Through the years, students in Vestal High School’s Global History classes have learned about the Holocaust from a survivor who has shared her own experience with them in person. Now the story of Dina Rosenberg Jacobson, a 92-year-old widow from Elmira, will be shared with the world. The Vestal Central School District is privileged and honored to host a preview of the film “Blue Tattoo” at 6:30 p.m. on April 25 in the Vestal High School Auditorium, 205 Woodlawn Drive, Vestal, New York.
Many, many years ago, Jacobson, who survived three years in Auschwitz, was asked by then Elmira City School teacher Brian Adessa to speak to his students. He wanted to make the atrocities of the Holocaust real for them. At first she demurred. Then, Jacobson changed her mind. She still suffered nightmares from her experiences as a Polish Jew, separated from her family, then captured by the Nazis and interned in Auschwitz for three years. However, Jacobson wanted students to “never forget” the terrible things that humans can do to one another when they let hate into their hearts. She began presentations in Elmira, and then later at Vestal High School when Adessa began teaching social studies there.
The film documentary “Blue Tattoo” is about Jacobson, what she has shared with students and a song of the same name that acquaintance Joe Crookston, a folk song artist from Ithaca, New York, has written about her. It will feature the song and also testimonials by students who have heard Jacobson’s presentations. Produced by Marty Kerker and Rich Kellman, the film will be officially released at the International Jewish Film Festival in Buffalo on May 18, 2014.
The premiere is free and will be followed by a reception. In tribute to Mrs. Jacobson, goodwill donations will be accepted for “Raise the Roof,” a fund to benefit Hillel Academy’s efforts to rebuild its damaged school. Mrs. Jacobson plans to attend the evening, as well as the film’s producers, Kellman and Kerker. In addition, those interested in purchasing the DVD can place their orders during the reception.