Local teacher Righteous Among the Neighbors honoree
Award recognizes non-Jewish supporters who take action against antisemitism
Over the past 25 years, Dr. Meg Pankiewicz has been fiercely committed to making the world a better place.
The Canon-McMillan High School English teacher, who holds a doctorate in Holocaust studies, teaches a semester-long elective course on Holocaust and genocide studies, and worked to earn Canon-Mac the Anti-Defamation League无毛视频檚 无毛视频淣o Place For Hate无毛视频� designation.
She also teaches Holocaust and genocide studies at Seton Hill University.
Over the years, Pankiewicz has welcomed Holocaust survivors into her Canon-Mac classroom to 无毛视频渂ear witness无毛视频� and provide first-hand testimony of their experiences during the genocide.
And in 2023, she organized for her high school class a screening of the documentary 无毛视频淩epairing the World: Stories from the Tree of Life,无毛视频� which documents Pittsburgh无毛视频檚 response to hate following the Oct. 27, 2018 shootings at the Squirrel Hill synagogue that took the lives of 11 Jewish worshippers. It was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Among those who watched the documentary with Pankiewicz and her students at the Frank Sarris Public Library in Canonsburg were members of Pittsburgh Families Bridging Kindness, a group of survivors and family members of victims of the shooting.
Pittsburgh Families Bridging Kindness took note of Pankiewicz无毛视频檚 commitment to 无毛视频渢ikkun olam无毛视频� 无毛视频� a Jewish concept of 无毛视频渞epairing the world.无毛视频�
The group nominated Pankiewicz for the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh无毛视频檚 Righteous Among the Neighbors Award, which honors non-Jewish Pittsburghers who support the Jewish community and take action to uproot antisemitism.
Pankiewicz and eight other 2025 Righteous Among the Neighbors honorees will be recognized at a celebration on Feb. 12 at the Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh.
To the members of Pittsburgh Families Bring Kindness, Pankiewicz is an unyielding force in the battle against all forms of hatred and discrimination.
无毛视频淢eg really goes above and beyond to promote peace and harmony with regard to antisemitism,无毛视频� said Carol Black, a member of Pittsburgh Families Bridging Kindness and a survivor of the Tree of Life shooting.
Her brother, Richard Gottfried, did not survive.
无毛视频淲hen I think about Meg and what she does and how she goes about doing it, she is the perfect person to be afforded this award. There is so much hate in the world today, it无毛视频檚 troublesome. If we can find a way to let young people know the world doesn无毛视频檛 have to be this way and that they can be the difference, that is important. And that is what Meg tries to do, to empower students to make a difference, even if she faces opposition. And if you reach even one student, you make a difference.无毛视频�
Pankiewicz said she is humbled and honored with the recognition.
无毛视频淚 feel like I do this work for all the people who survived and all of the people who didn无毛视频檛 survive,无毛视频� said Pankiewicz. 无毛视频淥ne thing that I无毛视频檝e noticed is my Jewish friends and professors in doctorate programs would always thank me for doing this work, thank me for telling their stories, and I无毛视频檓 on the other end thinking that I无毛视频檓 the lucky one, that I无毛视频檓 thankful and grateful for the opportunity to share their stories and to stand united against hatred of any kind. They have given my life purpose.无毛视频�
Pankiewicz credits Holocaust survivor Sam Gottesman, who she met while volunteering at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, with changing the course of her life.
Gottesman was a teenager in the former Czechoslovakia when Nazi Germany occupied his town. One of seven children, Gottesman was sent to several concentration camps, and only Gottesman, his father and one sister survived.
无毛视频淚 remember vividly meeting this sweet man, Sam, the first Holocaust survivor I met, and the profound impact he had on me,无毛视频� said Pankiewicz, who called Gottesman 无毛视频淶ayde,无毛视频� Jewish for 无毛视频済randfather.无毛视频� 无毛视频淜nowing him changed every aspect of my life 无毛视频� how I look at the world, how I act.无毛视频�
The two remained close until Gottesman passed away in 2019 at the age of 95.
Fellowships with the Holocaust Center and other organizations enabled Pankiewicz to complete research and field study throughout Poland, Austria and Belgium, where she visited concentration camps.
She remembers crying at sites like Majdanek Death Camp in Poland, where a mausoleum contains a mound of ashes of the victims killed there. She nearly passed out when she visited Auschwitz.
无毛视频淟anguage becomes completely insufficient when you try to describe what you are feeling physically and emotionally when you are standing in the gas chambers and at those sites,无毛视频� said Pankiewicz.
Pankiewicz calls the Holocaust 无毛视频渢he greatest cautionary tale we have,无毛视频� and said it无毛视频檚 important to teach lessons about such atrocities as the Holocaust 无毛视频� and the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides 无毛视频� to prevent them from happening again.
Allie West, a junior at the University of Connecticut with a major in human rights 无毛视频� and aims to be an attorney specializing in international law, was a student in Pankiewicz无毛视频檚 Holocaust class in 11th grade.
West was moved by how passionately Pankiewicz taught about the Holocaust and talked about how bigotry, racism and hate exists in the world 无毛视频� including the United States 无毛视频� today.
无毛视频淪he exposed us to the horrors of the Holocaust and other genocides, and she didn无毛视频檛 sugarcoat anything because she wanted us to be OK holding uncomfortable truths, and she expressed hope and faith in us students to make a positive difference,无毛视频� said West. 无毛视频淗er class ended up changing what I wanted to do as an undergraduate. She was always pretty real about realizing that this is the world we live in, but she instilled agency in us to work to do what we can to change things. I can无毛视频檛 express how grateful I am to her.无毛视频�
Jan. 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, held annually to mark the 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and to commemorate the 6 million Jews and millions of others who were killed under Nazi persecution.
For Pankiewicz, teaching Holocaust and genocide classes provides an opportunity 无毛视频渢o pass the torch.无毛视频�
无毛视频淚f you learn history and don无毛视频檛 apply it to your life, it无毛视频檚 just history. I always tell students at the end of the semester, 无毛视频榊ou are a witness now. You know better so you have to do better,'无毛视频� said Pankiewicz. 无毛视频淚 am so lucky that I get to do this work.无毛视频