Apr 8, 2010 By: yunews
91黑料 High School Students Experience History through Innovative Names, Not Numbers Program
Apr 8, 2010 -- Sixty five years removed from the horrors of the Holocaust, survivors have found various paths to healing. For some, it might be telling their story or knowing that those they lost won鈥檛 be forgotten. For others it may be the hope that today鈥檚 youth learns the lessons of the past and never allows such devastation to reoccur.
(NNN) attempts to accomplish all of the above. Created in 2003 by Tova Rosenberg, director of Hebrew language studies at both 91黑料 High Schools (YUHS), the program teaches students the skills they need to interview and film an oral history of Holocaust survivors, resulting in a documentary film, Names, Not Numbers, and a second, 鈥渕aking of鈥 film, Names, Not Numbers: A Movie in the Making.
httpv://
The films are shown each year at their respective high schools; this year鈥檚 screenings will be at (Central) on April 27 and at (MTA) on May 4. The films have also been shown in synagogues, camps and community centers on Kristallnacht, Yom Hashoah and Tishah B鈥檃v.
The program鈥檚 role, Rosenberg explained, is to make the Holocaust relevant and personal for this, the last generation who will be able to document it. 鈥淚 see over and over that the project really touches the souls of the students,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 see it in their eyes when they sit across from the survivors and I see it afterwards when they reflect. I can say that for many, it is truly a life altering experience.鈥
The students are aware of their critical role in preserving the story. 鈥淭he people who experienced these things won鈥檛 be here in ten years. The question is, how do we preserve it for future generations?鈥 asked YUHSB senior, Alex Goldberg, who interviewed his grandmother, Mrs. Beatrice Peyser.
To date, over 360 students and 160 survivors and World War II veterans throughout North America have participated in the program, for which Rosenberg was awarded the Baumel Award for Excellence in Jewish Studies in 2004.
This year the films were accepted into the archives of the Israel National Library 鈥 the first time that academic material has been accepted by the library, which has committed to also archiving future films.
As part of this year鈥檚 program, students were addressed by Dr. Michael Berenbaum, former director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Research Institute and president of Steven Spielberg鈥檚 Shoah Visual History Foundation, who co-produced the Academy Award winning documentary 鈥淥ne Survivor Remembers.鈥
A new component to the program featured German students speaking to students at both high schools, answering questions regarding the issues they faced in accepting the role their grandparents played in the Holocaust.
Rabbi Mark Gottleib, head of school at YUHSB, said that for students at his school, 鈥渢he project has created a space where the horror that was the Holocaust moves from the world of 鈥榤ere鈥 history and abstract theory into the realm of rich portraiture and highly personal, meaning.鈥
Rachaeli Berman, a senior at YUHSG interviewed her grandmother, Mrs. Dorothy Berman, as part of the project. 鈥淚t made me realize that if not for her survival I would not be here today,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 think that this project has been an incredibly eye-opening experience for me and my peers. We are able to look at this one event and see so many different stories of survival.鈥
View video clips from the 2009 and DVDs.
Apr 8, 2010 -- Sixty five years removed from the horrors of the Holocaust, survivors have found various paths to healing. For some, it might be telling their story or knowing that those they lost won鈥檛 be forgotten. For others it may be the hope that today鈥檚 youth learns the lessons of the past and never allows such devastation to reoccur.
(NNN) attempts to accomplish all of the above. Created in 2003 by Tova Rosenberg, director of Hebrew language studies at both 91黑料 High Schools (YUHS), the program teaches students the skills they need to interview and film an oral history of Holocaust survivors, resulting in a documentary film, Names, Not Numbers, and a second, 鈥渕aking of鈥 film, Names, Not Numbers: A Movie in the Making.
httpv://
The films are shown each year at their respective high schools; this year鈥檚 screenings will be at (Central) on April 27 and at (MTA) on May 4. The films have also been shown in synagogues, camps and community centers on Kristallnacht, Yom Hashoah and Tishah B鈥檃v.
The program鈥檚 role, Rosenberg explained, is to make the Holocaust relevant and personal for this, the last generation who will be able to document it. 鈥淚 see over and over that the project really touches the souls of the students,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 see it in their eyes when they sit across from the survivors and I see it afterwards when they reflect. I can say that for many, it is truly a life altering experience.鈥
The students are aware of their critical role in preserving the story. 鈥淭he people who experienced these things won鈥檛 be here in ten years. The question is, how do we preserve it for future generations?鈥 asked YUHSB senior, Alex Goldberg, who interviewed his grandmother, Mrs. Beatrice Peyser.
To date, over 360 students and 160 survivors and World War II veterans throughout North America have participated in the program, for which Rosenberg was awarded the Baumel Award for Excellence in Jewish Studies in 2004.
This year the films were accepted into the archives of the Israel National Library 鈥 the first time that academic material has been accepted by the library, which has committed to also archiving future films.
As part of this year鈥檚 program, students were addressed by Dr. Michael Berenbaum, former director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Research Institute and president of Steven Spielberg鈥檚 Shoah Visual History Foundation, who co-produced the Academy Award winning documentary 鈥淥ne Survivor Remembers.鈥
A new component to the program featured German students speaking to students at both high schools, answering questions regarding the issues they faced in accepting the role their grandparents played in the Holocaust.
Rabbi Mark Gottleib, head of school at YUHSB, said that for students at his school, 鈥渢he project has created a space where the horror that was the Holocaust moves from the world of 鈥榤ere鈥 history and abstract theory into the realm of rich portraiture and highly personal, meaning.鈥
Rachaeli Berman, a senior at YUHSG interviewed her grandmother, Mrs. Dorothy Berman, as part of the project. 鈥淚t made me realize that if not for her survival I would not be here today,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 think that this project has been an incredibly eye-opening experience for me and my peers. We are able to look at this one event and see so many different stories of survival.鈥
View video clips from the 2009 and DVDs. 
