Contact Information
NORTHEAST REGION
75 Maiden Lane
Floor 10
New York, NY 10038
Alex Bebeshko
Director, Northeast Region
Phone: (212) 547-9154
abebeshko@ortamerica.org
TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2026
6-8pm ET • UWS NYC (Address Provided Upon RSVP)
Join ORT's major leaders and supporters for an evening with Jorge Grünberg, Rector of Universidad ORT Uruguay.
Jorge will share with us the story of his mother, Charlotte Strawzcynski de Grünberg, whose childhood is featured in the recently published novel The Girl Who Watched the Trains Depart by Ruperto Long. Jorge will tell us about Charlotte and her leadership in ORT, life at ORT Uruguay, and his our experience as the head of an ORT school. It will be a fun and meaningful opportunity to connect with ORT community in the tristate area and learn more about our work in Latin America.
Refreshments will be served.
Jorge Grünberg
Jorge Grünberg, born in Montevideo in 1958, has served as Rector of Universidad ORT Uruguay since 1996, following earlier roles as Dean of the School of Engineering and Professor of Information Systems. He holds an MA and PhD in Educational Studies from the University of Oxford and a BSc in Computer Engineering from the University of Uruguay.
A Senior Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering of Uruguay and Deputy Chairman of World ORT’s Academic Advisory Council, Grünberg has authored more than fifty academic papers on the use of information technologies in education. His distinctions include the Robert Singer Professional Excellence Award, the Silver Crei Prize, and Uruguay’s National Prize in Information Technology. He has held research fellowships at Oxford and has consulted for organizations such as UNDP, IDRC, major banks, and governmental bodies.
He is married with three children.
The Girl Who Watched the Trains Depart
by Ruperto Long (Author), Rosemary Peele (Translator from Spanish)
In the 1940s, in a world ravaged by war, Charlotte, an eight-year-old Belgian girl, disappears from Nazi-occupied Liège, leaving behind her home and happy childhood. Together with her family, she flees from persecutors, experiencing incredible adventures and hiding in squalid hiding places in towns and cities. Alter, her uncle, forced to take up duties in one of the ghettos where Hitler ordered the confinement of Jews — including his own parents — must face an extreme ethical dilemma. Dimitri Amilakvari, a French soldier of Georgian origin, lands in North Africa at the head of the legendary Foreign Legion, to confront Marshal Rommel and his feared Afrika Korps. Domingo López Delgado, a Uruguayan soldier, enlists as a volunteer in the Free French forces and is assigned to Bir Hakeim. Four life stories that intertwine to transport us back in time.