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100 years after deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, its Jewish and Italian workers get a memorial
(New York Jewish Week) – As Allison and Rebecca Kestenbaum stood in front of a building in Greenwich Village on Wednesday, they were thinking about another set of sisters: their relatives Celia and Bess Eisenberg, who, as teenagers, worked at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.
Bess called in sick on the day that a horrific fire tore through the garment factory. Celia died, along with 145 others.
The tragedy transformed U.S. labor law and the building that housed the factory, now a New York University science building, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003. But until this week, there had never been a permanent memorial paying tribute to the fire’s victims.
One was unveiled Wednesday at the site of the factory on the corner of Washington Place and Green Street near Washington Square Park. The memorial was conceived by the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, a nonprofit group of descendants and labor advocates dedicated to preserving the memory of the mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant women who died that day and the fire’s impact on the organized labor movement.
“It’s remarkable to see people showing up who maybe didn’t have a connection but who feel moved by it,” said Allison Kestenbaum, who brought her two children to the unveiling from their home in San Diego. “This triggers emotions for a lot of people and opens our eyes to something that so many didn’t know anything about.”
According to the story that’s been passed down through in the Kestenbaum family, Celia, just 17, went to work alone on March 25, 1911, a warm Saturday.
Near the end of the workday, a cigarette butt ignited fabric scraps inside the factory, on the ninth floor of the Asch Building. As the flames began to spread, the women who worked there found that they had been locked in from the outside by management, who wanted to prevent the workers, who made roughly $7 a week, from stealing inventory as well as keep out union organizers. The fire was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in New York City history.
The memorial, in the making for more than a decade, includes a massive stainless steel ribbon that floats horizontally along the edge of the building — the names and ages of the victims are cut out of the ribbon. A stone panel underneath the ribbon reflects the names back to the viewers and also bears quotes from witness and survivor testimonies. On Wednesday, the reflective stone panel was also adorned with 146 white roses in honor of the victims.
Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke at the unveiling ceremony of a memorial for the 146 victims of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Oct. 12, 2023. (Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
“It’s getting some really beautiful reactions,” Uri Wegman, who, along with Richard Joon Yoo, was one of the two architects of the memorial, told the New York Jewish Week. “You never know how people are going to respond and I feel like we are accomplishing exactly what we designed the memorial to do, to transport and reorient people” to the events of the tragedy, the Israeli-born architect said.
Over the next few months, a vertical steel column will be installed to showcase the height from which workers jumped in a futile attempt to escape the flames.
The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition organizes an annual event on the anniversary of the fire, in partnership with Workers United, the New York City Central Labor Council, the FDNY and New York University.
“I’ve waited a really long time to say three words to you — three powerful words, and three extraordinarily sweet words: We did it,” said Mary Anne Trasciatti, the president of the coalition, at Wednesday’s unveiling ceremony. “By honoring the Triangle workers with this memorial, we are making a statement about the dignity and humanity of every worker, past and present. We are showing our support for baristas, auto workers, nurses, teachers, farm workers, warehouse workers, coal miners.”
Unions from around the city and beyond — including the International Ladies Garment Workers, the Steamfitters Union, the Laborer’s International Union, Actor’s Equity, United Automobile Workers and the SAG-AFTRA Union — sent representatives to the unveiling ceremony.
At the ceremony, labor organizers reminded the crowd about how the fire jumpstarted labor reforms and workers’ rights efforts, including activism and legislation that led to safety protocols, workers’ compensation, a 40-hour work week, minimum wage and pensions. They also used the opportunity to speak about workers’ rights today, pledging continuing support for the Hollywood actors’ and United Auto Workers strikes.
Hundreds of people, including descendants of victims, union members, local officials and labor activists came to the unveiling of the memorial, Oct. 11, 2023. (Julia Gergely)
The Triangle fire — with its large number of Jewish, Eastern European immigrant victims — also “galvanized the Jewish community, which had an already active labor base,” Ann Toback, the chief executive officer of the Worker’s Circle, told the New York Jewish Week.
Founded in 1900 as a fraternal organization to help Eastern European immigrants adjust to American society and workplaces, the Workers Circle was a central base for Jewish labor activists. In 1909, it helped organize an 11 week long general strike consisting of 20,000 young Jewish women in the shirtwaist industry. One of the only holdouts of the strike was the Triangle company.
