Washington – Atlanta Hawks Take Meaningful Tour Of Holocaust Memorial Museum

Washington –  The Atlanta Hawks basketball team took what was described as a “surreal” visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Friday while in the capital.

As reported by USA Today (http://usat.ly/1pG1t8M) the trip was made even more powerful by a non-player – Irene Boyarsky, a concentration camp survivor and mother-in-law to Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson.

Levenson and his wife, Karen, also joined the tour group.

The team was introduced to Boyarsky, 85, before the tour, and were able to view a clip of Boyarsky speaking in a video recorded in 1998 for the visual history archive for the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation Institute.

In the video, Boyarsky discusses her experience in a Jewish ghetto in Hungary and a concentration camp in Austria. She also discusses her liberation from the camp and her life in the United States. Boyarsky lost two brothers but was eventually reunited with both of her parents.

The players viewed exhibits such as “Shoes,” an exhibit that displays 4,000 pairs of shoes from Holocaust victims. Levenson and business partner Ed Peskowitz, provide funding for the museum’s youth outreach program.

Dominique Wilkins, NBA Hall of Fame member and team vice president was also present.

Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer planned the visit last year after he was hired without knowing Levenson’s connection to the Holocaust. This visit, along with other character-building activities, are the coach and owners’ way of developing a player both on and off the court.

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