Florida Atlantic: A Blueprint for Peace

With a rise of antisemitism and increasing tensions around the world, the Holocaust, Jewish Studies and human rights education offered at Florida Atlantic University is more important than ever. Encouragingly, a 2020 survey by the Echoes & Reflections organization found that students who receive Holocaust education are more likely to challenge incorrect or biased information, confront negative stereotyping and stand up to those who display intolerant behavior. The programs in Florida Atlantic’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters take up this charge through meaningful and intentional curricula.

This begins with the Peace, Justice and Human Rights (PJHR) initiative, which highlights a key platform of the University’s strategic plan that aims to develop programs advancing the acceptance and understanding of diverse cultures. As a multiand interdisciplinary enterprise, the overarching goal is to create positive change locally, nationally and internationally through research, teaching and community engagement. Core components of the PJHR initiative include the Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education (CHHRE), and the Leon Charney Diplomacy Program.

“Florida Atlantic’s platform for Peace, Justice and Human Rights highlights the University’s strategic efforts to cultivate cooperation across cultures and academic disciplines,” said FAU President Stacy Volnick. “It is an essential component for the creation and advancement of knowledge that benefits all of society.”

The CHHRE supports this goal by training Florida’s educators to effectively deliver the state’s required Holocaust instruction. Each year, the center serves more than 500 K-12 teachers and 350 FAU students through professional development workshops, the annual Holocaust Summer Institute for Educators, travel-study opportunities and community programs. For every teacher who participates in these trainings, at least 150 students benefit from the lessons they impart.

Significant philanthropic contributions from the Guttermans, as well as Jay and Marilyn Weinberg, and Dan and Shoshana Davidowitz have helped fortify the CHHRE’s impact throughout the University and community. Supporters of the center consider it a deeply meaningful initiative with the capacity to create profound change for current and future generations.

“As a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, I know the human rights atrocities that my own family and millions of others endured,” said Dan Davidowitz. “The education enabled by FAU and the Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education does immeasurable work in providing our teachers and students everything that they need to bring tolerance, understanding and open-mindedness from the lessons of intolerance, persecution and hate.”

Florida Atlantic’s undergraduate students have further demonstrated that they are not only motivated to create change, but well-equipped to do so. The Leon Charney Diplomacy Program has won six titles in the National Model United Nations (MUN) competition, the world’s largest and most prestigious MUN program. In 2021, the program achieved an unprecedented triumph in the competition’s 95-year history by winning first place at both the Washington, D.C. and New York conferences in the same academic year. To date, participants have received 75 national and international awards for academic excellence. Many of them intend to leverage their diplomacy training and experiences in fields such as law, public service, foreign relations and international business.

The late Leon Charney’s confidence in the program “transformed it into a multi-college, university-wide endeavor,” said Jeffery Morton, Ph.D., professor of political science and director of the Leon Charney Diplomacy Program. Charney’s legacy as a lawyer, businessman and diplomat who helped facilitate the Camp David Accords also serves as a great source of inspiration for the student delegates who advance his cause of championing peace around the world.

Another path toward peace takes shape through Florida Atlantic’s Jewish Studies degree program, which enables undergraduates to engage with Jewish history, religion and culture in a dynamic and inclusive environment. By nature of its interdisciplinary approach, students can explore areas of language, politics, history, religion and other subjects that provide a foundation for them to become leaders in the Jewish community, or in an array of fields such as academia, advocacy and curation.

The Herbert and Elaine Gimelstob Eminent Scholar Chair of Jewish Studies plays an important role in the program by helping students and the community combat antisemitism while recognizing Jewish contributions to the world. Rachel Harris, Ph.D. serves as the Gimelstob Chair as well as director of the Jewish Studies program. Additionally, the Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair for Holocaust Studies, which was the first Holocaust chair established in the state of Florida, plays a distinct role in the program by advancing education about the Holocaust. Alan Berger, Ph.D. serves as the Raddock Family Chair and directs the Center for the Study of Values and Violence After Auschwitz. “As survivors of the Holocaust pass, we’re going to rely on educators to keep their stories alive,” said Michael J. Horswell, Ph.D., dean of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. “And with the rise in antisemitism that we’ve seen around the world in recent years, it is more important than ever that these lessons are taught. Thanks to our generous donors, future generations can obtain knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust, and an appreciation and respect for human rights for all, at Florida Atlantic.”

Understanding the Past, Reshaping the Future While Florida Atlantic has a long history and commitment to Holocaust and Jewish Studies, its future will be guided by the remarkable vision of the late Kurt Wallach and his wife, Marilyn Wallach.

In 2020, the Wallachs donated $20 million, the largest gift in University history at the time, to create the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Institute for Holocaust and Jewish Studies within the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. A portion of the gift will be used to construct the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building on the Boca Raton campus, which will serve as a hub for Holocaust, human rights and Jewish education. Their gift also supports endowments for a new research institute with a mission to deter hate, bias and discrimination, and to fund educational outreach activities, fellowships, scholarships, study abroad opportunities, research and more.

