Assemblyman Anthony D’Urso and Great Neck attorney Michael Weinstock spoke with students at the Silverstein Hebrew Academy on the eve of Yom HaShoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day, on Wednesday, April 11.
Rabbi Zevy Geisinsky of Chabad of Great Neck extended the invitation after learning of the assemblyman’s heroic story.
As a little boy in a small town in Italy in 1944, D’Urso helped his family hide a large extended Jewish family from the Nazis.
“I am glad that I had this opportunity to tell these school children my life story,” the assemblyman said. “We must not forget our history and we must pass on our stories to future generations so that nothing is forgotten.”
Through extensive research, which culminated this past year, Weinstock confirmed the details of D’Urso’s family’s good deed when he located a diary written by one of the Holocaust survivors that the D’Urso family rescued.
In January, both men traveled to Naples, Italy, for a reunion of D’Urso’s extended family and the family that was saved.
Months later, Weinstock is still amazed by the information that he uncovered.
“It makes perfect sense that Mr. D’Urso should be speaking to kids about his remarkable experience during the Holocaust,” said Weinstock. “And it’s completely surreal and peculiar that I’m invited along with him.”
Read about their trip to Italy here.
