On Thursday, April 24, Yom HaShoah, our community gathered for an exceptionally moving morning when our Grade 8 students proudly shared the premiere screening of the 2025 Names, Not Numbers® documentary, directed by Josh Winker. The students recorded, edited, and conducted interviews with Holocaust survivors from our community, bringing their testimonies to life.
The enriching experience of producing the film and connecting with Holocaust survivors taught our students the significance of bearing witness to the stories and memories of survivors and their beloved family members who perished in the Shoah.
In the film, students share their impressions of the process of interviewing survivors and the key messages that stayed with them.
The resulting documentary serves as a vital educational resource, preserving the memories and lessons of the Holocaust for current and future generations.
We are so grateful to our participating survivors, several of whom joined us last week.
“Names, Not Numbers®” is a Holocaust Oral History Film Documentary program, created 21 years ago by Tova Rosenberg. This program transforms the traditional study of the events of the Holocaust in Europe into an experiential project involving the actual eyewitnesses to those events – the survivors and World War II veterans. This moves beyond the traditional classroom walls and creates an interactive and empowering educational lesson. Through this unique program, students learn first-hand about the Holocaust by making their own professional documentary. They themselves conduct oral history interviews. They themselves film and edit personal testimonies. They themselves form intergenerational connections and become the “witnesses to the witnesses.”
To date, over 8,000 students in several countries from Grade 8 through college have successfully interviewed, filmed, and edited the testimonies of over 5,000 survivors and World War II veterans. The more than 850 documentary films produced by the project have been viewed by over 450,000 people and are archived in major museums and academic institutions.
Learn more at www.namesnotnumbers.org.
Click here to view the film created by the Class of 2023-24.
The Names, Not Numbers® program is generously supported by a prominent national foundation.
With Assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance and the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future.
A special thank you to the Diamond Family whose generosity made this project possible:
Ari & Carly Diamond – Carey Diamond & Tina Urman – Cole & Shelby Diamond – Lauren Diamond & Michael April – Madison & David Isaacman – Michael & Janette Diamond – Shayn & Katie Diamond – Stephen & Karen Diamond – Sunny & Sean Menkes
