About the Campaign
April 18, 2023—The Claims Conference today announced the launch of a new digital campaign, Our Holocaust Story: A Pledge to Remember. The campaign features Holocaust survivors from across the United States and around the world with their second and third generation family members. The campaign illustrates the importance of passing on the stories of the Holocaust so future generations can learn from past atrocities.
Gideon Taylor, President of the Claims Conference, said, “Each survivor has a poignant and unique story to tell of survival. By passing these stories on within their family, they make certain their story continues and the lessons of the Holocaust are not forgotten. Collectively, these stories tell the history of the Shoah, a history we must preserve and share. Only then can we truly say, ‘never again.’”
Our Holocaust Story features short videos of Holocaust survivors and family members sharing personal testimonies of persecution and survival. In closing, family members make a pledge to remember, ensuring these stories continue. The campaign demonstrates the importance of passing on survivor testimonies. Many survivors do not have children and even for those who do, the awesome weight of carrying this testimony can be and should be shared.
This campaign reaches beyond survivors and their families – this serves as a moment in time when each of us can take on the extraordinary responsibility of keeping individual stories alive and guaranteeing future generations learn about and understand the lessons of the Holocaust.
Greg Schneider, Executive Vice President of the Claims Conference, said, “When we see a Holocaust survivor with their family members, it sends a powerful message – they didn’t just survive the Holocaust, they went on to live, to build a family, a family that would not exist if they had not survived. Each survivor has a profound impact on the world, and it is our responsibility to carry forward the torch of their testimony. We should all make a pledge to remember.”
Over 100 Holocaust survivors and their families are participating in the campaign, all of whom will be featured in posts across the Claims Conference’s social media platforms every week throughout the year.
Survivor stories will be shared on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, using the hashtag #OurHolocaustStory. The Claims Conference will permanently house all videos and additional content here on the campaign website.
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Stories of Resilience
Partnering With Second and Third Generation Family Members, The #OurHolocaustStory Campaign Illustrates The Importance Of Passing On Holocaust Survivor Testimony; As Families Make A Pledge To Remember; More Than 100 Holocaust Survivors And Their Families Are Participating. Please like and share the campaign on social media:
Jehuda, George and Robert Lindenblatt, three Holocaust survivor brothers from Hungary all living in New York, came together with their families to create a video for the campaign.
Assia Gorban, a Holocaust survivor in Germany, created a video for the campaign with her granddaughter, Ruth Gorban, who said to her grandmother during the recording, “I promise you that I will tell your story as well as possible so that it lives on with all of you.”
Ernie Friedlander, a Holocaust survivor born in Austria, currently living in Australia, shared his story with his son David Friedlander, saying, “…if not for one decent human being who cared, I probably wouldn’t be alive today.”
Ester Bratt was 12 when the Germans invaded Vilna. Ester and her parents were fortunate enough to survive in hiding.
Today, Ester’s granddaughter and two great-granddaughters #PledgeToRemember her Holocaust story
Peter Kenedi, tells his story of surviving the horrors of the Holocaust as a young child in Budapest. With him are his two grandsons Eduard and Edgar.
Sonia Klein, a Holocaust survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz in Poland, recorded a video with her son, Alan Klein, and her grandson, Jordan Mello-Klein.
Shraga shared his story, saying, “In 1943, the ghetto was closed in Piotrkow, my hometown, and we were transferred to the Buchenwald camp. In 1945 when I was liberated from the Bergen-Belsen camp I was 12 years old. My parents had perished.”
Ginger was born in Germany and her mother was murdered. She describes surviving in hiding as a child.
Max Arpels Lezer shared the story of how he survived the Holocaust as a young boy in hiding with a family in a small village called Friesland. Alongside him, Max’s grandchildren Steven and Jennifer help him tell his story.
At the age of 18, Eva was one of 1,000 young Hungarian women who were transferred to the Allendorf forced labor camp in Germany to work in a munitions factory.
Eva shared her story along with her daughter Judith, who pledged to continue to tell her mother’s story.
Serge’s father, Arno, hid Serge, his sister and his mother in a closet and sacrificed himself so that they would not be found.
A symbol of hope, Serge, alongside his wife Beate Klarsfeld, dedicated his life to pursuing justice for Holocaust victims and preserving the memory of the Shoah and is widely recognized for his tireless efforts in documenting and exposing Nazi war criminals and advocating for their prosecution.
Sally’s family fled into the country where they spent months in hiding in the fields before Stashek (Stanislaw) Grocholski, a Polish man, found them and risked his family’s lives by providing Sally’s family – 15 people – shelter in their attic for two years.
Sally shared her story along with her granddaughter Fanny Wolfowitz.
In Auschwitz Shraga’s father stepped out of line and Shraga went to find him. The line was to the gas chamber that killed his mother, two sisters and brother.
Shraga shared his story with his daughter Aya.
Fearing a German invasion in late August 1939, Mimi’s family moved to Perigueux, in central France.
From then on, they lived in hiding and were often forced to relocate.
Mimi shared hold her story with her grandson, Jonathan Kaplan, who knows that it is important to share his grandmother’s story because so many people – strangers – helped her family survive.
Micha survived the Warsaw ghetto and the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Micha was almost six when liberated in April 1945.
Now a professor at Brooklyn College, Micha shared his story alongside his wife Professor Louise Hainline.
