On 2 June a function was held at the Cape Town Holocaust Centre to mark Marlene Silbert’s retirement from her position as National Education Director of the South African Holocaust Foundation, a position she had held since 2007.
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| Mervyn Smith, Chairman of the board of Trustees of the South African Holocaust foundation (SAHF) pays tribute to Marlene Silbert. |
Marlene was first engaged by Myra Osrin in 1997 to research and write the text for the permanent exhibition at the Cape Town Holocaust Centre. In 1999 she was appointed its first Education Director. Her deep knowledge of Holocaust history and her highly experienced education background made her the ideal candidate.
Marlene’s life-long commitment to human rights activism and her Jewish heritage informed all education programmes and education materials she developed. Her vision of a centre that, to quote from her words, …“memorialises and honours our brothers and sisters who perished in the Holocaust, and would also serve as a centre where lessons for humanity could be learned and compassion could be awakened” … has become
the bedrock upon which the success of the Cape Town Holocaust Centre and of those in Durban and Johannesburg has been built.
At the function Mervyn Smith, chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, announced the establishment of ‘The Marlene Silbert Prize for Holocaust and Human Rights Education’, in recognition of arlene’s pioneering work in this field in South Africa. The prize will be awarded annually to a post-graduate student from the education faculties of the Universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and the Western Cape for outstanding submissions which contribute to the teaching of this component of the curriculum in the classroom.
Through her compassion and great professionalism Marlene has impacted upon the lives of thousands who, over the past 11 years, have participated in her education programmes, which many have described as “a life changing experience”.
Whilst ‘officially retired’, Marlene will continue her valuable work of conducting programmes for adult groups from the civil service and the broader society.
