Every generation inherits documents, artifacts, photographs, buildings, and places that tell the story of those who came before us. Whether those stories survive depends on the choices we make today. Preservation is often viewed as an act of remembrance or nostalgia, but its purpose is far more practical. It is about ensuring that future generations have access to the evidence they need to understand the past for themselves.
Original artifacts have a unique power. They connect us directly to history in a way that reproductions or summaries cannot. Standing before an original document, walking through a historic site, or examining an object that was part of significant events reminds us that history is not abstract. It was lived by real people who faced difficult choices, experienced triumph and tragedy, and left behind lessons that remain relevant today.
This is one reason museums, archives, and historic preservation organizations perform such important work. They are safeguarding the historical record. Every preserved artifact strengthens our ability to study the past honestly and to resist the temptation to simplify, romanticize, or distort it.
The Holocaust is now beyond living memory for most people, making physical evidence more important with each passing year. Documents, photographs, architectural plans, and the sites themselves help ensure that future generations encounter this history through facts rather than abstraction.
That conviction was one reason I chose to acquire an original whiteprint for the crematoria at Auschwitz-Birkenau. This is a chilling historical document that provides tangible evidence of the Nazis’ abominable crimes. Preserving artifacts ensures that they are protected, studied, and available to educate future generations.
That belief also inspired me to help The Counter Extremism Project acquire the former home of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, which sits right next door to the death camp. After being in private hands for the past 80 years, the house has been turned into The Auschwitz Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization (ARCHER at House 88). The home where Hoss and other leaders of the Nazi Party planned the elimination of over 1,000,000 people, mostly Jews, has been transformed into an international center dedicated to confronting antisemitism, extremism, and hate through education, research, advocacy, and cultural events. Exhibitions such as the story of Lore Sternfeld, a master lens maker at Astro Berlin who was murdered at Auschwitz shortly after delivering 150 lenses to the Nazis, help restore the humanity of those whose lives were stolen and ensure that the victims — not the perpetrators — remain at the center of remembrance.
Every nation, community, institution, and family possesses pieces of history worth preserving. Letters, journals, photographs, official records, works of art, and historic buildings all contribute to our collective understanding of who we are and how we arrived here. Once they disappear, they cannot be recreated.
We often speak about leaving a legacy for future generations. Preservation is one of the most meaningful ways to do so. It reflects confidence that the past still has something to teach us and humility to recognize that future generations deserve the opportunity to examine that past through authentic evidence rather than incomplete memories.
History belongs to all of us. Preserving it is an investment in the future — a commitment to ensuring that those who come after us inherit not only our achievements but also an honest record of the lessons, sacrifices, and experiences that shaped them.
Elliott Broidy is Chairman and CEO of Broidy Capital Holdings, a family office specializing in AI-driven public safety software. He is also the Co-Chair of the Fund to End Antisemitism, Extremism and Hate which supports the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization – ARCHER at House 88, an initiative of The Counter Extremism Project.
The occasion was Project Legacy’s annual Jewish American Heritage Month luncheon, an event that civic engagement leader Ezra Friedlander has, over the years, turned into one of May’s most substantive gatherings in Washington
Jewish American Heritage month wrapped up this year with something worth holding onto: a room full of senators, foreign ambassadors and Jewish community leaders inside the Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building, gathered to honor three individuals doing the kind of work the moment demands.
The occasion was Project Legacy’s annual Jewish American Heritage Month luncheon, an event that civic engagement leader Ezra Friedlander has, over the years, turned into one of May’s most substantive gatherings in Washington
“This year’s honorees reflect a deep commitment to public service, innovation, philanthropy, and the fight against hatred and intolerance,“ Friedlander said.
Malcolm Hoenlein, CEO Emeritus of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, co-chaired alongside Eric J. Gertler, executive chairman of U.S. News & World Report. Hoenlein helped establish Jewish Heritage Week with Ronald Reagan and Elie Wiesel in the early 1980s, which ultimately became the program now observed in May.
“As we witness the rise [of antisemitism]across the country,” he said, “this event is an answer to these outrageous actions.“
Senators and representatives from both parties filled the room.
It was Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) who set the tone of the room. “It’s just never been a harder time in my lifetime to be a Jew in America,“ she said. “As a Democrat, it’s my responsibility to call out antisemitism in my own party, just as I hope that Sen. Lankford calls out antisemitism in his party.“ Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) was seated in the audience along with Senators Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), along with Reps. Randy Fine (R-Fla) and Ken Calvert (R-Calif.). Remarks came from Rabbi Pini Dunner of Young Israel of Beverly Hills, Rabbi Mordechai Suchard of The Gateways Organization, and Rabbi Levi Shemtov of American Friends of Lubavitch.
Elissa Slotkin, Ezra Friedlander, Elliott Broidy
The three honorees – a Nobel laureate, a Beverly Hills rabbi and an LA philanthropist – each received awards.
Dr. Harvey J. Alter received the David Nassy Award, named for the first Jewish physician in Philadelphia, who challenged medical convention during the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic. A senior scholar in Transfusion Medicine at the NIH Clinical Center, Dr. Alter shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the Hepatitis C virus, a finding that transformed blood screening and reduced transfusion-transmitted hepatitis to near-zero worldwide. Elliott Broidy presented the award and called him “a gift from God to the field of medicine and the world at large.“ Dr. Alter offered his own theory on Jewish scientific achievement. “After years of intensive research, I’ve understood now why there’s such a preponderance of Jewish scientists,“ he said. “It’s because they all had Jewish mothers.“
Rabbi David Baron, founder of Temple of the Arts in Beverly Hills, received the Creativity in the Jewish Community Award for an early-childhood curriculum in altruism and empathy that started as a local community program and has since grown into a national and global educational initiative. The premise behind it is hard to argue: if you want to stop prejudice, you have to get to children before their frameworks harden. Adult education, legislation, enforcement – none of it reaches people at the moment when their understanding of the world is actually being formed. Rabbi Baron’s program does.