After the tragedy in 1911, Jewish union organizers Clara Lemlich and Rose Schneiderman marched from the site of the tragedy to Cooper Square to demand new changes and more organizing.
“It did spark a new outcry of activism and The Workers Circle at that time was very much a center of labor activism,” Toback said. Jewish labor activists and Workers Circle members were also at the forefront of expanding the membership and organizing power of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, which became one of the country’s largest labor unions after the fire. The Workers Circle was a sponsor of the victims’ memorial at the site of the factory.
In remarks, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul shared that her grandfather, uncles and father worked in coke ovens at the Bethlehem Steel plant, itself the site of multiple fatal industrial accidents.
“I am so proud to be part of this effort to honor the names of those who were lost in that horrific inferno,” Hochul said. She called New York “the birthplace of the workers’ rights movement” because of “what happened right on this block.” New York State allocated $1.5 million in state funds to build the memorial.
A steel ribbon with cutouts of the names of the victims wraps around the former site of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory on the northwest corner of Washington Place and Greene Street. (Julia Gergely)
Hochul, who has been trying to maintain support for immigrants as the city struggles with the recent influx of nearly 125,000 migrants, connected the fire to the present day.
“Our workers deserve to be protected and we will fight to make sure they have those rights,” Hochul said. “This state is so great because of the immigrants, the migrants who came here. Let them work. We need them.”
Julie Su, the Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor, also addressed the crowd. “We can imagine the black plume of smoke up in the air, the flames that spread from floor to floor, the panic of the workers who ran and found closed exits and broken fire escapes,” she said. “Their cries for help and then the thud of bodies as they began to jump one after another.”
Allison Kestenbaum said she has always felt a strong connection to her relative and other victims of the fire. “I went to NYU. If I had been there two generations earlier, an immigrant, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to go to college — I would have been a seamstress in a sweatshop,” she said.
“It also relates to what’s going on in our present and our future,” she added. “The story and everything that came after is known throughout our country and in so many parts of the world for the tragedy and for all the changes that it inspired and continues to inspire. It’s very meaningful.”
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Scottish First Minister Faces Backlash Over Anti-Israel Stance as Jewish Community Warns of Rising Antisemitism
Palestinian supporters protesting outside a Scotland vs. Israel match at the a UEFA Women’s European Qualifiers at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland on May 31, 2024. Photo: Alex Todd/Sportpix/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Scottish First Minister John Swinney is facing fierce backlash after nearly 3,000 signatories accused his government’s anti-Israel stance of fueling antisemitism and endangering Jewish communities across Scotland.
Last week, Swinney announced that his government would halt new public contracts with arms companies supplying Israel, saying that “in the face of genocide, there can be no business as usual.”
In response to this latest anti-Israel move, the organization Scotland Against Antisemitism (SAA) sent Swinney a letter urging him to retract his “inflammatory language.”
“For the Scottish government to endorse this modern-day blood libel will not save a single innocent life in Gaza, but it will embolden those who now use the language of genocide to justify the harassment and intimidation of Jews here in Scotland,” the letter reads
The group also urged Swinney to engage with Scotland’s Jewish community and implement concrete measures to protect their safety amid a rising wave of anti-Jewish hate crimes and antisemitism.
“As you are no doubt aware, our small and increasingly vulnerable community is living in an extraordinarily hostile environment, one that has only worsened since Oct. 7,” SAA wrote in the letter, referring to the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel in 2023.
According to the group, Jews comprise less than one percent of Scotland’s population, yet they were the victims of roughly 17 percent of all religiously motivated hate crimes last year.
“That figure alone should be a matter of national shame,” SAA wrote.
Read our full letter to @scotgov and @ScotGovFM and sign here; https://t.co/J7KsOmaidJ pic.twitter.com/1oMpToxN0U
— Scotland Against Antisemitism (@SAA_scotland) September 4, 2025
Swinney’s announcement came after the Scottish Parliament voted to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly this month, joining a growing number of Western countries supporting such an initiative.
“Scotland stands proudly in solidarity with the people of Gaza in the face of genocide,” Swinney wrote in a post on X after the motion was passed.
I am proud that @ScotParl has overwhelmingly voted to call for the recognition of the State of Palestine.
