Mazel tov to Kol Hadash student Gertie Harris. Her 2009 Bat Mitzvah project was to research the heroic accomplishments of Dr. Ho Feng Shan, a Chinese diplomat posted in Vienna in the late 1930s who signed visas allowing hundreds of Jews to escape peril as the Nazis rose to power.

Gertie's interest in Dr. Ho did not end with her Bat Mitzvah presentation. She and her family championed Dr. Ho's story and secured a position for him to be recognized permanently at the Fountain of the Righteous at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in a November 2009 ceremony.  A recent article in the Pioneer Press highlighted the story of Gertie's impressive work on this worthy project!

The Harris Family at the Illinois Holocaust Museum