[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 2273]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING MRS. LILLIAN GERSTNER

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 25, 2016

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and celebrate Mrs. 
Lillian Gerstner, who is being recognized by the Village of Skokie for 
her 25 years of hard work and dedication to make the Illinois Holocaust 
Museum and Education Center the wonderful place it is today.
  An only child born to two Holocaust survivors, Rosalie and Moses 
Polus, Mrs. Gerstner came to Evanston in 1969 to pursue a degree in 
theater and a secondary school teaching certification at Northwestern 
University. Mrs. Gerstner married her husband, Mr. Alan Gerstner in 
1976, and has two children, Michael and Lisa, born in 1980 and 1983, 
respectively.
  Mrs. Gerstner began volunteering at the Holocaust Memorial Foundation 
of Illinois on Main Street In Skokie in 1985. With her young daughter 
Lisa in tow, she began her services by stuffing envelopes, typing, and 
filing. When Lisa began school, Mrs. Gerstner's duties increased to 
include production of the monthly newsletter. Mrs. Gerstner was a 
regular volunteer for years, feeling very much at home among the small 
staff and the survivors who visited. When staff began requesting that 
Mrs. Gerstner join their team after the executive director, Ms. Pearl 
Karp, retired, Mrs. Gertsner declined initially, unable to take on a 
full time job. In the meantime, Mrs. Gertsner and the rest of the 
Foundation's staff worked tirelessly to convince Illinois legislatures 
to mandate a school curriculum inclusive of the Holocaust. All of their 
efforts paid off when, on January 1, 1999, Illinois became the first 
state in the nation to pass a Holocaust Education Mandate.
  On January 31, 1991, to the delight of the Foundation's officers, 
Mrs. Gertsner accepted her third offer to work as Executive Director. 
She was put in charge of a three-person staff and began working to make 
the Foundation's vision a reality. Her first year was focused on 
working with the Foundation's Education Director to provide 
professional development for teachers who were to begin implementing 
the newly enacted Illinois Holocaust Education Mandate.
  Over the years, the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois 
accumulated many memorable achievements; they include, but are not 
limited to: Production of four documentaries, one of which--``Choosing 
One's Way--Resistance in Auschwitz-Birkenau''--received the Chicago 
International Film Festival Hugo Award in 1994; onsite training to over 
2,000 educators to aid them in their teachings on the Holocaust; 
speaking to tens of thousands annually through the Speaker's Bureau; 
conducting annual creative expression competitions for children; taping 
survivor interviews, starting in 1991; conducting unique Yom HaShoah 
observances within the community; supervising Holocaust Expression 
Theater, a program to aid high school students in the development and 
performance of Holocaust dramatic material; and welcoming non-Jewish 
volunteers from the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace starting in 
1997.
  Mrs. Gerstner was an asset in the transition from the small Holocaust 
Memorial Foundation of Illinois on Main Street to the huge Illinois 
Holocaust Museum and Education Center that can be seen today, in 
Skokie, Illinois. From her work as site director for the Main Street 
facility until it closed in 2008, to Director of Special Projects and 
then Director of Public Programs in 2015, Mrs. Gerstner has truly been 
indispensable in both garnering cultural acknowledgment for the 
Holocaust, as well as educating and engaging youth and adults in its 
events and activities.
  Mrs. Gerstner is a remarkable woman who has dedicated 25 years of her 
life to the success of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education 
Center. I want to congratulate her for being recognized by the Village 
of Skokie during their Board Meeting on March 7, 2016; she is an 
outstanding member of society who has brought much-needed attention to 
the Holocaust both within her town, and nationally. I am proud to honor 
her today for her achievements, and look forward to all she will 
continue to do in the future.

                          ____________________