About HSE

Hope Springs Eternal: The Holocaust Project is a community collaboration that brings education and awareness about the Holocaust. Funding comes from the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies from the Blanche Beerman Holocaust Education Fund. This fund was established to enable high school students in the area to travel to Washington DC to visit the United States Holocaust Museum, and also for general education about the Holocaust.

The project has several components. “Fiddler on the Roof” is the cornerstone event. This local community theater production includes a cast, an artistic staff and musicians made up of your friends and neighbors from this region. We could not be prouder of this group and what they have accomplished.

Another component includes a series of concerts, plays, book discussions and exhibits all related to Holocaust education. Currently there is a mosaic art exhibit at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, a photography exhibit at Bottle Works. Coming up there are book discussions on women of the Holocaust, several plays, and much more. These events continue through spring of 2025.

Concluding our project in May of 2025 there will be a performance by the Johnstown Symphony of music that was composed during the Holocaust. Some of the composers of those pieces perished in the Holocaust.

The aim of the entire project is to educate about the tragedy of the Holocaust and also to recognize and commemorate the strength and resiliency of humanity.
I am extremely proud and grateful to be able to chair and manage this very special and important project.