“Our great country was founded on the biblical principles that have kept the Jewish people for millennia and form the foundation of Western civilization,“ he told the room.
What brought Rabbi Baron’s curriculum to a global stage was a purchase made by the third honoree, one of the more striking acts of Jewish philanthropy the community has seen recently.
Elliott Broidy grew up in Los Angeles with his father, a World War II veteran and a Purple Heart recipient, and his mother who was a nurse. Broidy shared how his humble beginnings informed his philanthropic work. By his mid-30s he was already giving seriously to hospitals, synagogues and educational institutions across the U.S. and Israel. After Sept. 11, he spent three years on the Homeland Security Advisory Council, six on the LA Fire and Police Pension Fund, and six on the board of the Simon Wiesenthal Center–Museum of Tolerance.
Oct. 7, 2023 pushed him further and harder. Broidy now co-chairs, alongside philanthropist Dr. Thomas Kaplan, the Fund to End Antisemitism, Extremism and Hate – the organization behind ARCHER at House 88, the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization. ARCHER was built in collaboration with the Counter Extremism Project, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, and UNESCO, and operates inside the former private villa of Commandant Rudolf Höss in Oświęcim, Poland. The house is now a global center for research and public education on extremism.
The connection between Broidy and Rabbi Baron runs deeper than a shared ceremony. Broidy previously acquired at auction one of only two existing original architectural whiteprints of the Auschwitz-Birkenau crematoria, paying $1.5 million – a figure chosen deliberately to match the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered in the Holocaust. The document, authenticated by Auschwitz historian Robert Jan van Pelt, is the technical blueprint for Crematoria II and III, the main gas chambers of Birkenau. The auction proceeds went to Rabbi Baron’s early-childhood curriculum. A blueprint designed to end children’s lives was redirected toward building them.
Broidy received the Visionary Award and directed his proceeds the same way. In his acceptance speech, he returned to the values his parents had instilled in him.
“Success is not something you achieve for yourself,“ he said, “but something you achieve so that you can give back to your family, your community and your country.“Jewish American Heritage Month exists to recognize exactly this, the accumulated work of Jewish Americans who didn’t wait for conditions to improve before deciding to act. Three of them stood in the Kennedy Caucus Room and made a fairly strong case for what that actually looks like.
Today we’re speaking with entrepreneur and philanthropist Elliott Broidy, the Chairman and CEO of Broidy Capital Holdings, LLC and founder of multiple companies focused on defense, homeland security, AI, and public safety technologies.
Elliott Broidy is deeply involved in philanthropic and educational initiatives supporting Jewish causes and recently received the Visionary Award at the annual Jewish American Heritage Month Celebration on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. in recognition of his leadership in national security, Jewish advocacy, education, and combating antisemitism.
Elliott, congratulations on receiving the Visionary Award. What does this recognition mean to you?
Thank you. As a proud Jewish American, the award is profoundly meaningful to me on two levels: because it is connected to Jewish American Heritage Month and because I received it in our nation’s capital.
I have always believed that success comes with responsibility. I have been fortunate in business, and I have tried to use that success not only to build companies, but also to support causes that strengthen our communities, protect public safety, preserve Jewish history, and combat antisemitism. To be recognized for that work is humbling, and I am grateful to Project Legacy for having honored me in this way.
A major focus of your philanthropy has been Jewish causes and combating antisemitism. Why has that become such a priority for you?
The events of recent years — and especially on and after October 7 — have made clear that antisemitism is not a relic of history. It is an acute and growing threat that must be confronted seriously and proactively.
One of the projects I am particularly proud to support is ARCHER at House 88, the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization, which is located in the former home of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, in Oświęcim, Poland. You may know the house from the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest, in which it is prominently featured. Höss lived in splendor in that house with his wife and five children while orchestrating genocide just next door in the camp.
There is something profoundly meaningful about transforming a place once associated with the administration of mass murder into a center dedicated to combating hatred, extremism, and antisemitism, using the most cutting-edge of technologies in doing so.
As necessary as it is to study the past, we must be active in the present, because as I just mentioned, hatred of Jews and other forms of extremism have not gone away. In some instances, they have mutated, but at bottom they are the same primordial hatreds we have seen before. It is incumbent on us to understand how extremist ideologies evolve and how to recognize warning signs before tragedy occurs. We are living in a time where information moves faster than ever. Hatred hitches a ride to this torrent of information, which is why we are witnessing a veritable explosion of it online. That extremism, of course, spills into the real world and has horrible consequences: intimidation, violence, and murder.
Institutions focused on research, education, and public awareness are critically important if we want future generations to understand both the horrors of the past and the responsibility they carry moving forward.
You acquired an original architectural drawing of the Auschwitz-Birkenau crematoria. What motivated you to do that?
The drawing is an extraordinary and haunting historical artifact. When I learned it was available, I felt strongly that it needed to be exhibited prominently as a lesson for all time.