Holocaust survivor Rita and her granddaughter, Talia Feldberg, join the Claims Conference and make #PledgeToRemember.
Leon’s family first escaped to France from their home in Belgium, and then after his father was arrested, the family fled to Cuba.
Leon’s son Seth and grandson Moshe made a #PledgeToRemember and share their family’s Holocaust story.
Holocaust survivor Judy Buchler survived many ghettos and a death march.
Her daughter Edna, daughter of two Holocaust survivors, has made a #pledgetoremember her family’s story.
Holocaust survivor Aron Krell was a prisoner of the Lodz ghetto for four years before enduring five concentration camps – including Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Sachsenhausen. He considers his liberation a second birthday.
He is joined by his daughter Esther who made a #pledgetoremember her family’s story.
Holocaust survivor Eva Perlman was born in Berlin, Germany in 1932 and grew up in France. When Nazi soldiers moved into their house, Eva’s family pretended to not speak fluent German in order to maintain their false identity.
Eva’s daughter, Ilana Meskin, and granddaughter, Rabbi Myra Meskin Gurin, join us and make a #PledgeToRemember.
Leon managed to escape his death in Auschwitz as he spontaneously joined an outgoing transport of Auschwitz inmates to the concentration camp Gross-Rosen where he was forced to work as an electrician.
After liberation, he found his three sisters who had barely survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Today, Leon’s daughter Emilia, and granddaughter Tami, join the Claims Conference in making a #PledgeToRemember.
Judith, age 9, survived in hiding. Her mother and brother also survived. Sadly, many in her family did not.
Judith’s son Ken makes a #PledgeToRemember his mother’s story.
Holocaust survivor Dr. Arye Ephrath was born in April 1942. In August of 1944, the Germans invaded his home town in Slovakia and began rounding up Jews. Thankfully a local shepherd and his wife risked their lives and agreed to take in Arye and his brother, Tzvi.
Arye’s daughter, Trisha, says that the sense of obligation to share her family’s story with her children and to the people around her, has become much more clear.
Born in Berlin, Holocaust Survivor Evelyn Grapek witnessed Nazis assaulting her father in his own store. Then, she saw Nazis dragging her neighbor down the stairs. Evelyn’s father knew they were next, prompting young Evelyn and her family to desperately flee the country.
Today, Evelyn’s daughter, Lisa Drillich and grandson, Jack Drillich, make a #PledgeToRemember her Holocaust story.
Holocaust survivor Elizejus Rimanas was 16 when he left Musninkai, a Lithuanian town in the Širvintos District, for Russia where the Red Army found him and sent him to a work farm.
Today his son, Olegas promises to remember his family’s history and pass it on.
Captured in France as a young girl and sent to an internment camp, Noa was smuggled out by the Children’s Aid Society and sent to Switzerland until the end of the war.
Today, Noa’s granddaughter, Hana makes a #PledgeToRemember Noa’s Holocaust story.
Pinchas Gutter is a survivor of six German Nazi concentration camps. After being confined in the Warsaw ghetto for two and a half years, his father, mother, and sister were murdered at the Majdanek death camp.
Pinchas’s grandson Dan promises to remember his family’s history and pass it on.
Gina’s parents were Holocaust survivors who met in a displaced persons camp in Germany. Gina was born in Passau, the next town over.
Gina makes a #pledgetoremember.
Peter’s parents Heather and Walter Kammerling are both Holocaust survivors from Vienna. Peter joined the Claims Conference to share his parents’ stories.
Both Susan and Alison’s are second generation Holocaust survivors who have joined the Claims Conference to make a #PledgeToRemember their parents’ Holocaust stories.
Marguerite, whose father is a Holocaust survivor, joins the Claims Conference to make a #PledgeToRemember.
Doris is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors. She has dedicated her career to Holocaust education and remembrance. She has joined the Claims Conference to tell her parents’ Holocaust stories.
Janie’s father is an Auschwitz survivor from Hungary. She joined the Claims Conference to share her father’s story and make a #PledgeToRemember.
Both Joel’s mother and father are Holocaust survivors. Joel tells their Holocaust stories and makes a #PledgeToRemember.
Gail’s father escaped the Nazi’s when they stormed Krakow and made his way to Hungary. He was later transported to Auschwitz, where he lost his brother.
Gail joined the Claims Conference to share her father’s story and make a #PledgeToRemember.
Both Renee’s parents survived the Holocaust. Her mother was 17 years old when the Russians entered her town; two years later, the Nazis came and shot her grandfather and great uncle. Her mother escaped and put into hiding by a Catholic ally for two years. Renee’s message is clear: if you respect each other as human beings, you will be the light even in the darkness.
Both of Joe’s parents survived the Holocaust. His mother ran the entire time while his father survived five different concentration camps. Joe remembers his father not discussing his Holocaust story and how he chose to persevere and live a new life in the United States.
Both Susan’s father Roman Kent and her mother Hannah Kent were Holocaust survivors.
An orphaned survivor of Auschwitz and the Lodz ghetto, Roman Kent was a tireless advocate on behalf of survivors including as a member of the Claims Conference negotiating team, Chairman of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants and as a speaker.
Susan makes a #pledgetoremember.
James and Suzanne discuss the gradual ramp-up of hate that led to their families’ persecution. Both being children of Holocaust survivors, James and Suzanne pledge to remember their families’ Holocaust stories.
