No Place For Hate®
Stoughton
The No Place for Hate® Program empowers communities to respect diversity and prevent and respond to hate crimes in their towns. To date, more than 50 Massachusetts cities and towns have been officially certified 'No Place for Hate®'.
Stoughton Remember's the Holocaust
On Sunday, April 19, 2009, the No Place For Hate Committee celebrated the life of Aristides de Sousa Mendes by recognizing his magnificent efforts and successes, as Portugal's Consul General in France, in saving the lives of over 30,000 refugees, of which 10,000 were Jews. During the early days of the Holocaust, Sousa Mendes provided visas so that the refugees could leave occupied France and travel to neutral Portugal, where they would be safe.
Sousa Mendes set up a virtual assembly line and signed visas for the hordes of refugees who soon swamped his office and residence. He was eventually dismissed from the foreign service without a pension and died in poverty in 1954. Posthumously honored by Israel.
We had also invited Mr. Israel "Izzy" Arbeiter, a well known Holocaust Survivor. Izzy has been in the US since 1949, having been taken away from his parents one night, in October, 1942, he and his brothers were in one line and his parents and a younger brother in another. Izzy never saw or heard from his parents or younger brother again, later determined to have been murdered in the concentration camps.
Izzy has been a very responsible and knowledgeable resource regarding Holocaust events, having been a survivor. He has spent years helping in testifying against the Nazi's for their respective war crimes. Through the years, Izzy has been directly responsible for raising millions of dollars for both the US National Holocaust Museum and the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston. In fact, Izzy was a leader in the planning of Boston's Memorial, which is near Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
The Portuguese Consul General, Manuela Bairos, and Israeli Consul General, Rony Yedidia, were also in attendence at our event and both spoke of the heroism and courage that Sousa Mendes had demonstrated during this terrible time.
We were also blessed to have Roni Ginossar, an Israeli Singer, attend this important and historic event. She played beautiful Israeli songs, singing in Hebrew, during the candlelighting ceremony.
The NPFH Committee would like to thank the following for their donations
and or participation, which made this event such a success:
New England Sinai Hospital and the Men's Associates
provide a generous donation to NPFH-Stoughton!
Fighting Anti-Semitism and Hate
Responding to Hate focuses on assisting victims of hatred and bigotry, with the goal of ensuring respect for individual and group diversity. Community outreach and education is also a crucial facet of this initiative.
Monitoring and Exposing Terrorism and Extremism Due to its extensive fact-finding and research activities, The Anti-Defamation League is a leading resource for information and background on hate groups, extremists and international terrorism. We offer public education programs, perform legislative advocacy, and provide critical training on hate crimes and extremism to federal, state and local law enforcement.
A big THANK YOU to
New England Sinai Hospital and The Men's Associates
for their generous donations and for becoming 2009 financial partners!
2008 International Family Night 
2007 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration |
Funds and donations for this program were received from Massasoit Community College, Stoughton Chamber of Commerce, Stoughton Adult Basic Education Program, Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts at the Stoughton Library and Stop & Shop Market.
2007 ADL Annual Conference
