| July 2012 Newsletter | - American Friends of the Ghetto Fighters

Dr. Ehud Shapira will
head the Israeli Friends
of GFH Association
We are grateful to Dr. Ehud
Shapira for agreeing to assume
the mantle of leadership of the
Association of Israeli Friends of
the Ghetto Fighters’ House; we
wish him, and us, great success.
Dr. Shapira, born in 1944, has a
Ph.D. in economics and finance
from New York University. He
has 40 years’ experience in
banking and finance in Israel
and abroad, and currently
serves as chairman of the Psagot
Investment House, after having
held several senior positions
in Bank Leumi, including as
its Senior Deputy CEO with
responsibility for corporate and
international banking. Upon his
retirement from Bank Leumi,
Dr. Shapira became chairman of
Phoenix Holdings and a director
of Bank Leumi. Ehud Shapira is
married, the father of three girls
and grandfather of ten.
Dear friends and colleagues of GFH,
During the past year, the Ghetto Fighters’ House has undergone a process of significant and welcome
change, and this is beginning to bear fruit. Dr. Anat Livne took over as GFH Director and has brought
with her a new spirit, significant new directions, and a focus on activities that, I have no doubt, will
steer the Ghetto Fighters’ House toward attaining its objectives. During this period, Hadas Hochman,
Marketing Director, and Galit Globerman, Deputy Director in charge of Finance and Operations, have
also undertaken their new roles. New momentum is being generated by the revitalized management
that, together with the devoted members of the Board of Directors and staff, is moving the Ghetto
Fighters’ House forward. These welcome changes give new impetus to the task of ensuring the
sources and resources for GFH’s activity and growth. To that end, we are taking action on several
levels:
• We renewed our request to the government to make a special grant to the Ghetto Fighters’ House,
and I hope we are successful in this effort.
• We revived the activity of the “Israeli Friends of GFH” Association. I am delighted that Dr. Ehud
Shapira has agreed to head the Friends’ Association, and we are currently planning a strategy to help
raise funds for GFH’s various activities.
• We changed the structure of GFH’s fundraising arm and contracted the work to professional
fundraisers; I hope we’ll see positive results here, too.
The leadership of Dr. Anat Livne and her administrative colleagues should instill a sense of security to
all those who seek the good of the Ghetto Fighters’ House, knowing that we are headed in the right
direction with developing new exhibitions (three now in the works), renewed activities, and muchneeded
infrastructure maintenance.
Allow me to use this opportunity to thank the friends of GFH who have mobilized to help; the
members of the Board of Directors, who have staunchly upheld GFH’s ongoing operations; the new
director – and each and every staff member, for they are the heart of the Ghetto Fighters’ House.
Eli Gonen, Chairman of the GFH Board of Directors
Rafael Employees Volunteer in the Ghetto Fighters’ House
Over the last few months, the Ghetto Fighters’ House has undertaken a first-of-its-kind project: photographing the posters, maps, and family trees in the
GFH Archives. Many hundreds of documents of various sizes are being photographed by two volunteers from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Ltd.:
photographer Amit Bahat and his (and our) right-hand man Motti Preisler. The collections include anti-Semitic posters from Serbia and the Netherlands;
maps of Poland and Germany from the wartime and postwar periods; posters and notices from the Lodz ghetto; family trees from Mlawa, Poland; posters
about cultural programs by and for Holocaust survivors in DP camps in Germany and Austria; announcements about exhibitions and assemblies related to
the Ghetto Fighters’ House; and much more. The project will continue for several more months. We should mention that this is the third year that
Rafael employees have provided support to the GFH Archives staff in inputting and translating archival material – documents,
certificates, letters, and diaries. Their help expedites the information conversion process and enables
the general public’s access to these treasures.
At the front of IDF’s operational needs
And at the front of technological expertise
At Rafael we build Israel’s security
Since its establishment more than 60 years ago,
Rafael has been at the cutting edge of development of
innovative defense systems for all IDF branches, in some
instances ahead of the rest of the world. Rafael systems
give the IDF a significant qualitative edge and contribute
to the advance warning capabilities of the State of Israel.
Rafael is proud to be a partner of the Ghetto Fighters’
House in instilling the memory of the Holocaust.
Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.
Visit us at http://www.rafael.co.il
Ghetto Fighters’ House | Tel: 972 4 995-8080 | Fax: 972 4 995-8007 | www.gfh.org.il
ARTMEDIA GAATON