black ice, the chance of skidding increases. It looks exactly like wet pavement, and you may not know it's there until you actually encounter it. Bridges are especially prone to black ice.
While air flow only affects to tops of roadways, air can flow across all surfaces of a bridge. This allows the bridge to drop in temperature quicker, making it easier and faster for ice to form.
Another reason the area around bridges accumulate black ice than other areas because of snow and ice melt that drips from the top of bridges, allowing the roadway underneath to accrue water. Because these areas are also poorly lit, it is harder for drivers to distinguish between wet pavement and black ice.
Skidding on ice can be a scary situation. Sgt Rogers gave me some techniques to help control your vehicle if you are out of control.
"The first thing you need to do is not panic. The second thing is to stay off the brake. When the car is sliding sideways, do you have traction with the roadway? No, you don't. The next thing is get your eyes up and way down the road at one point. If I am looking down the road, my body is going to naturally drive to that location because your hands follow what your eyes are doing."
It is crucial to watch the road and other drivers at all times to minimize the chance for an accident.
"You always have to be paying attention to other drivers out there. Until we make eye contact, and I see them and they see me, I'm kind of on guard a little bit. Are they eating a sandwich? Are they talking on their cell phone? That throws a red flag because I know that driver is distracted so I am going to be paying a little more attention to that person."
According to a new federal mandate, all 2012 vehicles must be equipped with stability control to aid anti-lock brake systems during loss of control. Sgt Rogers gave me some insight on this as well.
"It basically does skid control for you. If the car starts to go out of control, that system basically takes over and if you're asking for some acceleration out of the car, it's not going to give it to you. It will also add brake where necessary to straighten that car back out and get you back under control."
Sgt. Rogers gave me the opportunity to get behind the wheel and test my driving abilities. I found out first hand that it is not a cake walk.
"Getting your eyes down the road, your body senses what the car is doing. So, when it starts to move this way to this way, I sense that really early on because my eyes are way down the road. If I'm looking at the hood of my car, I'm not going to sense that. "
"The second you sense that back end going one way or the other, my eyes get locked into one point down the road, and then it's hand over hand steering in the direction that the car is going. Whatever you put in, you have to take out."
My first attempts of recovering from a skid were unsuccessful, as I didn't focus on a point in front of me, as Sgt. Rogers advised.
After nearly a dozen times, I finally got the hang of recovering from a skid.
By learning correct techniques and paying attention to surroundings, the chance of accidents will continue to drop.
- Latest


text:
Commentator has been particularly bad today
Commentator has been particularly bad today
Originally Posted by John King
RIP Craigos. A true CW legend. You will be missed.
MoM surely the Ghana goalie kingston..
Uruguay V Ghana then.
Some very close shaves in the end. The three minutes extra time was ridiculous. Highly enjoyable game of open, attacking football. First match was good too. Been a good day. More good days to come.
A follower of the schools of Machiavelli, Bentham, Locke, Hobbes, Sutcliffe, Bradman, Lindwall, Miller, Hassett and Benaud
Member of ESAS, JMAS, DMAS, FRAS and RTDAS
when you're winning, you have friends
scores and dozens, real friends
when you're winning, never lonely
when you keep winning
There's that. The WC was quite exciting when people weren't being carted off like little girls when someone happened to come within a zip code.
-My beliefs summarized in words much more eloquent than I could come up with
How the Universe came from nothing
KKingston you are a star!
USA were so bad. Fun enough game but hard to get behind either side. Can't say I'd be sad to see either of them go out.
World Scrabble Champion 2014. National Scrabble Champion 2009, 8th, 11th and 5th in 2009/2011/2013 World Championships, gold medal (team) at Causeway, 2011 Masters Champion
Australias Darren Lehmann is a blatant loser insists Stuart Broad
Countdown Series 57 Champion
King of the Arcade
Reply from mods to my prank bans in public:
Reply from mods to my prank bans in private:
MSN - evil_budgie @ hotmail.co.uk
Stimmt nicht.
Hmm, hate it when the side that's occupying the spot your team was gunning for runs into a team like the US.
Makes you wonder what might have been.
As for tonight, having had a couple of early nights, shall be up and bagging the **** out of England at the cricket, while cheering them on at the football.
God I'm a weird ****er. Bring back flibbertydribbler.. Miss him so..
WWCC - Loyaulte Mi Lie
"Hope is the fuel of progress and fear is the prison in which you put yourself" - Tony Benn
#408. Sixty three not out forever.
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Marist College's Kentrall Brooks defends Manhattan's Michael Alvardo at McCann Arena on Dec. 6.
Two days after the top scorer in the country doomed the Marist College men's basketball team with a late flurry of points, the Red Foxes will face a similar defensive challenge today.
Marist will aim to salvage a split of its trip to Western New York by beating Canisius and Billy Baron, the second-leading scorer in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and the fourth-highest in the country entering this weekend, at 23.5 points per game.
"He really has a huge impact on the game," Marist coach Jeff Bower said about Baron, who also averages five assists and 4.9 rebounds a game. "His scoring is big, ...


text:
- About
- Membership
- Facilities
- Programs
- Hours
- Schedule
- Contacts
Founded 2012
Visit Our Website / Practice Schedule
A club to bring together runners of all abilities who strive to train and compete to represent Oregon State University. For those who are dedicated to becoming better runners whether it is for staying in shape, competing in college level races, or somewhere in between.
Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com