Major gift supports library resources at Bornstein Holocaust Center

The Fred, Gertrude and Henry Regensteiner Family Trust recently awarded a $350,000 grant to the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center to be used exclusively for the growth and maintenance of SBHEC’s library resources. In recognition of the gift, the SBHEC has renamed its library The Fred, Gertrude and Henry Regensteiner Library.

Fred and Gertrude Regensteiner, of Providence, lived modestly and saved throughout their lives before they created two trusts for their son Henry, who died in 2015. 

Norman Bolotow, administrator of the Regensteiner Family Trust, said the funds in Gertrude’s trust “were used to create a foundation called The Fred, Gertrude and Henry Regensteiner Family Trust to distribute the funds to organizations that she supported.” Gertrude’s parents were murdered in Auschwitz, so Bolotow said he thought it appropriate to give SBHEC “the most substantial gift from the trust.”

He continued, “Gertrude and Fred would be very happy with this choice of SBHEC to receive the proceeds of their trust. As I recall, Gertrude, before this trust was created, had made contributions to the Bornstein Holocaust Center and the Holocaust museum in D.C. Holocaust remembrance is something they felt was of considerable importance.”

The primary mission of the Bornstein Holocaust Center, in Providence, is to be an educational resource for teachers, students and anyone in the community who wants to learn about the Holocaust and its impact on our world. A significant portion of its budget is used to support the acquisition, cataloging and preservation of a wide range of Holocaust education resource materials, including books, images, videos and artifacts.

“It’s not every day that someone steps forward to make this size contribution to support Holocaust education,” SBHEC Executive Director May-Ronny Zeidman said in November, “and we are grateful that Mr. Bolotow, in the name of the Regensteiner family, has chosen our organization as the place to honor the memory of Fred, Gertrude and Henry.

“Gifts like this will help SBHEC to educate about the Holocaust, genocide, hate and discrimination for many years into the future.”

LEV POPLOW is a communications and development consultant writing on behalf of the Bornstein Holocaust Center. He can be reached at levpoplow@gmail.com.