There are people in the world who try to minimize, distort, or deny the Holocaust. A deeply disturbing Economist/YouGov poll published in December 2023 found that one out of five Americans aged 18-29 believe that the Holocaust is a myth. That statistic rang alarm bells for me. That number should be zero.
Physical artifacts matter because they confront denial with undeniable evidence. They remind people that these events were real, systematic, and engineered by human beings.
The amount that I spent for the drawing – $1.5 million – was deliberately chosen to honor the memory of the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis. Ponder that number for a moment. One and a half million. It is unbearable. One and a half million young lives snuffed out, in service of a lunatic and evil ideology. One and a half million children murdered for the “crime” of being born Jewish. They were denied a future literally because they had been born.
That money will go toward a global early childhood curriculum that will place emphasis on altruism and empathy, which are key attributes that we need to instill in children early to inoculate them against the viruses of antisemitism, extremism, and hatred.
For me, preserving this artifact is about helping to ensure that future generations understand where hatred and dehumanization can lead if societies become complacent.
Your business career has focused heavily on public safety, defense, and emerging technology. What draws you to those sectors?
After 9/11, I felt a profound sense that I wanted my professional life to contribute more directly to protecting people and strengthening national security. That awful day changed the trajectory of my entire career.
My focus is on founding, investing in, and managing companies working in defense, homeland security, AI, and public safety. For example, my company LEO Technologies helps law enforcement agencies better manage overwhelming amounts of information so investigators can spend more time protecting communities and solving cases.
Technology is advancing rapidly, and I believe it can be an enormously positive force when applied responsibly – such as the ways ARCHER at House 88 is leveraging its power to go after the financing networks of extremist organizations. Some of the most important innovations today are the ones that help keep people safe, and I am happy to contribute to that.
What do you hope your legacy will be?
I would like to be remembered as someone who tried to use his opportunities constructively — to build businesses, create jobs, support important causes, and help strengthen institutions that matter.
I also hope people will remember that I cared deeply about protecting Jewish life and preserving Jewish history during a period when both became increasingly important. The fight against antisemitism, extremism, and historical ignorance is not someone else’s responsibility. It belongs to all of us.
At the same time, I hope my children and future generations understand that success is not measured only financially. It is measured by whether you leave a positive impact on other people and whether you use your position to help others succeed as well.
What advice would you give to younger entrepreneurs and business leaders?
Stay resilient and stay curious.
Every successful person experiences setbacks, disappointments, and failures. The difference is whether you allow those moments to define you or whether you treat them as opportunities to learn and improve.
I would also encourage younger leaders to think beyond quarterly results and ask themselves what kind of impact they want to have over the long term. Building a successful company is important, but building a meaningful life is even more important.
About Elliott Broidy
Elliott Broidy is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Broidy Capital Holdings, LLC, a private equity investment firm specializing in AI-driven public safety software. He is also the Co-Chair of the Fund to End Antisemitism, Extremism and Hate which supports the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization (ARCHER) at House 88, an initiative of The Counter Extremism Project.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The annual Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) luncheon was held May 19 on Capitol Hill, bringing together bipartisan members of Congress, foreign ambassadors, and civic, business, and religious leaders in the historic Kennedy Caucus Room of the Russell Senate Office Building to honor the enduring contributions of Jewish Americans to the United States.
The event was co-chaired by Malcolm Hoenlein, CEO Emeritus of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and Eric J. Gertler, Executive Chairman of U.S. News and World Report. It honored entrepreneur and philanthropist Elliott Broidy with the Visionary Award, Nobel Prize winning physician Dr. Harvey J. Alter with the Dr. David Nassy Award, and Rabbi David Baron of Temple of the Arts in Beverly Hills with the Creativity in the Jewish Community Award.
In accepting the Visionary Award, Broidy reflected on the values his parents instilled in him — his father a decorated World War II veteran, turned schoolteacher, his mother a nurse — and the lesson they passed down: that success carries with it a responsibility to give back to family, community, and country. He praised Dr. Alter as an embodiment of tikkun olam for identifying a virus that was silently claiming millions of lives, and recognized Rabbi Baron’s work building curricula around altruism and empathy in young people as among the most consequential being done in America today.
Broidy described the luncheon as more than a celebration of JAHM, calling it a reaffirmation of the shared responsibility to confront hatred and protect the values of tolerance, democracy, and human dignity at a moment when antisemitism has risen sharply both in the United States and around the world.
Various U.S. Senators participated in the program, including Richard Blumenthal, John Fetterman, John Hickenlooper , Elissa Slotkin, Ron Wyden, James Lankford, Jacky Rosen, Pete Ricketts, Jeff Merkley, and Tim Sheehy. U.S. Representatives Randi Fine and Ken Calvert also delivered speeches.
Rabbi Pini Dunner of Young Israel of Beverly Hills delivered remarks on the honorees, as did Rabbi Mordechai Suchard of The Gateways Organization and Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch.
The celebration traces its roots to the early 1980s, when Jewish Heritage Week was launched following discussions between Malcolm Hoenlein, President Ronald Reagan, and author and humanitarian Elie Wiesel, later evolving into the month-long observance recognized today.
The event was organized by Project Legacy under the leadership of Ezra Friedlander, whose work has made the Capitol Hill JAHM luncheon one of the most visible annual expressions of Jewish American civic life in Washington. Through Project Legacy, Friedlander has built a platform that brings elected officials, faith leaders, and community figures together each year to recognize Jewish Americans whose lives reflect the breadth of that community’s contributions to the nation. “This year’s honorees reflect a deep commitment to public service, innovation, philanthropy, and the fight against hatred and intolerance,” Friedlander said.
