Al Katz Center plans busy January in new Bradenton HQ

BRADENTON -- The Al Katz Center for Holocaust Survivors & Jewish Learning Inc. has opened its new headquarters at 5710 Cortez Road West in Cortez Commons in Bradenton.

The new headquarters 4 miles from the Gulf of Mexico seats 100 people and offers greatly expanded space for weekly programs and daily community services.

The community is invited to the grand opening receptions and Jewish art exhibit from 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 1 and 1:30-5:30 p.m. Jan. 18.

The late Al Katz was a long-time snowbird in Bradenton and spoke in dozens of schools throughout the area for years about his life as a Holocaust survivor. He was beloved by students for his candor and sincerity in sharing the most painful details he experienced during his seven years in slave labor and final death march to Dachau under Nazi rule.

Another milestone event at the new center will include the Frank Towers Conference coming to Bradenton from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 7.

Towers, famed as an officer who liberated 2,500 starving Jews from a death train sent from Bergen-Belsen, maintained contact with hundreds of survivors he rescued, and their families. He eventually formed an organization, the 30th Infantry Division Veterans of World War II, and has spoken widely about his shock at finding thousands of dead and dying Jews stuffed inside cattle cars on a train track at Farsleben, Germany.

All Holocaust survivors and liberators are invited to attend the conference for free, including breakfast and lunch.

Other events in the new center also continue Katz's work:

Noon-4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 1, "Jewish Movies & Munchies Day."

5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 6, "Anti-Semitism in Florida."

11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 11, "American Jewish Military History: Civil War."

11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 18, the Al Katz Center will feature a multimedia program: "Wannsee: Where Men Went Deadly Wrong," revealing the secrets of one of the world's most momentous conferences in history, when the final decision was made Jan. 20, 1942, by top Nazi officials to commit genocide against the Jews in Europe. Keynote speaker is local Holocaust survivor Kurt Marburg, who spent his childhood near Wannsee.

At Wannsee, 75 percent of the officials in attendance held doctorates, including Rudolf Lange, who was responsible for the mass murder of a250,000 Jews in Latvia in six months, including four young boys he personally shot in the necks in front of Holocaust survivor Al Katz, for whom the center is named.

Cost is $12 per adult and $3 per student, including study guide and kosher foods. An open house will follow at 1:30 p.m.

RSVP: Call Beverly Newman at 941-313-9239.

Noon Sunday, Jan. 24, "Celebrate the Festival of Trees."

5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, "Global Jewish Expulsions-Part I."

In addition to its year-round weekly Jewish programming, the Florida non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization provides free advocacy services to elders in guardianship crisis nationwide and assists Holocaust survivors in meeting daily and critical needs.

This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Al Katz Center plans busy January in new Bradenton HQ ."