A Brooklyn middle-school principal denied a parent\u2019s request to have a Holocaust survivor speak to students about antisemitism \u2014 saying the victim\u2019s pro-Israel views are not appropriate for a public school.<\/p>\n
MS 447 Principal Arin Rusch wrote to the parent Nov. 18 claiming Nazi labor-camp survivor Sami Steigmann\u2019s <\/a>opinions would not be \u201cright\u201d for the Boerum Hill school.<\/p>\n \u201cIn looking at his website material, I also don\u2019t think that Sami\u2019s presentation is right for our public school setting, given his messages around Israel and Palestine,\u201d Rusch claimed.<\/p>\n Rusch said that Steigmann\u2019s opinions would not be \u201cright\u201d for the Boerum Hill school. CEC15 Meetings\/YouTube<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d love to explore other speakers,\u201d she said \u2014 insisting that lectures about the Holocaust \u2014 the Nazis\u2019 slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War II \u2014 and combatting antisemitism are still welcome.<\/p>\n Steigmann, 85, does not discuss the Israel-Hamas war on his home page or in his bio.<\/p>\n During some posted online lectures, he makes it clear he\u2019s a proud Jew who supports Israel and the Jewish state\u2019s right to defend itself from enemies such as Hamas.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s happening in the Middle East, we will prevail. We will win,\u201d he said in a lecture posted on YouTube. \u201cIn every generation they tried to annihilate us. We prevailed.\u201d<\/p>\n He also urges students to join\u00a0STANDWITHUS \u2014 an international and non-partisan Israel education organization designed to inspire and teach people of all ages and backgrounds, challenge misinformation and fight antisemitism.<\/p>\n \u200b\u201dLife is based on the choices we make. Choose wisely,\u201d the elderly man writes in uplifting bits of wisdom posted on his homepage.<\/p>\n Steigmann, 85, does not discuss the Israel-Hamas war on his home page or in his bio. Instagram \/samisteigmannspeaks<\/p>\n \u201cNever be a bystander \u2014 be an UPSTANDER and part of the solution,\u201d says Steigmann, who has received the Harmony Power Award at the city\u2019s Museum of Tolerance and been honored by the state assembly \u201cas an example of courage, compassion and for his work speaking with students and visitors to New York.\u201d<\/p>\n Moshe Spern, president of the United Jewish Teachers, seethed in a Nov. 26 email to Brooklyn District 15 Superintendent Rafael Alvarez and aides to Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos that the nixing of the would-be speaker \u201cbegs the question of, \u2018Are we now censoring Holocaust survivors for their views of Israel?\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n Spern, the grandson of a Holocaust survivor himself, called the principal\u2019s stance \u201cappalling,\u201d \u201cdiscriminatory and \u201cpersonally offensive. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are only so many survivors out there who still speak,\u201d Spern said.<\/p>\n During some posted online lectures, Steigmann makes it clear he supports Israel\u2019s right to defend itself against Hamas. Sami Steigmann<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not meeting the moment,\u201d Spern said \u2014 as the city and nation has been reeling from massive jumps in antisemitic acts in recent years. \u201cThis is sending a message to Jews in [New York City public Schools].\u201d<\/p>\n He pointed to the mob of anti-Israel protesters who recently demonstrated outside the Manhattan Park East Synagogue uttering vile anti-Israel and antisemitic slurs. The synagogue\u2019s chief rabbi, Arthur Schneier, <\/a>is a Holocaust survivor.<\/p>\n Steigmann was born in what is now Ukraine on Dec. 21, 1939.<\/p>\n From 1941 through 1944, he was with his parents in the Ukraine at Mogilev-Podolsky, a labor camp in an area called Transnistria, according to his bio.<\/p>\n Steigmann was born in what is now Ukraine on Dec. 21, 1939. Instagram \/samisteigmannspeaks<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents told me that I was subjected to Nazi medical experimentation but did not go into specifics (too painful to remember.),\u201d he writes. \u201cAll I know is that I suffered all my life from neck, head and back problems. The severity was so great that I had days and weeks that I could not sit, lay down or walk (not all at the same time). My headaches were so severe that I was crying in pain.\u201d<\/p>\n At one point, he was dying of starvation, and his life was saved by a German woman, who gave him milk, he said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Brooklyn City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov<\/a>, a Ukranian-born Jew, joined Spern in accusing Rusch of engaging in censorship and discrimination.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s particularly abhorrent to deny someone who lived through the horrors of the Holocaust the opportunity to share his experience with students \u2014 particularly during a time when antisemitism is skyrocketing among our youth,\u201d Vernikov told The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only is this behavior repugnant, but the school is potentially engaging in viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment and of Equal Protection that covers religious or ethnic discrimination. To see public schools engaging in this conduct is unsurprising, and we will not sit idly by.\u201d<\/p>\n Rusch and the city Department of Education did not respond to Post requests for comment.<\/p>\n From 1941 through 1944, he was with his parents in the Ukraine at Mogilev-Podolsky, a labor camp in an area called Transnistria, according to his bio.<\/p>\n But Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 office defended the principal\u2019s decision that Steigmann \u201cwasn\u2019t the right fit\u201d to speak at the school.<\/p>\n \u201cMayor Adams is dedicated to ensuring all New Yorkers \u2014 particularly our students and young adults \u2014 hear stories from the genocide and oppression of the Holocaust, so we never again perpetrate such evil,\u201d a City Hall spokesman said. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile this speaker wasn\u2019t the right fit, we will continue to ensure our students hear from the living survivors of this history into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n The Post reached out to Steigmann, who did not respond.<\/p>\n The situation is just the latest controversy in the city public school system that has outraged Jewish activists.<\/p>\n The chancellor was forced last year to apologize for <\/a>linking a \u201cStop Gaza Genocide Toolkit\u201d in a Department of Education newsletter, sparking outrage in the Jewish community.<\/p>\n