- Education
- Holocaust Center
When Rose Ludwig was growing up in a rural part of Riverside County, she was never taught about the Holocaust in school. That’s why, as a teacher at San Francisco’s Visitacion Valley Middle School, she makes sure that her students learn the Holocaust’s lessons. Her efforts earned her JFCS’ Holocaust Center’s 2014 Morris Weiss Award, which yearly goes to an exemplary educator dedicated to teaching about the Shoah and other forms of genocide. Morris Weiss, a founder of the Holocaust Center, was a survivor dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism. His family established the award in his memory.
Rose Ludwig
“As a teenager, I read The Diary of Anne Frank on my own and was deeply moved by her story,” says Rose. “I continued to be drawn to literature in which the Holocaust was a backdrop.”
With her 8th grade language arts classes, Rose uses Anne Frank and other literature to develop her students’ understanding of history and identity and cultivate their senses of empathy, tolerance, and justice. “The Holocaust is one of the most important subjects I teach,” says Rose, “and I hope that my students are motivated to learn more about it as they go to high school and beyond.”
With the $1,000 Morris Weiss Award, Rose’s school will purchase additional books to enhance their Holocaust-related curriculum. The teacher will also be working with a colleague at their middle school to develop an art project that will allow students to express their feelings about the Holocaust.
“Rose Ludwig is ensuring that future generations will know about the Holocaust and will work toward building tolerance and justice,” says Morgan Blum, Director of Education at the JFCS Holocaust Center.
The JFCS Holocaust Center is grateful to this year’s Morris Weiss Award selection committee: Dr. Marc Dollinger, Susan Golden, Naomi Lauter, Paul Orbuch, Karen Pell, Lydia Shorenstein, and Norman Weiss.