The Rabbi Leib Geliebter Memorial Foundation was founded as a pledge to the generation that was lost; we will not forget them, and we will not forget their dreams.
A non-profit educational project, it is named for a Talmudic scholar who led spiritual resistance activities in the forced labor camp of Czenstchow, Poland and in the Buchenwald concentration camp. After surviving the Holocaust and losing his entire family, Rabbi Leib Geliebter zt’l went on after the war to devote his life to reclaiming what was lost.
The Foundation has collected oral testimonies of survivors and develops innovative educational programs, documentaries, and resources for schools and communities.
- Began Oral Histories
Foundation founded and began oral histories of Holocaust survivors
- Training at the Center for Holocaust Studies
Participated in trainings for Holocaust oral history interviewers at the Center for Holocaust Studies in Brooklyn, NY.
- Founding supporter of the Museum of Jewish Heritage
Founding supporter of the Museum of Jewish Heritage--A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan
- Interviews
(1991-2005) Conducted videotaped oral history interviews with Holocaust Survivors
- Shoah Foundation
Organized meeting with 35 leaders of Orthodox Jewish Community with Shoah Foundation which took place at the Lauder Foundation offices. Joined with and received collaboration agreement with Shoah Foundation
- Ashes to Renewal
Produced documentary for Agudath Israel 1995: Ashes to Renewal. One chapter in accompanying book, "Ashes to Renewal : The Story of a Nation’s Immortality" is entitled "A Cry from the Bunker, A Mission in the Camps" under the overall heading The “Revenge” of Rabbi Leib Geliebter and the Renaissance of a Decimated People.
- V’Dibarta Bam
(1995-1998) Sponsored V’Dibarta Bam an educational program yeshivos where thousands of children learned Mishnayos children l”Ilui Nishmas the one and a half million children who perished in the Holocaust. Each of the children given name and information of a single child victim.
- Jewish Observer Article
Wrote a Jewish Observer article "Why We Must Record Stories Now"
- The World that Was: Poland
Sponsored “The World that Was: Poland” published by the Living Memorial and distributed by Artscroll.
- New York Times Interview
Interviewed by The New York Times "Painful Nazi Era Legacy: Hidden Personal Histories of Survivors" in connection with Secretary of State Madeline Albright's discovery of her Jewish roots and loss of relatives in the Holocaust.
- Zechor Yemos Olam Program of Torah Umesorah
Attended, recorded and videotaped historic committee proceedings founding Zechor Yemos Olam (ZYO) program of Torah Umesorah (TU). Sponsored the publication by ZYO of "Teaching Churban Europa to Our Children: A Mandate for Our Time" in written, video and audio formats.
- Reb Elimelech Tress Memorial Award
Reb Elimelech Tress Memorial Award for the Preservation of the Legacy of the Shearis Hapleitah.
- Seminars in Holocaust Teacher Training
(2002-2004) Provided seminars on use of oral histories and audio-visual programming in TU Zechor Yemos Olam's Holocaust teacher trainings.
- "V'nikdashti as Told By Survivors"
"V'nikdashti as Told By Survivors," the first of a documentary film series co-produced with TU ZYO, is shown in 350 school assemblies on the fast day, Asara B'Teves.