Ellen’s parents, Ruth and Fred Bachner, are Holocaust survivors. Her father survived six concentration and labor camps. Her mother’s family fled to Belgium after Kristallnacht, where she was later hidden in a convent. Ellen makes a pledge to remember her parents’ Holocaust story.
The Filler family joined the Claims Conference to make a collective pledge to remember their family’s Holocaust story. Ben Stern was asked to clean the ghetto and pick up the garbage with his teeth. In 1943, Ben was deported to Auschwitz and ultimately liberated from a sub-camp of Dachau. Jadzia Szkalrz Stern survived Auschwitz and was later liberated by the Soviets.
Daisy Merey’s father migrated to Italy from Hungary to become a medical doctor and dentist as Jews were not permitted to attend universities in Hungary.
After meeting Daisy’s mother, they fled from place to place, eventually they made it to Morocco and were saved there.
Susan Stevens’ Aunt Vera survived the Holocaust by living under false identity, as a Christian woman.
Today, Susan shares her late aunt’s story and makes a #pledgetoremember.
Steve Goldberg tells the Holocaust story of his friend Abe Piasek. Steve met Abe when Abe shared his Holocaust story with high school students at the school where Steve teaches history.
Over the past few years, Steve has shared Abe’s story with 100 audiences and nearly 6,000 people.
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Participating Organizations
3GNY
3GNY is a nonprofit founded by third generation (3G) descendents of Holocaust survivors dedicated to educating diverse communities about the perils of intolerance and providing a supportive and educational forum. 3GNY’s hallmark We Educate (WEDU) program trains 3G volunteers to compellingly share their grandparents’ stories in school and community settings throughout New York City and around the world. As the population of survivors wanes, it is more important than ever that 3Gs act as a living link to this history and carry forward the lessons of the past to ensure that we “Never Forget.”
3G Philly
As the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, we honor our grandparents through education and advocacy. We have the unique opportunity and responsibility to carry forward our family legacy to ensure that we uphold the promise of “Never Again” by educating our communities and future generations.
American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants
Today more than ever we must be resilient and vigilant and not permit the tragedy of the Shoah to be denied, diminished, or desecrated. Our martyrs continue their silent call to us all to carry their memory in our hearts. We must continue to remember and not to forget the ultimate consequences of intolerance, injustice, and inhumanity. We must continue to transmit the legacy of the Shoah as a sacred legacy and call to action to our children, grandchildren, and for all humanity.
American Jewish Committee
This year an unprecedented number of countries and international organizations will pause to commemorate the Holocaust. They will do so on International Holocaust Commemoration Day, on Yom HaShoah, or on dates of significance special to the country’s own history. This is due in no small measure to the tireless efforts of the survivors themselves to ensure that what they witnessed will never be forgotten. And yet our own studies and surveys tell us that Holocaust knowledge is declining, and antisemitism is increasing. But this is not cause for despair. Instead, it is reason to redouble our efforts to help lead the global fight to combat antisemitism and to build a proud and resilient Jewish people in America and throughout the Diaspora.
—AJC CEO Ted Deutch
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)
It has never been more critical to center the story of Holocaust survivors—their resilience, their pain, and their bravery in rebuilding lives after such devastating loss and working tirelessly to create a better tomorrow. From such lessons, we draw the fortitude and wisdom we need to shape a future that is inspired by survivors’ commitment to their fellow Jews in need, to robust Jewish life, and to repairing a broken world for many generations to come.
—Ariel Zwang, CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)
Anne Frank House Amsterdam
We wholeheartedly support the Claims Conference initiative. The personal stories of people who experienced the persecution of the Jews, victims and survivors, are all impressive. They bear witness to the horrors of the Holocaust and make us realize that living in freedom in a democracy is a precious commodity.
—Ronald Leopold, Executive Director, Anne Frank House
Anne Frank Zentrum Berlin
Anne Franks Tagebuch zeigt uns, dass Worte eine Überlebensstrategie sein können. Wie sehr Worte aber auch verletzen, zeigt die Geschichte von Anne Frank ebenso wie die Geschichte tausender anderer jüdischer Kinder im Nationalsozialismus, bei denen die Ausgrenzung mit Worten begann und bei viel zu vielen in Verfolgung und Tod endete.
Association of Jewish Refugees
As living memory of the Holocaust recedes and we grapple with its legacy, the collection of Holocaust testimony becomes even more critical. Both to honour those who perished, but also to combat rising Holocaust distortion and antisemitism. The importance of capturing and disseminating eye-witness accounts is one of the topics that will be discussed at The Association of Jewish Refugees International forum on Holocaust testimony, at Lancaster House, next month. To join us please book your tickets here.”
Auswärtiges Amt
Je mehr wir erfahren, je mehr Zeitzeugen und ihre Nachfahren uns ihre Lebensgeschichten und ihre Erfahrungen anvertrauen, je mehr können wir begreifen, was damals geschehen ist. Durch unsere Erinnerung und unser Gedenken ehren wir die Opfer, durch unser Zuhören die Überlebenden, durch unsere Fragen die von den Nazis verfolgten Menschen und deren Nachfahren. Wir dürfen nicht vergessen. Erinnern zu ermöglichen, ist zutiefst Ausdruck von Humanität. Es entspricht auch unserer ureigenen staatlichen, politischen und gesellschaftlichen Verantwortung für Gegenwart und Zukunft.
