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Discussion group ousted from library 20 to 40 participants each week, Gold said. The group tried to continue its discussion in the A long-running senior dis- library’s public space after cussion group has been forced being barred from the meeting to relocate to a local church room, but members were asked after being locked out of its to leave because they were meeting room at the Hewlett being too disruptive, Lotte Woodmere Public Library over Kaplowitz, one of the members, insurance requiresaid. ments. She added that The group, library officials known as Informal called the police on Discussion, has met the group. weekly at the “These are all library for two seniors, and they decades, every Frilook forward to day from 10:30 a.m. meetings,” Kaplowto noon. Members itz said. “They were barred from kicked us out of the their usual room on library because Nov. 1, when library we’re too loud.” officials enforced Library Director r e c e n t l y u p d a t e d JAy GoLd Michelle Young facility-use policies Informal Discussion defended the policy requiring separate moderator enforcement in an insurance coverage emailed statement, for community saying the library groups. had attempted to work with the “We’ve met for 1,000 meet- group to meet new insurance ings and now, last week, we requirements. were locked out,” Jay Gold, “The Library welcomes indimoderator of the discussions, viduals and community groups said. “There was a sign on the to use its facilities and resourcdoor that said no meeting, es, provided that this use comwhich was the library’s deci- plies with Library Board polision.” cies,” Young wrote. “The group Informal Discussion draws
By PARKER SCHUG
pschug@liherald.com
T
Courtesy Douglas Segan
Benjamin Segan and his wife, Judith, in 1946, the year after he returned from the war, when they were moving into their home in Floral Park, Queens.
Letters from World War II are ‘a researcher’s dream’ By MELISSA BERMAN mberman@liherald.com
Benjamin Segan, of Woodmere, wrote letters to his fiancée, Judith Berman, while he was serving in World War II. He wrote her lots of letters — a total of 740. Segan was drafted at age 19 on April 28, 1943. He attended basic training in Camp Croft, South Carolina; Fort Dix, New Jersey; and Fort Meade, Maryland, and then served in France, Germany and Italy as an Army private during the war. Berman, who met Segan at George Washington High School in Manhattan in 1940, lived in Manhattan. Segan proposed to her early in 1943, before he was drafted, and wrote letters to her from his draft date until he returned from the war in 1945. He worked in the 93rd Armored Field
Artillery Battalion’s communication section during the Battle of Monte Cassino — the battle for Rome, from January to May 1944. On April 7, 1945, Segan helped liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp from the Nazi regime. Although the war ended on May 8, 1945, he remained stationed at the French port of Le Havre until Nov. 10 — the date of his last letter. The two were married the following March, and moved to Woodmere. Berman, who became Judith Segan, saved all of the letters Benjamin wrote, and shared them with their children and grandchildren. Judith died in 2015, and Benjamin in 2017. “I enjoyed reading the letters because my dad never saw himself as a writer, but this was a beautiful love story in the midst of a Continued on Page 13
here was a sign on the door that said no meeting, which was the library’s decision.
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