By Jewish Heritage Celebration Committee, May 19, 2026
The annual Jewish American Heritage Month celebration on Capitol Hill will be held in the month of May on 19, bringing together members of Congress, foreign ambassadors and leaders from across the civic, business and religious communities. The Congressional Honorary Host Committee includes US Senator Tim Scott, US Senator Jeff Merkley, US Senator Pete Rickett, US Representative Grace Meng.
During Jewish American Heritage Month, we honor the countless contributions of Jewish Americans throughout the United States 250 years of independence, and we celebrate their unwavering commitment to the values that make our country great.
President Trump, in his proclamation for May 2026 as Jewish American Heritage Month, calls upon Americans to celebrate the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans and to observe this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies. “I further call on all Americans to celebrate their faith and freedom throughout this year, during this month, and especially on Shabbat to celebrate our 250th year.”
The Capitol Hill event will honor Elliott Broidy, entrepreneur, public safety expert, and philanthropist, who will receive the Visionary Award during Jewish American Heritage Month on Capitol Hill for his leadership in national security, education, cultural philanthropy, and efforts to combat antisemitism, extremism, and intolerance.
Rabbi David Baron, spiritual leader of Temple of the Arts, will be receiving the Creativity in the Jewish Community Award for his contributions to Jewish cultural and religious life, Holocaust education, and public service through media, philanthropy, and international remembrance initiatives.
Dr. Harvey J. Alter will be presented the Dr. David Nassy Award in Medicine for his Nobel Prize-winning research leading to the discovery of hepatitis B and C viruses, breakthroughs that revolutionized blood safety and transformed the treatment of chronic liver disease.
“I am deeply moved to be recognized at the Capitol during Jewish American Heritage Month,” said Broidy. “Jewish Americans have helped build this country, and today, as antisemitism rises at an alarming rate, it is up to all of us to stand up to hate and advance the Judeo-Christian values on which America was founded.”
The event, organized by Project Legacy under the leadership of Ezra Friedlander, honors leaders whose lives and work reflect the enduring contributions of Jewish Americans to the fabric of this nation. Celebrating Jewish Heritage began in the early 1980s when Malcom Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman Emeritus of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a prominent figure in American and world Jewry, accompanied by author Elie Wiesel, met with President Ronald Reagan in the White House to launch the National Jewish Heritage Week, which has since evolved into a month-long celebration accords the country.
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz was the primary legislative leader behind the establishment of Jewish American Heritage Month. In 2006, she led a bipartisan congressional effort resulting in George W. Bush’s first presidential proclamation of May as Jewish American Heritage Month.
Once again, this year U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Troy A. Carter, Sr. (LA-02) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01) introduced a bipartisan Jewish American Heritage Month Resolution to recognize the significant contributions of Jewish Americans to the society and culture of the United States.
Malcolm Hoenlein, along with Eric J. Gertler, Executive Chairman of U.S. News and World Report will chair this year’s event.
“Jewish American Heritage Month is a moment to reflect on where we’ve come from, to celebrate what we’ve built and to recommit ourselves to protecting our most meaningful values,” added honoree Mr. Elliott Broidy. “I’m proud to stand alongside my fellow honorees and to carry that message into the halls of Congress.”
The Los Angeles-raised philanthropist is being honored for decades of work in public safety, Jewish communal life, and the fight against antisemitism.
Elliott Broidy will be among three Jewish Americans honored at this year’s Jewish American Heritage Month luncheon on Capitol Hill, receiving the Visionary Award at a ceremony on Capitol Hill on May 19th.
The annual event, organized by Project Legacy under the leadership of Ezra Friedlander, has honored Jewish American leaders since the early 1980s, when Jewish Heritage Week was established following discussions between Malcolm Hoenlein, President Ronald Reagan, and Elie Wiesel. Broidy will be recognized alongside Nobel Prize-winning physician Dr. Harvey J. Alter and Rabbi David Baron of Beverly Hills’ Temple of the Arts.
Broidy, 68, grew up in Los Angeles, the son of a World War II veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart and later became a schoolteacher, and a mother who worked as a nurse. He started working at age eleven – paper routes, Fuller Brush sales, plumbing jobs, salmon fishing in Alaska – and at 18 used his savings to buy a coin-operated laundromat to help put himself through the University of Southern California, where he earned a degree in accounting.
After becoming a CPA and working at Arthur Andersen, he spent nine years running the family office of Glen Bell, founder of Taco Bell, advising on investments in more than 120 companies. He later founded Broidy Capital Management. By his mid-thirties, he had begun making significant charitable contributions to hospitals, synagogues, social services organizations, and educational institutions across the United States and Israel.
The September 11 attacks drew him deeper into public life. He served three years on the Homeland Security Advisory Council, six years as a commissioner of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension Fund, and six years on the board of the Simon Wiesenthal Center-Museum of Tolerance.
The October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel prompted a further expansion of his giving. He has since directed significant support toward Holocaust remembrance, countering extremism through organizations including the Counter Extremism Project, and strengthening Jewish communal infrastructure in the United States and Israel.
“This celebration is an opportunity not only to honor the contributions of Jewish Americans throughout our nation’s history, but also to reaffirm our shared responsibility to confront hatred and protect the values of tolerance, democracy and human dignity.”
This year’s event is chaired by Malcolm Hoenlein and Eric J. Gertler, Executive Chairman of U.S. News and World Report.