—Herrn Dr. Klinke
B’nai B’rith
The need to embrace Holocaust education, in its many forms, has never been more urgent than now.
As we near a time when there will be no survivors to bear witness to the barbarity of the crimes committed by the Nazis and their collaborators, it is our responsibility—our obligation—to convey and to teach about the horrors they experienced.
Whether through personal accounts and testimonies, Holocaust education programs in public schools and universities, the latest technologies available to museums, through social media, or documentaries and motion pictures, or reading the names of the victims of Nazi savagery, we must ensure the world never forgets the genocide carried out against the Jews in Europe.
The passage of time dims memory. That is our greatest challenge, and all of us must rise up to meet it.
Casip-Cojasor
Nous vivons à une époque qui voit croitre les théories du complot, les remises en question de faits historiques, la propagation de « fake News » grâce aux réseaux sociaux. Face à cette désinformation la parole des témoins est essentielle. La parole de ces témoins doit pouvoir être transmises aux jeunes générations, afin qu’eux-mêmes portent la parole des survivants qui ne seront plus là pour dire l’horreur de la Shoah et empêcher que des crimes contre l’Humanité ne se reproduisent.
Center Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel
In Jewish tradition, the command to remember is absolute. On Passover night, we read: “In every generation, every individual must feel as if he had come out of Egypt personally.”
In every generation, we will continue to remember the Holocaust. But the fundamental lesson of Judaism is that memory must be accompanied by action of ethical and moral intent. Our sacred duty is to pass on not only the memory of the six million but also the lessons of the Holocaust: the sanctity of human life, the humane values of human rights, tolerance, democracy, and opposition to racism.
—Colette Avital, Chairperson, Center Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel
Council of Jews From Germany
As each generation revisits the past it becomes clear that the horrors of the Holocaust are not fixed in time. Each generation brings a new perspective to the crimes committed and must find a new determination to fight the antisemitism that continues to haunt us. For children of German Jewish victims and survivors the task is no less difficult, despite Germany’s extraordinary efforts to provide reparations and restitution to all claimants. The ongoing challenge is stand up against hate – not just against Jews but against bigotry and racism and discrimination wherever it manifests itself. The Holocaust has taught us that hatred often begins with the Jews, but rarely ends there. Our legacy is to remain vigilant.
Descendants of Holocaust Survivors
We are living in an era of storytelling. The verve with which descendants of Holocaust survivors are telling their family history will sustain generations to come, for they are essential instruments for validation and reparation, and to remind future generations of both man’s inhumanity and the resilience of the human spirit to go on despite adversity.
Durban Holocaust and Genocide Centre
I believe the greatest gift one can give Holocaust survivors is to reassure them that their stories will be held close by future generations and shared with generations to come. To ensure the legacy of the Holocaust is safely entrusted with future generations is our enormous responsibility but also an extraordinary gift.
European Jewish Congress
“80 years on, the survivors continue as witnesses to a living memory of the Shoah. For this memory to pass on through society it is essential that their testimonies become an enduring lesson of history. Here lies the key role of young people to mark on the consciences of their peers and future generations the murder of six million Jews. To ensure that the hate and antisemitism which caused this crime can never happen again.”
—Ariel Muzicant, EJC President
Executive Council of Australian Jewry
Within the anguished phase of history that is the Holocaust, we find the clearest displays of hatred, cowardice, heroism and devotion ever observed and recorded. And so, here we find the purest revelations of what is means to be human. This is what makes the study and remembrance of the Holocaust, essential.
Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism
„Our Holocaust Story“ trägt als erste gemeinsame Kampagne mit Überlebenden und Vertretern und Vertreterinnen der 2. und 3. Generation dazu bei, eine lebendige, von Empathie getragene Erinnerungskultur zu entwickeln, die nicht in Formeln und Ritualen erstarrt. Denn es braucht eine Erinnerungskultur, die es schafft, den wachsenden zeitlichen Abstand zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus zu überbrücken und gleichzeitig junge Menschen anzusprechen. „Our Holocaust Story“ wird diesem Anspruch in höchstem Maße gerecht!
—Dr. Felix Klein, Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism
Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah
Nous avons la chance d’avoir eu comme première présidente Simone Veil, survivante d’Auschwitz-Birkenau et devenue une des plus importantes femmes politiques en France et en Europe. « La Shoah est notre mémoire mais votre héritage » disait-elle, et depuis la création de notre institution, la transmission de la mémoire autant que de l’histoire est au cœur de nos missions.
Dès notre création, nous avons ainsi initié une collection de témoignages d’anciens déportés qui compte aujourd’hui plus d’une centaine d’ouvrages. En 20 ans, nous avons soutenu de nombreux projets qui favorisent la transmission aux jeunes générations, que ce soit par des livres, des films, des expositions ou des voyages sur les lieux de mémoire de la Shoah.
La parole des déportés est irremplaçable, et grâce aux innovations technologiques et muséographiques de notre époque, nous nous assurons qu’elle sera encore entendue, aujourd’hui et demain, quand les derniers témoins auront disparu.
