The Butterfly Project - Jewish Remembrance Week Görlitz/ Zgorzelec

About Butterfly Project

The Butterfly Project is a call to action through education, the arts and memorial making. It teaches social justice through lessons of the Holocaust, educating students about the dangers of hatred and bigotry to cultivate empathy and social responsibility. By painting ceramic butterflies, which are displayed as symbols of resilience and hope, participants remember the 1.5 million children killed during the Holocaust. In this work, The Butterfly Project honors our commitment to the Survivors to Never Forget.

Our special Görlitz/Zgorzelec edition of The Butterfly Project will also include biography cards for Jewish child survivors from Görlitz- many of whose descendants will be present to meet with students during Jewish Remembrance Week. Additionally, director Lauren Leiderman will be working with Israeli historian Ulla Hadar to prepare biography cards of Jewish children from around Lower Silesia and Saxony. Around 200 students from both Görlitz and Zgorzelec will be taking part in our Butterfly Project.

The Power of Each Painted Butterfly

Each student has the chance to make a personal connection to the child on their biography card as they paint their own personal butterfly in memory of that child.

The powerful symbolism of each painted butterfly then getting fired in a kiln to emerge renewed, glazed and shiny, ready for display is remarkably impactful for students and the larger school community. The Butterfly Projects Founder CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Cheryl Rattner Price is planning to come to Görlitz to see the installation of this international collaboration.

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Our Team

Nicole Nocon

German Representative of the Butterfly Project

Nicole Nocon

German Representative of the Butterfly Project

Nicole Nocon (born 1969) is one of the Germans for whom it is an internal necessity to deal with the history of National Socialism and to keep alive the memory of the crimes of the Holocaust. During her history studies, she dealt intensively with National Socialism and privately with her own family history. Her motivation to support Holocaust-education in German schools is not a sense of personal guilt, but of responsibility – responsibility for learning from history and responsibility for the protection of values such as tolerance, democracy and humanity today and in the future. As a journalist and as a citizen of the city of Cottbus, Nicole Nocon has seen in her own environment how right-wing forces and hate preachers are becoming “socially capable” again and are increasingly finding followers. She does not want to stand idly by – sensitized by her preoccupation with history. In Steven Schindler, Nicole Nocon has found a friend and like-minded person with whom she shares the conviction that human rights must be protected and that acceptance, humanity and empathy must be cultivated from an early age. This is the basis on which they founded their generationE initiative. Nicole has a passion for literature, art and travel – across borders.

Judi Hannes Mendelsohn

Jewish Remembrance Week Görlitz/Zgorzelec Coordinator of the Butterfly Project

Judi Hannes Mendelsohn

Jewish Remembrance Week Görlitz/Zgorzelec Coordinator of the Butterfly Project

Judi Hannes Mendelsohn grew up in Baltimore Maryland and is the daughter of two Holocaust Survivors who were both born in Germany. Her mother was born in Berlin, her father was born in Görlitz. Judi now makes her home in Delray Beach Florida after spending many years working in the field of Long Term Care. Judi has an extensive background in marketing, public relations, crisis intervention and management. She received her training as a Health Information Specialist in Baltimore. After moving to South Florida Judi is honored to be one of the founding members of NEXT GENERATIONS, an organization of children and grandchildren off Holocaust Survivors. Judi is committed to honoring the memories of the 40+ members of her family whose lives were lost in the Holocaust. We have an obligation to educate, inspire and create change in the world. Judi is also the founder of The Nancy Dershaw Grant for Holocaust Survivors in Need which raises funds to assist survivors living in neighboring communities. NEXT GENERATIONS of Holocaust Survivors and MorseLife Health Systems in Palm Beach Florida have united to offer critical educational resources in South Florida. As MorseLife and NEXT GENERATIONS worked together to bring the Butterfly project to Palm Beach County, Judi became inspired about the possibility of bringing the Butterfly Project to Görlitz (the birthplace of her father and home to her extensive family) as well as Zgorzelec Earlier this year Judi introduced Lauren Leiderman, the founder and Director of Jewish Remembrance Week Görlitz/Zgorzelec to co-founder of the Butterfly Project, Cheryl Rattner Price. Judi is thrilled to know that the Butterfly Project will be initiated into the schools in both Görltiz and Zgorzelec to bring much needed Holocaust education to the students. Judi feels truly honored to be part of this most important international project.

