Lauren Apter Bairnsfather came to a startling realization soon after taking over as executive director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.
“When I started, people didn’t know there was a Holocaust Center in Pittsburgh,” she told the Union Progress. “Some people knew, but I’d often get, ‘There’s a Holocaust Center in Pittsburgh?’ ”
Founded in 1980, the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh was one of the country’s first organizations dedicated to Holocaust remembrance and education. Its current iteration is based out of Chatham University and offers everything from art exhibitions to teacher resources to events featuring Holocaust survivors.
Bairnsfather is a McKeesport native, and it “truly felt like stars aligning” when she returned home in July 2015 to guide the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh as it strived to expand upon its central mission. She will conclude her tenure as executive director Tuesday after nearly eight years at its helm that included helping to lead the Pittsburgh Jewish community’s healing process in the aftermath of the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue.
Growing up Jewish in McKeesport was “different than growing up Jewish in Pittsburgh would’ve been,” Bairnsfather said. Although there are still a number of synagogues in that area, there were few Jews her own age. That didn’t stop her from embracing her Jewish identity and eventually entwining it in her professional life.
Her educational journey began at the University of Texas at Austin. More importantly, it was during that time when she had the opportunity to intern at the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
“It really set me on this path of interest in memory, storytelling and Jewish history,” Bairnsfather said.
She went on to earn a master’s degree in Holocaust and memory studies from the University of Chicago and her doctorate back at the University of Texas. Bairnsfather spent the early 2010s as a researcher for her alma mater in Austin before returning to Pittsburgh as the Holocaust Center’s executive director, a move that she said “felt meant to be.”
Three years later, a gunman killed 11 worshippers inside the Tree of Life — Or L’Simcha Congregation building in Squirrel Hill. Looking back on Oct. 27, 2018, Bairnsfather feels grateful that she “had an immediate sense of purpose that day” because she had to pick up Holocaust survivor Magda Brown and her daughter from the airport for Brown’s previously scheduled speaking engagement on Oct. 28.
That program still went on as planned, which Bairnsfather said was exactly the “strong message of hope” she needed on the heels of such a terrible tragedy. As Oct. 27 unfolded, though, she recalled hosting Holocaust Center staff at her house and finding “a lot of courage in that togetherness.”
Since that day, Bairnsfather has become acquainted with many Tree of Life survivors and families of victims through her work with the Holocaust Center.
“[T]hat’s as great an honor for me as getting to know Holocaust survivors,” she said. “When I think about how often there are mass shootings in this country, I think about, how can we stop that? We shouldn’t have to live that way.”
Following the shooting, Bairnsfather threw herself into various efforts designed to combat antisemitism and move forward as a local Jewish community. She appeared in the 2022 documentary “Repairing the World: Stories From the Tree of Life,” moderated a virtual “Athletes Against Antisemitism” panel in 2021 hosted by then-Steelers offensive lineman Zach Banner, and served on a few working groups and committees for the nonprofit in charge of refurbishing Tree of Life.
Soon after Oct. 27, Bairnsfather was approached by Tree of Life Rabbi Jeffrey Myers about potentially moving the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh into Tree of Life once the synagogue was ready to reopen. Those conversations formed the basis of a plan currently in motion to fold the Holocaust Center into the new Tree of Life development. That project’s progression is partially why Bairnsfather felt comfortable making Tuesday her last day as head of the Holocaust Center.
“When you know it’s the right time, you know,” she said. “We’ve reached certain benchmarks that I’ve been working toward. … Having accomplished some major goals and with the new leadership at Tree of Life, it’s a good time for me to step back.”
Bairnsfather isn’t 100% sure what her next steps will look like, though she does have “a number of irons in the fire right now” that she’s exploring. Those include a book she’s in the process of writing and LAB Historical, a consulting company she’s trying to get off the ground.
Working with students grades six through 12 and their teachers on Holocaust education has been a highlight of Bairnsfather’s time with the Holocaust Center. She even got to do some teaching herself with eighth graders in her hometown of McKeesport, which “was so meaningful to me.”
She’s also particularly proud of art installations the Holocaust Center has brought to Pittsburgh, such as the traveling “Lest We Forget” Holocaust survivor portrait series and “OpticVoices: Roots,” a collection of photos from artist and Holocaust Center board member Emmai Alaquiva connecting the Holocaust to current events. Bairnsfather also talked up the Generations Speaker Series the center spearheaded that facilitates conversations between Holocaust survivors and their family members.
“We didn’t think we would still have Holocaust survivors in 2023,” she said. “It’s wild to imagine we still have Holocaust survivors. That too is an incredible part of this work. … It’s that human connection. There’s no substitute to that.”
As Bairnsfather gets ready for her next chapter, she wanted to thank the “strong core group of wonderful people committed to the Holocaust Center” for all their hard work. Reflecting on her regime brought her back to how Pittsburgh rallied behind its Jewish neighbors in the wake of Oct. 27, 2018.
“I will always be grateful for the way this city wrapped its arms around its Jewish minority,” she said. “This is a wonderful place. There are problems here, but the spirit of togetherness that exists in this region is unique and very special.”
Joshua covers pop culture, media and more at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Contact him at jaxelrod@unionprogress.com.