Philanthropy has always been one of the most meaningful expressions of what I consider true success. As a businessman, I’ve had the good fortune to achieve financial success. But I have always believed that achievement without giving back remains incomplete.
I view giving not as a checkbox or a duty, but as a privilege. From the earliest stages of my career, I understood that thriving in business often means having the ability to help other people thrive—whether that means supporting hospitals, education, or the institutions of community that bind us together. On my website, I wrote the following words: “The true measure of philanthropy isn’t in what you give, but in the lives you help transform. There’s no greater reward than seeing your efforts turn into lasting impact—and knowing you played a part in making the world a little safer, kinder, and more just.” The sentiments behind these words motivate me every single day.
Central to my giving has been support of Jewish and pro-Israel causes. I believe deeply in the enduring value of Jewish life, Jewish heritage, and the strength of the State of Israel. Supporting institutions that nurture Jewish education, community, identity, and safety is about ensuring that future generations are grounded in values, culture, and purpose. I’ve been proud to contribute to organizations that embody that mission because I believe in vibrancy, continuity, and strong foundations.
Following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, my wife Robin and I intensified our support for initiatives combating antisemitism and extremism by becoming involved with The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and legal efforts aimed at reducing antisemitism on U.S. campuses and elsewhere.
I provided some of the funding that enabled CEP to purchase the former home of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, located directly next to the site of the death camp. This house has been transformed by CEP into the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization: ARCHER at House 88 (88 was and is code for “Heil Hitler” because “H” is the eighth letter of the alphabet). ARCHER is dedicated to fighting antisemitism and other forms of ideological and violent extremism that represent a threat to humanity by, among other things, using cutting-edge technology to disrupt extremist financial networks. I am Co-Chair of The Fund to End Antisemitism, Extremism & Hate which raises funds to ensure that ARCHER has the financial support it needs for its vital work.
Subsequently, I acquired an original architectural drawing, or whiteprint, of the crematoria at Auschwitz-Birkenau. This evil, but highly significant, document represents the earliest design concept of Crematoria II and III at the massive Birkenau complex, in which hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered. I secured the artifact for $1.5 million, a symbolic amount honoring the 1.5 million Jewish children who were killed by the Nazis. That money will support an early childhood curriculum that will inoculate young students against hate and extremism by teaching values like altruism and empathy.
We are living through dark times of resurgent antisemitism and increasing Holocaust denial.
The whiteprint is irrefutable proof of the Nazis’ genocidal intent, and the meticulousness with which that was manifested. It is my strongest hope that it will help to undermine Holocaust denial while, at the same time, educating future generations about the Holocaust. As such, it will be exhibited at Holocaust memorials and institutions dedicated to fighting antisemitism before it is permanently donated to a Holocaust museum.
My philanthropy also extends into other spheres, including healthcare and hospitals. Health is the bedrock of opportunity, of life itself. Giving to hospitals means supporting the caregivers, the research, the infrastructure that allow people to survive and thrive. It means being part of something larger than oneself—making sure that when people face their hardest moments, there is help. I’ve supported hospitals because I know that no matter your background or your beliefs, the fragility of life is universal—and our willingness to step up when people need care says something about our community, our values, our humanity. Specifically, my wife and I are donors to Boca Regional Hospital, The Cleveland Clinic in Weston, FL, and the Boca West Children’s Foundation.
Giving back has become integrated into how I see my place in the world. For me, philanthropy is about responsibility, legacy, and hope. It’s about creating conditions where others can flourish, where communities are stronger, healthier, and more stable. I believe that when we invest in others, the return is moral as well as financial or reputational. It’s the feeling of making a difference, of doing something that matters.
In a world of challenges—including antisemitism surging to levels not seen since the Nazi era—giving back offers a way to say: “I see you. I’m with you.” It reminds us that success carries with it a purpose and a duty to help others. That’s why philanthropy matters to me.
How the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization (ARCHER) is combining artificial intelligence, digital forensics, and philanthropy to identify, expose, and disrupt extremist networks before they spread.
In recent years, the fight against extremism and hate has become more urgent than ever. With rising antisemitism, violent extremism, and radical ideologies, the old methods of combating hate are insufficient in today’s hyper-connected world. As an entrepreneur I focus on investing in businesses that advance public safety and national security. I’ve come to realize that to effectively fight the forces of hate and irrationalism, we must innovate and combine cutting-edge technology with philanthropy.
The Changing Face of Extremism
Historically, extremism was something seen in isolated pockets of society: radical groups operating underground, often in the shadows. Today, however, the rise of social media, encrypted messaging apps, and global connectivity have brought extremist ideologies to the forefront. Radical, violent extremism, including virulent antisemitism which incites the susceptible and misinformed to violence, are no longer confined to hidden extremist groups; they thrive online, in the dark corners of the internet, and increasingly in public view.
ARCHER at House 88: A New Approach to Fighting Extremism
That is precisely why I decided to support the creation of the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization (ARCHER) at House 88, an initiative of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), a non-profit, non-partisan organization that was founded in 2014 by Ambassador Mark Wallace, Senator Joseph Lieberman, and former Homeland Security Advisor Frances Townsend.
With my help, alongside philanthropist Dr. Thomas Kaplan, CEP purchased the former home of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss at 88 Legionów Street (“88” was code for Heil Hitler because H is the eighth letter of the alphabet) in Oswięcim, Poland. The house, adjacent to the concentration camp, has been transformed into ARCHER, which represents a paradigm shift in how we combat antisemitism.
