UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Boaz Dvir, director of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State, will speak at 6 p.m. May 31 during the dedication of “A Philatelic Memorial of the Holocaust” at the American Philatelic Society in Bellefonte.
The Philatelic Society, which has curated the exhibit, will host the invitation-only ceremony as well as a free, public open house from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 11 at the American Philatelic Center, located at 100 Match Factory Place in Bellefonte.
The May 31 event will include remarks by:
- Boaz Dvir, a Penn State faculty member, award-winning filmmaker and director of the initiative, part of the Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative
- Scott English, executive director of the American Philatelic Society
- Charlotte Sheer, an educator who initiated the Holocaust Stamps Project with her students at Foxborough Regional Charter School in Massachusetts
In 2018, Foxborough students completed a nine-year project collecting 11 million stamps representing the victims of the Nazi regime. Donations arrived from Holocaust survivors, their families and others from 48 U.S. states and the District of Columbia as well as 29 countries. Known as the Holocaust Stamps Project, the project included peer-to-peer teaching tools created by students on various aspects of the Holocaust.
“As someone who spent hours each week growing up collecting stamps, I’m in awe of what Charlotte and her students put together,” said Dvir, an assistant professor of journalism at the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. “I’m so grateful for the American Philatelic Society for putting together this vital and vibrant exhibit.”