At his Bar Mitzvah almost two years ago, Hollywood resident David Broide asked his family and friends to make a donation to the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center rather than to him. The Center sent out a request for donations weeks earlier and because David had a grandfather who was a partisan during the Holocaust, he knew it was important to help the Center spread its message.
After collecting those initial donations, David pondered the gravity of 6 million people killed during the Holocaust and had an idea: David would commemorate the 6 million victims by collecting one penny for each person who perished. The action, he said, would help people understand what 6 million looks like and would help people never forget the victims.
“I want people to see the impact of 6 million,” David said. “I want to remember all those lives lost during the Holocaust and make sure everyone realizes that the Holocaust happened and affected a lot of people. It was a crime against humanity.”
The soon-to-be 15 year old has collected about 2 million pennies to date, and the Documentation and Education Center has the bottles of pennies on display.
“When you see all these pennies and bags, it really hits you,” said Helen Broide, David’s mother. “It’s amazing. We are so excited and proud of David. He’s an inspiration to us all.”
David said his main motivation behind the project comes from his grandfather, who always shared his stories from the Holocaust with his family. As a partisan, his grandfather survived by hiding in forests. Some Jews who managed to escape from camps even formed their own fighting units. These fighters, or partisans, were concentrated in densely wooded areas. One large group of partisans in occupied Soviet territory hid in a forest near the Lithuanian capital of Vilna. They were able to derail hundreds of trains and kill more than 3,000 German soldiers, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Hearing stories like these inspired David, and after his grandfather’s passing, David made a promise to keep his grandfather’s legacy alive.
The Holocaust Documentation and Education Center — founded in Hollywood in 1980 as a nonsectarian, nonprofit, multifaceted organization with a mission to put names and faces to the Holocaust victims — provided the perfect venue to do just that.
David chose to represent victims with pennies because he said everyone has pennies in his or her pockets. It’s easy to donate spare change, he said. He has received a lot of support from the community, and Helen said they have even received donations from people in New York, New Jersey and Costa Rica. If people send checks or dollars, David simply converts them into pennies and has them delivered to the Center by a Brinks truck. David has not decided what to do with the money once he reaches his goal because now he just wants to focus on spreading his message and collecting pennies.
“I personally feel that when younger generations see my project, they will realize that the Holocaust is an important thing to remember,” David said. “Whatever it takes to get to 6 million pennies, I’m willing to do.”
Anyone interested in making a donation can e-mail David at neverforgetneveragainpennies@gmail.com or visit the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center located at 2021 Harrison St. For more information about the Center, visit www.hdec.org.