What sets ARCHER apart from other organizations fighting antisemitism is its relentless focus on action. ARCHER doesn’t just create programs that describe the horrors of the past or organize remembrance events, as important as those are, or research how many violent extremist or antisemitic incidents occur around the world. ARCHER develops AI-driven software tools to track violent extremist content on the internet, expose extremist networks, and disrupt the funding of terrorist and extremist organizations. The leadership and staff consist of former government intelligence officials, subject matter experts, and researchers who write important reports about existing an developing threats, and advise governments, multi-government commissions, and tech companies about how to counter these threats.
CEP and ARCHER use real-time data to identify hate before it spreads and strategically mobilize resources to stop it. In the fight against extremism, technology has proven to be both a weapon for hate and a tool for combating it. We expose extremist networks in reports, webinars, podcasts, social media, and traditional media to ensure that hate speech is no longer tolerated and allowed to proliferate under the guise of free expression. We are expert at finding all extremist content on the internet thanks to our partnership with the father of digital forensics, Dr. Hany Farid of the University of California at Berkeley. In 2016, Dr. Farid adapted his PhotoDNA software—designed to find missing and exploited children content on the internet—to create “eGlyph technology,” which enables social media platforms and governments to track where a particular piece of violent, inciting, extremist video, audio, or image has been uploaded and by whom. ARCHER is currently updating this software to enable platforms and governments to use general natural language queries to find all newly uploaded or downloaded extremist content, rather than searching for each identified piece individually.
Getting harmful and inciting extremist content off the internet, tracking terrorism finance globally, and teaching governments how to find and eliminate such material are all part of the arsenal ARCHER will use to counter the proliferation of extremist ideologies. Social media platforms like X, Instagram, and TikTok play an enormous role in the radicalization process, so it’s imperative that we hold tech companies accountable for the content being spread through their platforms. To help achieve that mission, CEP helped craft the language for the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act 2023, which requires platforms to take down violent extremist content or face severe fines. The law also requires platforms to use the type of technology that CEP developed to find such content.
Philanthropy in the Fight Against Hate
Philanthropy has always played a critical role in shaping our societies. As someone who has been privileged to support initiatives that promote public safety, security, and education, I’ve come to believe that fighting extremism requires not just government or military intervention, but active philanthropic engagement.
That belief is reflected in my work with The Fund to End Antisemitism, Extremism and Hate, which I co-chair with Dr. Kaplan. The Fund was created to support ARCHER at House 88 and ensure that the initiative has the resources necessary to develop its research, technology, and global partnerships over the long term. Initiatives of ARCHER’s scale require sustained investment, and philanthropy can play a unique role in helping ensure that organizations working to counter extremism have the independence and resources they need to act decisively.
That same sense of responsibility also guided my decision to acquire the original architectural whiteprint for the crematoria at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The document is a chilling reminder of how bureaucratic systems and meticulous technical expertise were mobilized in service of genocide. I acquired the document for $1.5 million to honor the memory of the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered during the Holocaust, many of them in crematoria like the one depicted in the whiteprint. That money will support the creation of a global early-childhood curriculum that teaches altruism and empathy—precisely the traits necessary to inoculate young children against extremism and hate.
I want the document to be studied and used as a powerful educational tool. It is irrefutable evidence of the Nazis’ genocidal intent and the thought and purposefulness that went into their attempt to wipe Jews from the face of the earth. My plan is to exhibit it at institutions dedicated to Holocaust commemoration and combating antisemitism before donating it permanently to such an institution.
Through education, action, and thoughtful philanthropy, we can make a profound difference in the world.
A Call to Action
We cannot do this work alone. These are global, whole-of-society problems and they require global, whole-of-society solutions. Each of us must take responsibility. As business leaders, philanthropists, and citizens, we have a duty to combat hate wherever it resides—whether it’s in our own communities, on the internet, or in the policies of other nations.
As we move forward in this battle, I’m reminded of a cry that has been seared into my consciousness from a young age: “Never Again.” The phrase was popularized by Elie Wiesel, the author of so many important works that described the horrors of the Holocaust and the genesis of the hate that led to it. But in his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech he added, “Sometimes we must interfere.” Hate doesn’t disappear of its own accord. We must fight to ensure that it cannot find fertile ground in which to grow.
In Conclusion
The future of global security and peace depends on our ability to work together—to harness the power of technology, philanthropy, and international cooperation to fight against the forces that threaten our shared values of tolerance, freedom, and human dignity. Only by working together can we arrive at a safer, more just world, one free from hate and the horrors that flow from it.
Elliott Broidy is an entrepreneur who has used his extensive experience and talent to found, invest, and in some cases, manage as CEO, more than 160 companies over his four-decade career. Since 2014, he has focused on technology businesses (including, more recently, AI) in the defense intelligence, homeland security, public safety, and law enforcement sectors.
At the end of 2025, an eye-catching headline appeared in several major news outlets: Robin and Elliott Broidy had paid $ 1.5 million for an original architectural drawing of the Auschwitz-Birkenau crematoria.
The fact behind the news was both significant and unusual. Private individuals rarely spend such a substantial amount on a single artifact, particularly one of such grave nature. In my 35 years working in this field, I can recall very few comparable acts. I wanted to understand the decision behind it in more detail.
