Long Island Weekly Article: Andrea Bolender Outlines Goals for HMTC

Andrea Bolender’s wrist says a lot. The bracelet on that wrist is powerful, a constant reminder of what her father went through 75 years ago.

Bolender’s father survived the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, where more than 1 million people were murdered by the Nazis. Fortunately, he moved to America and was able to start a family. But the ink the Nazis used to tattoo an identification number on his arm evidently caused a rare cancer. He was given a few months to live, yet he survived for six years.

The number that stained his skin and eventually killed him 20 years ago is what Bolender engraved on her bracelet, which she proudly wears in the halls of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County (HMTC). After 15 years of holding multiple board positions within the Glen Cove-based center, Bolender recently became the chair of the center, replacing longtime chair Steven Markowitz.