"Who Will Draw Our History? Women’s Graphic Narratives of the Holocaust, 1944-1949"
Host Committee Chairs
Irving Kempner
Irving Kempner, a retired vice-president of Gillette, is a long-time activist and supporter of Holocaust memorial programs and Jewish heritage trips for teens and adults to Eastern Europe. He is also a long time supporter of pro-Israel advocacy and promoting Polish-Jewish dialogue. He has led dozens of delegations to Poland and Israel. Kempner lives in Sharon, MA and with his wife, Mindy. They are the proud parents of three grown children and 11 grandchildren.
Debby Belt
A native Bostonian, Debby Belt has built a highly successful career representing buyers and sellers in some of the most competitive real estate markets. She is consistently ranked among the top one percent of Realogy Brokerage Group (RBG) agents nationwide and has been recognized as a Boston Magazine Top Producer every year from 2018 through 2025. Beyond her professional achievements, Belt is a long-time volunteer and community leader. She previously served as chair of Journey to Safety, president of the Angier School PTO, and a member of the executive board of Northwestern University Hillel. She also donates a portion of each sale to charitable causes. Belt graduated from Northwestern University, where she also earned a master’s degree. She and her husband, Erik, live in Waban with their labradoodle, Arrow, and are the proud parents of three grown daughters.
Rachel and Samson Munn
Rachel Munn is an HBI Research Associate, Chair of the HBI Holocaust Research Study Group, and Chair of the HBI Writers Group. She has a background in architecture and writing, exploring the intersection of place, memory, gender and history. Her current work traces the Holocaust at the kitchen table: motherhood, family Holocaust stories and a Holocaust inheritance. Munn was previously a Resident and Affiliated Scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center, has taught courses at Brandeis University, the Graduate Consortium in Women’s Studies at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, and the Wentworth Institute of Technology, and given guest lectures at several other colleges in the New England area. As a former Fulbright Fellow in Berlin, she looked at urban planning,memorials and memory of the Holocaust in Berlin. Munn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in Anthropology, with a Certificate in Women’s Studies and a concentration in Creative Writing, and received a Master of Architecture degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. She worked professionally as an architect for many years in the Boston area.
Samson Munn, a Fulbright Specialist in Peace and Reconciliation Studies and son of Nazi murder-camp survivors from Germany and Poland, has been involved in two sorts of Holocaust- related work for over 30 years: collecting and having paintings by Nazi-victim, École de Paris artists professionally conserved and exhibited; and, intensive, interpersonal, encounters with descendants of Holocaust victims in dialogue with descendants of Nazis, a subject of several documentary films. A practicing radiologist ,Munn formerly was Associate Professor and Vice Chair at Tufts, Professor and Vice-Chair at UCLA, and Medical Staff President and Department Chair at several hospitals.
Stephen and Gail Gerzof
Stephen G. Gerzof, MD, FACR is a retired Professor of Radiology at Tufts University School of Medicine and a pioneer in interventional radiology, credited with developing the non-operative treatment for abdominal abscesses and pancreatitis. Deeply connected to his Jewish heritage, he served as a “lone doctor” in the Yom Kippur war and continues to support Israel through philanthropic causes. He is also a dedicated tennis player, often on the court several times a day. He is a 50-year resident of Newton, MA.
Gail Gerzof is retired and was a City Planner for the City of Newton. She shares Stephen’s love of tennis and is an avid player herself. She has been a resident of Newton, MA for 50 years.
Host Committee (In Formation)
$500
Jen Adelson
Rachel Barenbaum
Rachel Coben and Roger Klein
Jane Taubenfeld Cohen and David Cohen
Danielle and Gregg Darish
Barbara and Robert Fierman
Mimi and Ron Golub
Roberta and William Greenberg
Robin S. Gross
Barbara and Steve Grossman
Esther Jacobowitz Israel
Lappin Foundation
Rachel and Samson Munn*
Pamela Norden
Gloria Rose
Fran Rosenzweig
The Schusterman Center for Israel Studies
Ellen and Steven Segal
The Tauber Center for the Study of European Jewry**
Heidi Webb and Andy Singer
Amb. (fmr) Barry B. White and Eleanor G. White
Rose Zoltek-Jick
$1,000
Debby and Erik Belt*
The Brandeis Library**
Mindy and Irv Kempner*
Lori and Jon Shaer
Candice and Howard Wolk
Studio Israel: Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Vilna Shul, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis
German Consulate of Boston
Brandeis President’s Initiative on Antisemitism
$1,800 - $2,500
Jessica and David Aronoff
Fran Feldman
Phyllis Hammer
Israeli Consulate of Boston
Jeffrey Kraines
$5,000 - $9,999
Gail and Steve Gerzof*
Suzanne Priebatsch
$10,000
Center for German and European Studies at Brandeis
Howard and Debbie Jonas
HBI Board of Advisors: Ellen Kornmehl, Leslie Gaffin, Naomi Goldberg, Phyllis Hammer, Alexandra Herzog, Valerie Lowenstein, Sylvia Neil, Ruth Nemzoff, Erica Abate Recht, Caron Tabb, Diane Troderman
$20,000
The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation
*Host Committee Chair
**In Kind
To join the host committee, please reach out to Cheryl Weiner, HBI Engagement Specialist.