Galicia Jewish Museum
Remembering the crimes of the Nazis and their helpers from all over Europe has never been more important than it is today. Last victims and eye-witnesses are passing away and soon there will be no one who could say: I was there. I have seen it. I survived. Losing their guidance, their moral strength, their company, we will find ourselves on an uncharted seas. In a world in which the main threat is not only denial of the Holocaust, but increasingly often, its trivialization and usage as a tool by politicians and leaders across the globe. War in Ukraine, waged by the Russians under the cynic and deceitful banner of denazification is a stark and horrific example of that. But this war is also a reminder that lack of education, free speech, tolerance and democracy always ends with pain, suffering and destruction. The lessons of the Holocaust can help us to prevent this from happening.
Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz
“Die Überlebenden der Shoah, ihre Erinnerungen und Erfahrungen, sind und bleiben im Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz gegenwärtig. Ihre Geschichten sind prägend für uns und unsere Besucherinnen. Wir sammeln Berichte und Zeugnisse und machen diese in unserer Bibliothek zugänglich. Ihre Familien, Nachfahrinnen der zweiten, dritten und vierten Generation, teilen ihre Biographien mit uns und bringen sich aktiv in die Arbeit unseres Hauses ein. Dort, wo einst die ‚Endlösung der Judenfrage‘ besprochen wurde, sind heute die Stimmen und Geschichten der Überlebenden und der Ermordeten laut und deutlich zu vernehmen. Ihr Vermächtnis ist unser Auftrag, auch in Zukunft gegen die Leugnung, Verharmlosung und Verfälschung der Geschichte der Shoah, für eine aktive und lebendige Erinnerungskultur und gegen jede Form von Rassismus, Antisemitismus und Ausgrenzung einzutreten.“
—Deborah Hartmann, Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz
Hainaut Mémoire
“Democracy is an everyday struggle! That’s why Hainaut Mémoire has chosen education as pillar of its activities. We surround ourselves with as many partners as possible, because we will never be enough to fight fascism in all its forms.”
—Michel Descamps, Coordinator of Hainaut Mémoire
Holocaust Education Resource Center
HERC will always champion Holocaust education. We do this because the consequences of hate are universal. It’s our responsibility as global citizens to educate future generations how to stand up and act against prejudice. “For me, she [Holocaust survivor, Edie Pump] is like an inspiration, because she didn’t let herself fall and she kept moving forward…She is a really good person. You need people like Edie in your life to learn, and for me, she is one of those people.” – Feedback from 6th grade student in Wisconsin after participating in a HERC program.
Holocaust Educational Trust
Since our founding, the testimony of Holocaust survivors has been at the very heart of our work. Today, in schools and colleges up and down the country, survivors share their stories. Students listen enthralled, and we know that this will be something that they never forget. But sadly, we know that the Holocaust is slowly fadinwg from living memory and soon there will be no one left who can say ‘I was there’. While this generation may be the last to stand shoulder to shoulder with survivors, they must not be allowed to be the last to learn about the 6 million men, women and children who were murdered. The names and stories of those who survived – and their families who did not – must not fade away. We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that the students of tomorrow will always have opportunities to learn about the past, to consider its legacy, and to carry its lessons with them for the rest of their lives.
Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center
We’re challenged to teach the many lessons learned from the Holocaust. Current and future generations need to understand the Holocaust and how the roles of the perpetrator, the bystander, the rescuer, and the victim played a part. Today, we must listen and watch carefully. The most important thing we can do when and if we are witness to an antisemitic action is to speak up and speak out, and teach the younger generation to do the same. Let us work together towards a time when Never Again becomes a reality.
Holocaust Museum Houston
Holocaust Museum Houston was founded in 1996 by Holocaust Survivors, 2nd Generation and community members dedicated to educating students and the public about the dangers of prejudice and hate in society. Our mission remains just as vital as it was then, possibly even more so. The Museum is honored by the continued collaboration from Survivors, “2Gs,” “3Gs” and even “4Gs.” Support from future generations is essential to building a more humane society by promoting responsible individual behavior, cultivating civility and pursuing social justice.
The Holocaust, Their Family, Me and Us
“Passing on the experiences of Holocaust survivors to future generations safeguards the lessons of the Holocaust in our collective memory. The lessons that survivors pass onto us – of acceptance, inclusion, and the power of being an upstander – are paramount to preventing the atrocities they were subjected to from ever being repeated.”
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center
Preserving and sharing the stories of Holocaust Survivors is the heart of Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center’s work. As we move further away from the 20th century and lose the opportunity for Survivors to speak directly about what happened to them, the Museum looks to their children and grandchildren to continue this important project. Illinois Holocaust Museum works directly with “2Gs” and “3Gs” to ensure they carry on their family’s legacy and continue to remember the past so that everyone can learn from them and transform the future. This work is personal to each of our partners, and the Museum is honored to help support them.
International Auschwitz Committee
“Ich habe gerade den letzten Band einer Trilogie mit Erzählungen über die Erinnerungen von Auschwitz-Überlebenden abgeschlossen. Der Band trägt den Titel “Als wir die Maikäfer waren” und die letzten Sätze in meinem Nachwort lauten: “Ich danke allen Überlebenden, die mir die Tür zu ihren Erinnerungen und Gefühlen geöffnet haben. Die Schmerzen, die ihnen allen geblieben sind, habe ich immer nur erahnen können und doch manchmal gemerkt, wie reißend und auch bedrohlich die Ströme der Erinnerungen sein können, die sie in jeder Stunde ihres Lebens umtosen. Ihr Lächeln, ihre Tapferkeit und ihr Interesse an der Zukunft der jungen Menschen bleibt für immer eine Herausforderung, sie und ihre Erinnerungen nicht loszulassen, damit wir nicht stürzen.”