Scotland stands proudly in solidarity with the people of Gaza in the face of genocide. pic.twitter.com/UyLXpitPWk
— John Swinney (@JohnSwinney) September 3, 2025
The government’s increasingly hostile stance toward Israel has drawn sharp criticism from members of Scotland’s Jewish community.
On Monday, a Scottish government spokesperson confirmed that Swinney met with members of the Jewish community following their request for assurances about their safety in Scotland.
“As the first minister made clear in setting out his statement to Parliament, the Scottish government deeply values our relationship with Scotland’s Jewish community and it is vital that they feel safe and supported,” the statement read. “There can be no place for antisemitism or hatred of any kind in Scotland.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), a UK-based charity, has released new research conducted by YouGov which showed that those characterized as embracing “entrenched” antisemitic attitudes in the UK had grown to 21 percent, the highest figure on record, showing a jump from 16 percent in 2024 and 11 percent in 2021.
The poll found that nearly half of Britons (45 percent) said Israel treats Palestinians like the Nazis treated Jews, up from 33 percent last year, and with 60 percent of young adults agreeing.
A striking 20 percent of young voters said that Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish state, while 31 percent disagreed. Similarly, 19 percent of British young adults justified Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities.
The data came after CAA earlier this year released a separate report revealing the extent of antisemitism experienced by the Jewish community across the UK.
In the past two years, half of Jews have considered leaving Britain due to rising antisemitism following the Oct. 7 atrocities, a figure that climbs to 67 percent among those aged 18 to 24.
According to the poll, 58 percent of British Jews choose to conceal their Judaism to avoid antisemitism, and 43 percent say they do not feel welcome in the UK.
In Scotland, almost 20 percent of Jews said they would not report an antisemitic hate crime to law enforcement, with almost two-thirds doubting that such acts would be prosecuted.
More than 80 percent of British Jews believe authorities are not doing enough to combat antisemitism. Three-quarters also voiced dissatisfaction with the way police have handled anti-Israel protests.
According to additional data provided by the Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the UK from January to June of this year. It marks the second-highest total of incidents ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following the first half of 2024 in which 2,019 antisemitic incidents were recorded.
In total last year, CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, the country’s second worst year for antisemitism and an 18 percent drop from 2023’s record of 4,296.
In one of the latest instances of antisemitism, two Jewish comedians were dropped from a major arts and culture festival in Edinburgh after staff cited “safety concerns” over their pro-Israel views.
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Spain Follows Slovenia in Threatening to Withdraw From 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if Israel Participates
Yuval Raphael from Israel with the title “New Day Will Rise” on stage at the second semi-final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in the Arena St. Jakobshalle. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa via Reuters Connect
Spanish Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun has joined Slovenia’s national broadcaster in threatening to withdraw their country’s participation in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) if Israel is not banned because of its military actions in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Urtasun appeared Monday morning on the Spanish news show “La hora de La 1 on TVE” and reminded viewers that in May, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the ESC, to ban Israel from the international competition. Urtasun said on Monday that if Israel participated in the ESC “and we fail to expel it, measures will have to be taken,” as cited by the Spanish daily newspaper La Vanguardia. He said he believes Israel’s participation in the contest cannot be normalized and tolerated.
Urtasun, who is also a spokesperson for Spain’s left-wing alliance Sumar, additionally denied that it is antisemitic to denounce the so-called “genocide” taking place in Gaza and described Israel as a “genocidal government.” He also said he feels pride over Israel’s decision to ban Spanish Deputy Prime Minister and Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz and Minister of Childhood and Youth Sira Rego from entering the Jewish state because of their antisemitic statements and criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced the sanctions early Monday against the Spanish politicians because of their “anti-Israel and antisemitic” comments and “support for terrorism and violence against Israelis.” Spain has condemned the move in a released statement. Sanchez is a longtime critic of Israel, and last year called for Israel to be excluded from all international cultural events, including the Eurovision, because of its military campaign targeting Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE will ultimately make the final decision regarding Spain’s withdrawal from the ESC.
Meanwhile, the director of Slovenia’s national broadcaster, RTVSLO, has announced that it will likely withdraw from the contest next year if Israel participates. Ksenija Horvat recently said that RTVE has reached out to EBU several times with concerns pertaining to Israel’s participation in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest and next year’s competition.
