Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Appoints New Board Members
Press Release
Contact: Millie Jasper
Executive Director, Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center
mjasper@hhrecny.org Tel 914.696.0738
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Appoints New Board Members
The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) of White Plains, NY has announced Leah Rozenfeld Sills has joined their Board of Directors, and Caryn Tager Stafford has joined their Advisory Board.
Leah Rozenfeld Sills learned as an adult that her father, Stephen Rozenfeld, as well as her grandparents, Abraham and Eugenia Rozenfeld, escaped Poland and survived the Holocaust due to the immediate actions of Abraham who obtained transit visas from Bolivian Consul General Bilbao and subsequently through the heroic action of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese Diplomat stationed in Bordeaux, France. Sousa Mendes defied orders from his government and issued thousands of visas to people fleeing the Holocaust. Those people sought safety in Portugal and subsequently settled in countries around the world.
Sills presents her family’s story of escape, both in the US and in Portugal, and has been interviewed by national and international reporters about this topic. Her most recent exhibit titled “Call me Stefan” will have its opening in the U.S. this fall. This installation of 12 panels forms the shape of a Jewish star, and the exhibit will be offered to students and community members across the country.
Sills, a former librarian at the Riverdale Country School in Bronx, NY, holds an M.S. Ed. from the College of New Rochelle and a B.A. from The University of Massachusetts (Amherst). Leah is a longtime resident of New Rochelle, New York. She is a board member of the Sousa Mendes Foundation, a director in the Sills Family Foundation, and a community activist who previously served on the boards of Songcatchers, ArtsWestchester and Family Services of Westchester.
Caryn Tager Stafford is a practicing attorney. She is a graduate of Barnard College and Columbia Law School, and has been practicing Real Estate law for the past 35 plus years at several international law firms in NYC. She is currently Counsel in the Corporate Department’s Real Estate group at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and has worked there since 2005. Each year during her tenure at Weil she has been recognized as a “Pro Bono Super Star” and in 2023, was recognized as the Corporate Department’s Counsel with the most Pro Bono hours.
Stafford has represented many not-for-profit and charitable organizations over the years, including: The Boys’ Club of New York; Feeding Westchester; HIAS; 9/11 Memorial Organization; Breast Cancer Research Foundation; Cancer Care; Young Adult Institute (YAI); New Heights Youth, Inc.; Birthright Israel Foundation; Eden II School for Autistic Children, Inc.; The March of Dimes; Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; New York Legal Alliance Group; Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation; Black United Fund of New York; and the Bishop Ford School. She has also served as a Trustee and member of various committees at Westchester Jewish Center, the Scarsdale Schools PTA, and has volunteered at the New Rochelle Humane Society, Larchmont/Mamaroneck Food Pantry, Meals on Wheels (Westchester), and the Salvation Army Thrift Shop (New Rochelle) and has been an active supporter of YAI, an organization serving the Intellectually and Developmentally Disabled community.
This past year Stafford participated in the 2024 Ride for the Living fundraising program in Krakow, Poland, where she joined riders from around the world on a 60-mile bike ride from Auschwitz/Birkenau to the JCC of Krakow—a journey she described as one that “…symbolically bridges the tragic past of the Holocaust with the a hopeful future and rebirth of the Jewish community in Krakow.” and added “In the aftermath of the horrific events of October 7th and the recent surge in anti-Semitism in the US and abroad, I felt the more pressing need to continue to bear witness to the Shoah and support efforts to combat the scourge of anti-Semitism. My parents and grandparents fled Germany during WWII, but many other family members were not as fortunate and fell victims of the Nazis.”
”It is with great pleasure that we welcome Leah and Caryn to our Board.” said Michael Gyory, HHREC Board Chairperson. “They each bring a tremendous level of insight and experience to our organization, and enthusiasm for our work. We are very pleased to have them join us in our effort to promote education about the Holocaust and human rights at this critically important time.”