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
“As the last witnesses of the Holocaust leave us, the whole world must decide what the future of global Holocaust remembrance will look like without them. We need to ensure that the Holocaust is not left only to books, films, archives and museums, but instead to preserve the living memory of the darkest period of history in order to prevent genocide and mass crimes. It is our responsibility to ensure that these stories, and the survivors who went to great lengths to share them with us, are never forgotten.”
—IHRA Co-Chairs Terezija Gras and Sara Lustig
The Jewish Agency for Israel
The shared fate between world Jewry and the State of Israel is molded by the spirit of dedication of those who gave their lives in Israel’s wars and also by the terrible sacrifice of the victims of terrorism and antisemitism around the world.
The spirit of the fallen and the murdered is a source of inspiration among our people for continued acts of mutual responsibility and love of humanity. A spirit that sanctifies life and action. May the mourners of Zion find comfort. Carrying on out of a commitment to continue the lives that were forced to end. A spirit that connects in the deepest way between Jews in all corners of the world.
The State of Israel was founded and built thanks to this partnership, thanks to the devotion and unconditional love.
This is our commitment — to continue together, to remember what unites us, to bring hearts together and magnify love.
—Maj. General (res.) Doron Almog, Chairman of the Executive, The Jewish Agency for Israel
Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA)
Holocaust Survivors and their families inspire us every day with their resilience and commitment to building a better humanity. It is our privilege to support thousands of Holocaust survivors and their family caregivers through our Center on Holocaust Survivor Care and Institute on Aging and Trauma. Survivors’ legacy of compassion and kindness will overcome the hatred of those who perpetrate antisemitism and prejudice. We are proud to learn from our survivor families and work to help them live in comfort and dignity.
Jüdisches Museum Berlin
„Wir verdanken den jüdischen Zeitzeug*innen Erinnerungen und Erkenntnisse, ohne die das Ausmaß und die schrecklichen Details der Verbrechen uns nicht so bekannt wären, wie sie es sind, und unsere Erinnerungskultur wäre eine andere. Indem die Überlebenden ihre Geschichte erzählen, machen sie klar, dass sie Menschen mit einer einzigartigen Geschichte sind – mit Familien, mit Berufen oder ohne, mit Vorlieben und Abneigungen, mit jeweils eigenen, einzigartigen Gefühlen, Gedanken und Beziehungen. Ihre Kinder und Enkel kennen zumindest Teile davon, haben vielleicht Traumata geerbt. Wenn sie ihre Sicht weitergeben, leisten sie einen Beitrag zur Erinnerung an die Shoah, der unersetzlich ist. Das Jüdische Museum Berlin zeigt verschiedene jüdische Perspektiven auf die deutsch-jüdische Geschichte und Gegenwart – und gibt auch diesen Erinnerungen an die Shoah und der Auseinandersetzung damit Raum.“
The Jewish Museum of Greece
The Jewish Museum of Greece introduced systematic Holocaust Education in our country, with the creation of the first special educational programs in 2001. As a historical and ethnographic museum, which is also an officially recognized Research Center, it utilizes its collections, archival content and digital resources to transmit through the stories of yesteryear, lessons for today and tomorrow. In the 45 years of its existence the Museum uses every accredited medium at its disposal, including the new technologies, to cultivate intercultural understanding and respect among people of all religions, cultures and ethnic backgrounds.
As a third generation Holocaust survivor, I see no stronger way towards civic engagement and responsibility, than through Holocaust Education and public Commemoration. I have worked to the utmost of all my abilities and opportunities to this end, and will continue to do so, for as long as I will be able to.
—Zanet Battinou, Director
Kazerne Dossin
“Personal stories are an important element in educational efforts to strengthen future generations. They are not only reminders, they offer access and opportunity to engage with the history of the Holocaust and its underlying mechanisms.” – Tomas Baum, General Director of Kazerne Dossin
Melbourne Holocaust Museum
“Passing on the experiences of Holocaust survivors to future generations safeguards the lessons of the Holocaust in our collective memory. The lessons that survivors pass onto us – of acceptance, inclusion, and the power of being an upstander – are paramount to preventing the atrocities they were subjected to from ever being repeated.”
Mémorial de la Shoah
“Collecting and protecting the voices and the experiences of Holocaust survivors means building a protective wall against attempts to falsify the history of the Shoah. Collecting and preserving archives is an imperative task in order to write history. Tomorrow, documents, and testimonies will be the only indisputable historical evidence to counter oblivion.” – Jacques Fredj, Director of Mémorial de la Shoah
Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Our Museum’s mission is to serve as a place of memory for our diverse community to learn about Jewish life and heritage before, during, and after the Holocaust. Survivors, who have shared their first-hand testimonies with our visitors and school groups, and who have contributed treasured artifacts to the Museum’s Collection, have played an essential role in bringing that mission to life. We remain committed to providing a platform for survivors and their descendants to share their stories and to ensure these accounts live on for generations to come. We must all do our part to remember, educate, and stand up against hate—in all its forms.