RTVSLO called for the expulsion of Israel from Eurovision 2025 and Horvat sent a letter to members of the EBU’s executive board that RTVSLO shared online in May about Israel’s participation in next year’s competition.
“We sent some very specific questions and proposals, just like last year,” Horvat said recently. “Last year we were more or less ignored. This year is basically the same. So, we realistically think that we will not be able to go to the Eurovision Song Contest. If we won’t be able to reach an appropriate system of participation, we will not be there.”
Even the winner of last year’s Eurovision, Austrian singer JJ, has said that he wants Israel to be banned from the Eurovision next year. The 70th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in May 2026 at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.
The EBU recently extended its penalty-free withdrawal deadline for broadcasters to mid-December, not long after the EBU’s General Assembly will convene and likely discuss Israel’s participation in next year’s competition.
Ahead of last year’s Eurovision, more than 70 former contestants, as well as public broadcasters around the world, called for the EBU to ban Israel from the competition. When the contest ended, and Israel finished in second place, Spain’s RTVE demanded an audit of the voting system after Israel was a favorite in the popular vote. The director of the competition and EBU’s executive supervisor of the ESC both denied accusations that voting was rigged in any way in favor of Israel.
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Jewish Voice for Peace Members Form New, More Radical Anti-Zionist Student Group
Pro-Hamas protesters led by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) demonstrate outside the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 14, 2024. Photo: Derek French via Reuters Connect
Some college students affiliated with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), an anti-Israel organization that has helped organize widespread demonstrations against the Jewish state during the war in Gaza, have announced that they are forming a new group, citing dissatisfaction with what they described as JVP’s insufficient efforts to “dismantle Zionism.”
The students announced on social media on Sunday the formation of the Anti-Zionist Jewish Student Front, an organization which they claim will take a more adversarial stance toward Zionism on campus.
“We work to dismantle Zionism in its entirety by confronting Zionist institutions on campus, to struggle for divestment, and to pursue the criminalization of Zionism as a white supremacist weapon of war,” the Anti-Zionist Jewish Student Front wrote on Instagram.
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A post shared by Anti-Zionist Jewish Student Front (AJSF) (@antizionistjewishstudentfront)
The group characterized the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel as a form of legitimate “resistance” and declared the Israeli military response as a “horrific expansion of the Zionist project” and a supposed “genocide.”
“In one month, we also mark two years of the strongest sustained resistance by the might of Palestinian journalists, doctors, men, women, and children, refusing to abandon national liberation and continuously defying vicious onslaught, backed by American dollars,” the group continued.
The Anti-Zionist Jewish Student Front claimed that it adheres to the Thawabit, a Palestinian nationalist framework that includes the so-called “right of return” for millions of Palestinians and their descendants to Israel, claims to Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital, and explicit support for so-called “resistance” against the Jewish state. Palestinian leaders and activists have described the Thawabit as a set of principles aimed at eliminating Israel and establishing a Palestinian state in its place.
Anti-Israel protests and antisemitism on university campuses exploded in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. During this period, JVP, an organization that purports to fight for “Palestinian liberation,” has positioned itself as a leader of the anti-Israel movement.
Despite JVP’s name, a poll released earlier this year found that the vast majority of American Jews believe that anti-Zionist movements and anti-Israel university protests are antisemitic. The findings — part of a survey commissioned by The Jewish Majority, a nonprofit founded by a researcher whose aim is to monitor and accurately report Jewish opinion on the most consequential issues affecting the community — also showed that Jews across the US overwhelmingly oppose the views and tactics of JVP.
Meanwhile, StandWithUs (SWU), an organization which promotes a mission of “supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism,” released a report in January examining how the farl-eft JVP organization “promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories” and even partners with terrorist organizations to achieve its “primary goal” of “dismantling the State of Israel.”
According to the report, JVP weaponizes the plight of Palestinians to advance an “extremist” agenda which promotes the destruction of Israel and whitewashes terrorism, receiving money from organizations that have ties to Middle Eastern countries such as Iran.
JVP, which has repeatedly defended the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, argued in a recently resurfaced 2021 booklet that Jews should not write Hebrew liturgy because hearing the language would be “deeply traumatizing” to Palestinians.
Critics of the organization often point out that many JVP chapters do not have a single person of Jewish faith. The organization does not require a Jewish person to found a chapter and has even helped orchestrate anti-Israel demonstrations in front of synagogues.