Sasha Chanoff acknowledged with the 2010 Charles Bronfman Prize, nominated by Institute Director Sherman Teichman.
Sasha Chanoff remembers growing up among relatives still traumatized by war and political persecution of decades past. He recalls stories of family members who fled the oppression of Jews in Russia in the early 1900s for the safety of the United States. Many of his relatives died in the Holocaust half a century later.
The 39-year-old Chanoff, who grew up in Marlborough, has spent the past decade rescuing recent victims of the world’s deadliest persecutions. Today, his work is being acknowledged with the 2010 Charles Bronfman Prize, a $100,000 award given annually to young Jewish humanitarian leaders.
“It’s completely intolerable that innocent people face the worst persecution just because they have a different background,’’ said Chanoff. “Refugees are on their own, but not by choice. And a lot of people, Jews in particular, have faced this for centuries.’’