It is known that only two original versions of this document exist: the one recently acquired by Robin and Elliott Broidy for philanthropic and Holocaust-education purposes, and another that was seized by the Soviet Army when it liberated Auschwitz in January 1945. The latter has been sealed in a Russian state military archive ever since, aside from a brief de-classification period in the mid-1990s when researchers were allowed limited access. It has not been available for review since.
Importantly, the amount the Broidys paid for the whiteprint was chosen to honor the one and a half million Jewish children murdered during the Holocaust. This dedication tells you everything about the significance of their acquisition.
The above photograph of murdered Jewish children hangs in the centre of my husband, artist Michael Rogatchi’s studio, and always will. The children are at his side as he works, and he spends most of his time there. They are always with him.
So we understand the power of Elliott and Robin Broidy’s gesture completely.
White-print of mass murder
Before me lies a typical product of a European architectural bureau or engineering office from the 1940s: clean, sophisticated, precise, confidently drawn lines, all executed by hand, lending the document an unsettling authenticity.
You look casually at the document, yellowed with age. It appears to be a precise drawing of an ordinary house. Then your eyes reach the two vertical lines at its centre, and your heart stops: a chimney, disproportionally large.
No wonder the Nazis tried to destroy all material evidence of their unspeakable crimes. Yet according to first-hand accounts I studied in the Simon Wiesenthal Archive, Soviet troops approaching Auschwitz in January 1945 were guided by the stench of burning bodies. The crematoria were operating until the very end.
Once you recover your breath, you notice the German bureaucratic stamps surrounding the carefully drawn structure with its heartrending vertical lines. The images become much more than an architectural plan.
As it is known, the first large-scale Zyklon B gassing experiment occurred on September 3, 1941, when 600 Soviet prisoners of war and 250 sick Polish prisoners were murdered in the basement of Block 11 at Auschwitz. Following the gassing, it became evident that the existing crematorium at the Auschwitz site could not adequately dispose of the bodies. Within seven weeks, SS architects from Berlin arrived in Auschwitz to address this ‘problem’.
Architect Walter Dejaco and others spent two days – October 22 and 23 – with Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and others to determine the necessary scale of the new crematoria. The white-print in question is dated October 24, 1941. It is also known that the plans were later amended and expanded and presented at the Wannsee Conference on January 20th, 1942, as proof that their plan to eliminate all the Jews of Europe – the “Final Solution” – was feasible.
The aged white-print produced 85 years ago is clear evidence of the careful planning that made the worst crimes in human history possible.
Today, sadly and alarmingly, the historic evidence of the crimes against humanity is seen with an additional gravity in a new context of the unleashed hatred that intensified after October 7th, 2023.
We are now living in a time when irrational hatred of Jews is being normalized and spreading rapidly. Within days of the October 7, 2023 massacre – the worst mass-murder of Jews since the Holocaust – virulent antisemitic lies were spread across traditional and social media by the antisemitic zealots and those who are orchestrating the new “normality”.
Within one year of the attacks, antisemitic incidents reached their highest level since the end of the Second World War.
One recent disturbing example: at the 2026 Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee ordered, produced, and sold merchandise featuring imagery from the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which were a triumph of Nazi propaganda. This is a profound insult to the victims of Nazism and their families. Yet today it is a new normal, or rather an old one returning, because we have seen it before.
Personal dimension
I have been to Auschwitz many times, to work, observe, film, and think. It is a difficult place to be, as is any Nazi camp. Without being there, one cannot grasp the meaning of Nazism. The horrors of what happened there are beyond rationality. They can only be understood through raw feeling after having seen such a place firsthand.
It is for that reason that I worked with colleagues at the European Parliament to propose mandatory school visits to Auschwitz and the other extermination Nazi camps. The proposal failed, officially due to parental objections, although perhaps some countries were simply unwilling or uninterested.
I work in Auschwitz, I think about the camp orchestras. Three large ensembles: two male orchestras and one female orchestra. The latter was led for a time by my great-aunt Alma Rosé. So, Auschwitz is personal to me.
Prisoners recalled that the orchestras were forced to play, among the other grim compulsions, during selections, when SS men decided at a moment’s notice who would live and who would die. Who could forget such a thing?
Professionals such as doctors and architects planned and implemented the extermination of millions of people. Many architects were never held accountable for their crimes, or were acquitted at their trials, despite knowingly designing facilities whose purpose was mass murder.
An Acquitted Holocaust perpetrator
The white-print’s author was Walter Dejaco, an Austrian architect with no notable career before the Second World War. An enthusiastic Nazi, he joined the SS in 1933, when it was still illegal in Austria, five years before the Anschluss.
This unremarkable man – so many of them were unremarkable, including Rudolf Höss – thrived for the first time in his life during Nazi rule, and he proceeded with his tasks happily. He even joked on his architectural plans, writing ‘Auschwitz’ as ‘Au / Schwitz’ , a pun suggesting sweat. Such ‘humor’ tells you a great deal about the atmosphere in which the Auschwitz-Birkenau crematoria were planned.
My dear friend Simon Wiesenthal told me about Dejaco many years ago. Together with Auschwitz prisoner and writer Hermann Langbein, Wiesenthal tracked Dejaco for years. Dejaco had been held by the Red Army as a prisoner of war from 1945 in the camp in the USSR until 1949 or 1950, when he was inexplicably released.
So, one of just four architects who had planned and constructed the Auschwitz-Birkenau crematoria returned home and resumed his profession. He built parish buildings and was thanked and rewarded by local clergy.
After persistent efforts by Wiesenthal and Langbein, the investigation started in 1962. It took ten years before it reached the courtroom. Dejaco and two of his assistants were finally brought to trial in 1972.