The motivation behind the Wallachs’ transformational gift was a matter of personal significance. In 1933, at 7 years old, Kurt Wallach and his family fled Magdeburg, Germany to Holland when his father was targeted for assassination by the Nazis. As antisemitism spread, Wallach and his family made the difficult decision to flee again in 1936, securing passage on the Queen Mary to the United States and settling in Cleveland. In 1944, on Wallach’s 18th birthday, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He served for two years during World War II as a “frogman” on Underwater Demolition Teams in Panama and the Pacific.

After his service, Wallach received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and achieved ongoing success as a business owner in multiple industries, including real estate and construction. Compelled to tell his story, Wallach wrote several books about his life, including a biography of his father detailing the tribulations under Nazi oppression. Additionally, he authored three textbooks on the Holocaust: “The Killing of the Jews;” “Murder Beyond Madness;” and “Man’s Inhumanity to Man.” He was 87 years old when he wrote the first book and 93 when he wrote the third.

With a staunch passion to educate, the Wallachs served as founding supporters of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., where Kurt Wallach’s oral history interview and family records remain archived. Wallach also delivered a sixpart lecture series for Florida Atlantic’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute about his first-hand experience with the Nazis’ rise in Germany. In recognition of his lifelong dedication to Holocaust education, Wallach received a gold medal from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2008 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Florida Atlantic in 2020.

“We speak for those who cannot speak. We remember all the victims, including our family members who perished needlessly,” he said during the gift announcement. “No one should ever be subjected to such horror. We hope that through the education we can provide that lives will be saved and history will not be repeated.”

With their significant contribution to Florida Atlantic, the Wallachs ensured their steadfast commitment to Holocaust education will remain relevant in perpetuity. Their son, FAU alumnus Mark Wallach ’04, also carries forward their legacy. Spanning three generations, the Wallach family has built a crucial bridge from an unimaginable past to a new horizon of understanding and hope.

Breaking Ground

Kurt Wallach passed away in September 2021, but the Wallach Building and Institute will carry out his desire to educate the community about the Holocaust and its atrocities. Florida Atlantic ceremoniously broke ground on the building in September 2022 and construction is expected to be completed in 2025.

“Our reason for donating this building is twofold: the first is to honor the memory of the more than 200 members of my husband’s family that were murdered in the Holocaust; the second is the hope that this undertaking will prevent other families from having the same loss that he endured,” said Marilyn Wallach. “Let us hope that our mantra at FAU, ‘Education is Our Best Hope Against Hatred,’ will make a difference!”

The two-story epicenter for Holocaust and Jewish studies will be approximately 18,731 square feet and will accommodate a 150-seat recital/lecture hall, computer lab, multimedia and production lab, student study room, conference room, classrooms and faculty offices. Additionally, it will include an exhibition area for displays from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the lobby will feature a Wall of Recognition and Remembrance.

Expansive, innovative and mindful of Jewish history and culture, the Wallach building will house the Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education; the Center for Peace, Justice and Human Rights; the Jewish Studies program; and the Leon Charney Diplomacy Program. Together, these initiatives will help empower students, educators and society to ensure peace and secure human rights through historical teachings.

“The Wallach building will provide Jewish Studies with a home, and enable us to host programming for students, faculty and the community,” said Harris. “It is an incredible chance for us to expand our current offerings and attract students with unique new opportunities such as oral history projects, media spaces, a research targeted classroom with access to Jewish archival materials and databases, and numerous film and media resources.”

Community Impact

Community not only holds significant value within Jewish culture but also plays a vital role in building the bridges that contribute to lasting peace. One of the most considerable organizations affiliated with Florida Atlantic’s Jewish Studies program and its broader Jewish community is Hillel of Broward and Palm Beach. Since the Levine Weinberger Center for Jewish Life opened on the Boca Raton campus in 2006, Hillel has significantly enriched the University community’s connections to Judaism and Israel through social gatherings, local service projects, trips to Israel, Jewish learning opportunities, Shabbat dinners, mentoring programs and more.

The vibrant and robust Jewish community that’s been cultivated at Florida Atlantic is especially important to the University’s partnerships with Israeli institutions. The Florida-Israel Institute, established as part of a Florida statute to develop academic, economic and cultural connections between postsecondary institutions and foreign countries, has welcomed a multitude of collaborations among students, faculty, researchers and institutional leaders. Today, Florida Atlantic proudly partners with Hebrew University and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology to tackle the world’s most pressing problems together.

With its current programs flourishing and the construction of the Wallach building on the horizon, Florida Atlantic continues to expand its presence as an epicenter for intercultural dialogue and academic excellence in South Florida and beyond. The University’s vision, driven by the dedication of students, faculty, community partners and supporters, will ensure that education serves to unite nations and eliminate hate in all its forms.