Hollywood teen hoping to collect 6 million pennies to donate to Holocaust education center

October 25, 2009

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/hollywood/sfl-flpennies1025swoct25,0,856959.story

David Broide knows the value of a penny.

To him, the penny represents the struggle of the Jewish people and the memories of his late grandfather. The sole survivor of his family during the Holocaust, the late Jose Broide left a lasting impression on his now-14-year-old grandson.

For his bar mitzvah project, he has decided to collect 6 million pennies in memory of the 6 million Jews killed during the Holocaust. He plans to donate the pennies to the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center in Hollywood and is seeking a donor to match his contribution. He has about 35,000 pennies so far.

"I started this program because my grandfather wanted me to keep his legacy and to never forget that this happened, especially now that all the people that were there and were witnesses are dying out in this generation," said Broide, of Hollywood.

Jose Broide escaped the Nazis by fleeing into the woods in Bransk, Poland. There, he became a resistance leader, where he helped save many lives.

Rositta Kenigsberg, the center's executive vice president, said the project is important because it highlights the fact that there were active resistance movements during the war.

"Resistance of the Holocaust is one of the topics that's really misunderstood," Kenigsberg said. "What we found early on when we started teaching about the Holocaust was that many of the students and everyone else would say, 'Why didn't they resist?' 'Why did they go like sheep to the slaughter?' And survivors will tell you that resistance took many forms."

Rita G. Hofrichter, a Holocaust survivor, agreed.

"I cannot understand why people would deny something that so obviously happened and is so well recorded in history," she said. "Perhaps there is an unwillingness to accept the facts because it was so horrific or perhaps people feel a little guilty that maybe they did not get involved."

Kenigsberg is impressed by Broide's determination.

"David has accepted the responsibility and has made the commitment and a promise to remember," she said. "He made this promise to remember not only for the Jewish people but for all people. ... That's the ultimate lesson, that he is standing up and speaking up and saying, 'Never again.'"