OeAD/Erinnern.at
Es hat viele Jahrzehnte gedauert, bis die Überlebenden der Shoah die Aufmerksamkeit undSichtbarkeit erhalten haben, die ihnen zusteht. Als Zeuginnen und Zeugen der Verbrechenhaben sie entscheidenden Anteilan der Aufarbeitung des Holocaust geleistet und tun diesbis heute. Darüber hinaus sind ihre Zeugnisse ein wesentlicher Bestandteil schulischerBildung zum Nationalsozialismus und Holocaust geworden und eine dringende Mahnunggegen Antisemitismus und Rassismus. Der OeAD unterstützt mit seinem Programm_erinnern.at_ im Auftrag des österreichischen Bildungs-, Wissenschafts-undForschungsministeriums diese wichtige Erinnerungsarbeit.
—Patrick Siegele, OeAD, Bereichsleiter Holocaust Education
Selfhelp
Now is the time to bear witness to stories from the last generation of Holocaust survivors so the history of the Holocaust is never forgotten. Intergenerational programs, like Selfhelp’s Witness Theater, are critical to preserve and share their lessons and stories with future generations. We join the Claims Conference in supporting Our Holocaust History.
Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance
The Museum of Tolerance (MOT), the educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and promoting tolerance and respect for all people. For over four decades, Holocaust Survivors have been our witnesses to truth, inspiring us with their lessons of courage and resilience. Our primary goal is to amplify their voices and preserve their legacies. To this end, we also actively encourage and support 2Gs and 3Gs to assume this responsibility for the future.
As Jonathan, a 3G grandson of Holocaust Survivor, Dr. Raul Artal Mittelmark, affirms: “It is about memory, about the ways in which the traumas and the hopes echo across generations. There is a generational obligation to carry it forward and share the lessons with folks experiencing other traumas.”
South Carolina Council on the Holocaust
The South Carolina Council on the Holocaust is committed to providing factual information to our community, educators and to students. In our search for remembrance, we recognize that memory is for us, history is for all others.
Stiftung Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas
»Die Berichte der Überlebenden des Nationalsozialismus machen deutlich, wohin Antisemitismus und Antiziganismus, Hass, Rassismus und Ausgrenzung führen, wenn rechtsstaatliche Grundsätze zerstört werden. Jede einzelne Stimme, jedes Erinnern ist wichtig, damit wir und zukünftige Generationen begreifen, dass Demokratie tagtäglich erkämpft werden muss, dass die Achtung der Menschenrechte keine Selbstverständlichkeit ist, dass Minderheiten vor Verfolgung und Willkür geschützt werden müssen, – durch Staaten, durch jeden Einzelnen.«
—Uwe Neumärker, Direktor, Stiftung Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas
The Sydney Jewish Museum
The Holocaust didn’t start with violence; it started with words and symbols. This is an important reminder of the danger that all acts of racism, hate and discrimination pose, no matter what size. It also highlights how critical it is for future generations to learn to speak up against hate in all its forms. The Sydney Jewish Museum educates young people – our future global citizens – with Holocaust survivors’ messages about the importance of kindness and humanity, and empowers them to make a stand against human rights issues facing our society today. Right now, we’re utilising cutting-edge AI technology to ensure visitors of the future can continue to have meaningful interactions with survivors and their messages – even when the sad time comes that survivors are no longer able to share their stories in person.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
For Holocaust survivors their families represent their ultimate triumph over Nazi Germany and its collaborators who sought to erase a people and a culture. The survivors— with defiance, determination and pride — have built a future for themselves and the Jewish community through their children, grandchildren, and future generations. They have done this while also preserving and sharing their memories. Now, as the Holocaust recedes in time, all of us must urgently commit ourselves to carrying memory into the future. This is our responsibility not just that of the descendants of those who survived. While the perpetrators attempted to eliminate the Jewish people, the Holocaust’s lessons – lessons about the dangers of unchecked antisemitism and other forms of group-targeted hate – resonate for all of humanity. As Elie Wiesel often said, no one’s future should be like his past.
—Sara J. Bloomfield, Director
United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn
The Williamsburg Jewish community is a neighborhood where Holocaust Survivors resettled after WWII with nothing more than their unbreakable Jewish faith and an iron will to rebuild everything that was ripped away from them by the Nazis. Williamsburg is blessed to be home to many Holocaust Survivors and our Holocaust survivors see it as their duty to carry the memories and traditions of their European Jewish communities that were destroyed by passing them on to the second and third generations of their descendants.
The Claims Conference’s “Our Holocaust Story: A pledge to remember” is so crucial to carrying the legacy of our cherished and beloved Holocaust Survivors and we are privileged to participate.
—Rabbi David Niederman, President of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn.
University College London Centre for Holocaust Education
Research by the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education with students and teachers has shown the power of hearing a Holocaust survivor share their story:
“I found that listening to Zigi Shipper – a survivor of the Holocaust, the most amazing thing to hear. It really deepened my understanding and knowledge, and it seemed so much more real for me. He was so genuine, and I developed a massive amount of empathy after hearing him.” —14-year-old student, South Yorkshire, UK
For decades, young people have benefitted hugely from the powerful experience of hearing a survivor speak. This cannot be lost. It is imperative that we collect and protect the testimonies of the survivors and their families, so young people can continue to learn from them. At the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, we are committed to educating young people about the Holocaust and its contemporary significance. Drawing on survivor testimony is a critical element of our education programme. In our age of division and polarity, of misinformation and mistrust, never has the testimony of survivors been more important.
