- Holocaust Center
Anti-Semitism is on the rise—not just in Europe, but around the globe. At JFCS, we take this very seriously, standing with the communities that have been attacked by recent events and working closely with other organizations across the country and in Israel to counter growing anti-Semitism. Because anti-Semitism and other forms of hate can lead to extreme acts of violence against people—including genocides— the JFCS Holocaust Center, which holds more than 2,000 oral histories and testimonies from Bay Area survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust, believes that the need to educate others about the lessons of the Holocaust is more pressing than ever before.
AnneMarie Yellin of the JFCS Holocaust Center’s William J. Lowenberg Speakers Bureau talks to hundreds of students annually about her experiences as a survivor.
“It is imperative,” says JFCS Holocaust Center Director of Education Morgan Blum Schneider, “that we continue to educate young people and other concerned individuals about how they can promote understanding and work toward social justice for all.”
The JFCS Holocaust Center has been in the forefront of cutting-edge programs that yearly draw tens of thousands of participants throughout Northern California to workshops, symposia, lectures, film events, and other dynamic, interactive events featuring Holocaust survivors and world-renowned authorities on the Shoah and other forms of genocide.
“My students have benefited immensely from the Holocaust Center’s programs,” says one San Francisco Unified School District middle school teacher, who has been bringing his students for the past five years to the Holocaust Center to listen to first-hand accounts with Holocaust survivors. “Some of my students and their families have experienced prejudice first-hand—racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, homophobia, and the like—so they relate well to the survivors’ messages of hope, resilience, and acceptance of people’s differences. I observe them listening to the survivors, and the empathy they convey is palpable.”
More than 700 Northern California teens had the chance this past weekend to benefit from tales of courage and moral fortitude at the JFCS Holocaust Center’s annual Day of Learning, at which they and their teachers learned not only the lessons of the Holocaust, but also the history and nature of genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, and Ottoman Turkey against the Armenians. “The kids who attend the Day of Learning leave transformed,” says Lydia Shorenstein, a JFCS friend whose Preisler Shorenstein Institute helps underwrite the Day of Learning. “What moves me the most are the questions they pose to the survivors. Their level of engagement in the program is profound.”
Next month, hundreds of other Bay Area community members will have an opportunity to come together to observe Yom HaShoah, the annual Holocaust Day of Remembrance. The event, co-sponsored by JFCS, along with Lehrhaus Judaica, the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF), and the Jewish Community Relations Council, will take place on Sun., Apr. 19, at the JCCSF and focus on resilience through creative expression. In addition to afternoon workshops and a memorial service, the program will include the screening of the film Defiant Requiem, a moving documentary about Jewish prisoner-led performances of the Verdi Requiem at the Theresienstadt concentration camp during the Holocaust.
“Sadly, 70 years following the Holocaust and the end of World War II, very fundamental issues of how people and societies treat each other remain pressing and timely,” says Blum Schneider of the JFCS Holocaust Center. “The JFCS Holocaust Center remains committed to bringing light to these issues and helping young people and others understand how important it is to fight hatred against people wherever it exists.”
Click here for more information about the JFCS Holocaust Center and its programs >