Cheryl Rattner Price

Executive Director of the Butterfly Project

Cheryl Rattner Price

Executive Director of the Butterfly Project

Cheryl Rattner Price has over 30 years experience in ceramics, sculpture and architectural design, creating public art that brings communities together for a cause. In addition to her work as Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Butterfly Project, she has been a pioneer for San Diego’s Anti Defamation League (ADL) Holocaust Education Conferences, particularly developing Holocaust survivor relationships with educators and students. Passionate about art, education and tolerance, board memberships include The Agency for Jewish Education and San Diego Center for Jewish Culture (JCC/CJC). Her role has expanded globally, coaching educators and artists to create impact and meaning through the effective use of The Butterfly Project for people of all faiths.

Lauren Leiderman

Project Historian: Oberlausitz & Niederschlesien Butterfly Project

Lauren Leiderman

Project Historian: Oberlausitz & Niederschlesien Butterfly Project

Lauren is an adamant preserver of Jewish history in Görlitz and the surrounding region. Through her work, she has connected more than 100 Jewish descendants from around the world with each other. Through this unique descendants network, Lauren has helped to create a data base of hundreds of photos, interviews, and artefacts from the pre-1945 Jewish community of Görlitz. In the spring of 2020, Lauren organized the first mass-effort cleanup of the Jewish Cemetery in Görlitz in recent years. She did this while in direct contact with her friend Rabbi Akiva Weingarten and each of the descendants whose relatives are buried in the Görlitz Jewish Cemetery. In 2021, Lauren became an author after publishing house Hentrich and Hentrich published “The Poesie Album of Eva Goldberg”- a conglomeration of the research that Lauren had gathered about Eva Goldberg (whose life and Poesiealbum was completely unknown by the local Görlitz and Zgorzelec population including both cities’ top historical experts). Using her method of “finding people” she was able to discover histories and add photos of many who signed Eva Goldberg’s book- which included Anne Frank. It was published in three languages: Polish, English, and German. Lauren is one of the administrators of the Stolperstein Guide Görlitz/Zgorzelec. During her time as an administrator, she has organised the installation of 39 Stolpersteine in Görlitz, nearly tripling the number of Stolpersteine in the city in less than 2 years. In November 2021, Lauren organized the first Jewish Remembrance Week in Görlitz. Through her relationship with the US Consulate in Leipzig, Lauren wrote a grant to fund the travel for 20 Jewish descendants from around the world who came to Görlitz for the 2021 JRW festivities. This included multiple events detailing themes of Jewish history and culture specific to the city of Görlitz, all of which were led by descendants and international experts in the thematic fields. During this week, Lauren was able to organize the first trip made by Jewish people to the site of the Tormersdorf Concentration Camp- where many of the visitor’s ancestors were interned. Lauren is two-time simul⁺Mitmachfonds prize winner. She will be using this prize to further educational endeavours in Görlitz and the region. Lauren is an employee of the Hillersche Villa GgmbH in Zittau, Germany, where she is a member of the Netzwerkstatt Team. She serves as an educator and expert for the region’s Jewish history. Lauren is a proud member of a Jewish family. In her free time, Lauren enjoys foraging for mushrooms, baking, traveling (especially to Israel), playing the piano, and spending time with her family: Mark, Aidan, Abital, and miniature schnauzer Tallulah.

Ulla Hadar

Project Historian & Geneologist: Oberlausitz & Niederschlesien Butterfly Project

Ulla Hadar

Project Historian & Geneologist: Oberlausitz & Niederschlesien Butterfly Project

Ulla Hadar, born 1958 in Denmark, BA in Economics, arrived in Israel in 1982, came to kibbutz Ruhama as a volunteer. Found her soul mate Rafi, a native kibbutz member, born to Italian Holocaust survivors. Have three children and four grandchildren. Worked for 25 years in Hi Tech. In 2012, Ulla decided to do something else, so she became a certified bike tutor and ran a bike school for five years teaching children and seniors to ride a bike. Ulla loves sports and has participated in many competitive runs and bike competitions. In 2017 by coincidence, she became aware of the story of a Danish soldier, who came with the Australian forces to fight in British Mandate Palestine and was killed in the Battle of Beer Sheva 31.10.1917. This was the beginning to a new chapter of research. The first soldier led to the research of 450 Anzac (Australian and New Zealand corpse) soldiers all buried in today's Israel. Since 2008 Ulla has been involved with The Butterfly Project, whose target is to commemorate the 1.5 million children murdered in the Holocaust, by creating ceramic butterflies. These butterflies hang all over the world in permanent exhibits, walls or sculptures. It was a small step from the research of the soldiers to reach out to Holocaust survivors (1 and 2 generations). Ulla helps to get them answers to their questions of lost family members during WW2, and also build their family tree including photos if they can be located. Many times, she has succeeded in building back bridges for families around the world.