It was a fiasco. One assistant’s case was dropped, and Dejaco and Fritz Ertl were acquitted on the grounds that they had acted under “duress”.
Dejaco died peacefully in his bed in 1978.
One detail from the trial still haunts me. The trial was public, but nobody attended it.
“The hall was empty”, Simon Wiesenthal told me. “ Just empty. You understand?”
I did. And I did not. I still do not.
“We did it for ourselves” – a couple ensures remembrance
But the acquisition of the crematoria whiteprints was a personal decision for the Broidys.
“We wanted to find a way to use the money spent on this terrible, but historically important, document for something good”, Elliott Broidy told me. “In conversations with Rabbi David Baron of the Temple of Arts in Beverly Hills, we decided to dedicate the sum, honoring the one and a half million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis, to fund the Temple’s creation of a global curriculum that would teach empathy and altruism to children under five, inoculating them against the scourge of extremism”.
Michael Rogatchi (C). Faces of the Holocaust. 1991-1992.
I hope this new curriculum, teaching altruism, understanding, tolerance and humanity, will flourish. This is one of those rare stories showing that even the darkest history can, through human will, be transformed into something constructive.
Evil can, and must, be answered and overcome by good, even generations later. It can prompt us to rethink, revisit, and reckon with the most painful lessons of history and to draw from them, against all odds, understanding and moral clarity.
It is never too late, so long as the memory of every soul lost in the Holocaust remains alive.
This piece was originally published on JNS on February 18, 2026.
When I first saw the faded whiteprint, an architectural drawing of the earliest design concept for what became Crematoria II and III at Auschwitz-Birkenau, I felt the crushing weight of evil. This piece of paper with its neat geometric lines—so professional, so precise—was proof of the intent to incinerate the corpses of hundreds of thousands of Jewish men, women and children who would be murdered on an industrial scale.
I have dedicated much of my philanthropic work to support Jewish organizations and to combat antisemitism. I knew immediately that this artifact had to be brought to light, especially in our era of surging Holocaust denial and resurgent antisemitism.
That’s why I acquired the whiteprint for $1.5 million, a sum chosen to honor the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
The document, drawn by SS architect Walter Dejaco in October 1941, has been authenticated by Robert Jan van Pelt, one of the world’s leading experts on Auschwitz. Van Pelt has called it “quite literally irreplaceable.”
The whiteprint represents crucial architectural evidence of Nazi extermination infrastructure. It is a tangible link to the systematic planning behind the Holocaust and an irrefutable record of genocidal intent. Physical artifacts such as this provide enduring evidence of the Nazi pursuit of the “Final Solution.”
Yet preservation by itself isn’t enough. The whiteprint must be seen, studied and understood.
For that reason, I intend to exhibit it at various Holocaust museums and institutions dedicated to fighting antisemitism before permanently donating it to one such institution. Each viewing will be an opportunity to educate, to remember and to inoculate future generations against denial and distortion.
The proceeds from the acquisition will support an early-childhood curriculum designed to combat extremism and hate before they take root. By emphasizing altruism and empathy in young children, we can build immunity against the dehumanization that makes hatred and ultimately violence possible.
‘A particular responsibility’
The whiteprint acquisition is part of a broader commitment.
Working with the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, I helped fund the purchase of the former home of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss. At 88 Legionów Street in Oświęcim, Poland, the house sits directly adjacent to the camp where he oversaw mass murder on a scale that will forever be incomprehensible.
CEP has transformed the house into the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization (ARCHER) at House 88, which uses the very latest technology to disrupt the shadowy financial networks that extremists use to foment antisemitism, extremism and terrorism. What was once the home of a principal architect of genocide now houses scholars, researchers and activists working to fight against the mainstreaming of the evil Höss embodied. I serve as co-chair of the Fund to End Antisemitism, Extremism and Hate, which helps enable ARCHER’s vital work.
We are living in a time of acute danger. Antisemitic incidents have reached levels not seen in generations. Holocaust denial proliferates online, often cloaked in the dishonest guise of “just asking questions,” as it edges ever closer to the mainstream—a harrowing development. The survivors who bore witness to history’s greatest crime will not be alive much longer. And when they are gone, artifacts like the whiteprint, Holocaust museums and organizations like ARCHER will become our primary vehicles for transmitting memory and combating lies.
The Jewish philanthropic community carries a particular responsibility. We cannot shirk it. We must support education that cultivates moral responsibility and seriousness; fund research that exposes and disrupts contemporary forms of antisemitism; preserve and display evidence of the Holocaust (in addition to the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the most devastating massacre since the Holocaust); and build communal institutions that will outlast our lifetimes.
We must confront the most dangerous form of contemporary antisemitism: the systematic delegitimization of the State of Israel.
We must push back against those who accuse Israel of committing genocide, a modern-day blood libel that was once confined to the fringes of radical academia, but has escaped containment into the broader discourse around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
We must proudly support Israel and champion a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. We can differ in our views of particular Israeli policies, but we must never lose sight of what is at stake: the survival and security of the world’s only Jewish state, home to nearly half the Jews on the planet.
For a small people—there are only about 16 million Jews in the world today, fewer than on the eve of World War II—this work is not optional.
Elie Wiesel moved beyond vowing “Never Again” in his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, insisting instead: “Sometimes, we must interfere.”
Fighting antisemitism must be a sustained commitment expressed through action, scholarship and memory.
