Carol Simon will discuss The Counterfeiters in Westfield Nov. 19.
Photo by Robert Wiener
If You Go
What: Carol Simon will speak at the Jewish Film Festival of Central New Jersey screening of The Counterfeiters.
When: Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. (There is also a showing at 2 p.m.)
Where: The Rialto Theater, 250 East Broad St., Westfield.
Cost: $12; $10 for JCC members, seniors, students; $15 at the door
Purchase tickets at the JCC member services desk or visit www.jccnj.org. For information, call Michele Dreiblatt at 908-889-8800, ext. 205.
November 13, 2008
It could be a grueling experience, but Carol Simon says watching film after film relating to the Holocaust teaches her more about the resilience of the human spirit than about the torment of that time.
“The horror is part of it, but most don’t even show the camps. They show people who went through that horror and kept intact their Judaism and their soul,” she said.
As coordinator of an ongoing film series for the Holocaust Council of MetroWest in Whippany, Simon has watched well over 500 Shoa-themed films.
“I screen about 10 for every one that we show,” she said. And for each film she chooses, she puts in about 20 hours of preparation. This ensures that each screening offers something different and that she can answer questions posed by audience members.
That’s the same kind of preparation she has put into the Nov. 19 screening of The Counterfeiters in Westfield on Wednesday, Nov. 19. The film, winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, is the last one in the Fourth Annual Jewish Film Festival hosted by the Jewish Community Center of Central New Jersey.
She described the film as a “particularly wonderful” depiction of the true story of Jewish concentration camp prisoners who were forced to counterfeit foreign money for the Nazis during the war as part of their effort to undermine the economies of enemy countries.
According to Simon, for most people, unless they are survivors themselves, awareness of the Holocaust comes from their elders. Simon, formerly a corporate lawyer specializing in mergers, said she, however, learned from her children.
In 2003, her daughter, Samantha, was “twinned” with Holocaust survivor and activist Gina Lanceter of Montclair. Inspired by Samantha’s example, her older brother, Jonathan, now 23, made a connection of his own with a husband and wife who were survivors. Both young people undertook a responsibility to bear witness, committing to relating these people’s stories in 2045, when the first centenary of the end of World War II is observed.
Before her children became involved, Simon said, she had not been particularly engaged in the subject. Her family lost about 15 relatives in the Holocaust, but not people she knew personally. But seeing how profoundly the survivors’ stories affected her children ignited a new awareness in her. “I realized this wasn’t just about a piece of history, it was a way to teach our children about tolerance and to appreciate diversity.” Lanceter, who is cochair of the Holocaust Council of MetroWest, invited her to volunteer with the organization.
Still a volunteer, Simon now serves as finance director and project manager and is a member of its executive board. She originates, develops, and runs exhibitions of Holocaust-related art, and for the past three years she has been the coordinator of its twice-a-month film series.
Simon sees an urgency in the council’s work. “Unfortunately, our children are growing up in an atmosphere that is worse than I grew up in, with assimilation and anti-Semitism,” she said. “Yes, some things are better, but what is happening today is very frightening. Raising awareness about the Holocaust is my way of doing tikun olam, of helping to make the world a better place for our kids.”
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