UNESCO
UNESCO believes that education about the Holocaust is at the cornerstone of any lasting effort to fight antisemitism, racism and conspiracy theories. We honor the victims and survivors of the Shoah by keeping their stories alive and teaching our children to cherish and protect human dignity. By passing on this knowledge to future generations, we equip our youth with awareness, empathy, and resilience to combat hatred, discrimination, and intolerance. Let us remember, educate, and unite to ensure the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten.
—Director-General, Ms Audrey Azoulay
USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Culture
USC Shoah Foundation currently has more than 52,000 video testimonies that contain a complete personal history of life before, during, and after the interviewee’s firsthand experience with the Holocaust. These testimonies are preserved in the Visual History Archive—one of the largest digital collections of its kind in the world—and form the basis of education and research programs that reach millions around the world every year. Our work in bringing the authentic voices of survivors to scholars, to students, and to professional audiences helps minimize Holocaust denial and distortion and ensures that we can learn directly from those have suffered through some of the worst atrocities in history.
We pledge to never forget #OurHolocaustStory
War Heritage Institute in Belgium
“The War Heritage Institute is the Belgian government’s federal institution in charge of the memory and history of conflicts that have brought bloodshed to Belgium or involved Belgians abroad. The WHI manages six historical sites, including the Royal Army Museum and the National Memorial at Fort Breendonk, a former Nazi concentration camp. It develops important projects for schools and young people, and manages a whole series of audio-visual testimonies, including those of Second World War combatants and ex-resistance fighters, as well as victims of Nazi political and racial persecution.” – Jean Cardoen, Director
Wiener Wiesenthal Institut für Holocaust-Forschung
Als Historiker war ich es lange Zeit gewohnt, mir mein Bild über die Vergangenheit nur aus Dokumenten zu machen. In der direkten Begegnung mit Holocaust-Überlebenden in Israel 2007 habe ich erfahren dürfen, wie sehr ihre persönlichen Erinnerungen dieses Bild bereicherten. Diese Erinnerungen für die Zukunft zu bewahren ist eine der wichtigsten Aufgaben unserer Zeit.
—PD Dr. Jochen Böhler, Direktor
Wiener Wiesenthal Institut für Holocaust-Forschung
Westchester Jewish Community Services
We cannot merely say we will never forget the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. To ensure the world never forgets, we must preserve the testimony of those who survived the unimaginable. The population of Holocaust survivors is aging and frail. Every year, fewer survivors remain who were eyewitnesses to the horrors of the Holocaust. It is our responsibility to carry the stories of Holocaust survivors l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation so that no one stays indifferent in the face of hate.
World Jewish Relief
World Jewish Relief was founded in 1933 and is proud to have rescued 65,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Europe. We will always remember with immense pain the scale of devastation that befell the Jewish people, and that we were not able to do even more. We are committed to remembering the past, and are inspired by the Jewish individuals we helped in the 1930s and 40s who went on to build successful lives and vibrant families in the UK and overseas. But remembering is about action, and for us that means providing life-saving and life-changing action to people in 23 countries experiencing the consequences of conflict and disaster, both Jewish and not. Our Jewish values and our heritage compel us to remember that our organization is rooted in the tragedies of the 20th Century, and equally compel us to act with expertise and urgency in some of world’s harshest environments today. We join with voices across the community, pledging to remember.
Yad Vashem
Last year, I attended the premiere of the film Girl No. 60427 that received the prestigious Yugo BAFTA Student Award, the equivalent of the Oscar in the UK. The film is based on the real-life story of how the director discovered her grandmother’s secret notebook containing terrible memories from Auschwitz. Having watched the film, I began thinking of the importance of the continuity of remembrance; of the incredible task passing to the descendants of Holocaust survivors. I realized that, as the “first” generation, the survivors themselves often found it too difficult to speak about their horrific wartime experiences, and wished to focus on rebuilding their lives. The second generation, their children, growing up in their parents’ sad shadows, were often too afraid to ask. When the third generation – the survivors’ grandchildren – came along, they felt “freer” to inquire about their grandparents’ experiences, and the survivors themselves decided that enough time had passed and they now needed to tell their story before it was lost forever. Thus, many survivors have passed the so-called “torch of remembrance” to the third generation.
This incredible mission is found not only on the personal level, but also on both the national and global stage. In general, awareness of the Shoah and the desire to know what happened, and most importantly to learn from what happened is, some would say, amazingly increasing. International Holocaust Remembrance Day was created in the twenty-first century; despite its chronological proximity to the event, the UN-sanctioned global day of remembrance didn’t exist in the twentieth century. IHRA, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, that brings together more than 35 countries to research the Shoah was also only established this century, many decades after the end of WWII. International conferences like the one the Prime Minister of Sweden convened in the racially charged city of Malmo to speak about Holocaust memory, is a relatively new phenomenon. These and many other initiatives may be gaining traction only in recent years, but they are crucial and must be fortified.
The Holocaust, the Shoah, is the most terrible manmade calamity in modern history, and the events that happened then, as well as the meanings we can glean from them, must be present in every area of influence – cultural, journalistic, diplomatic – in today’s fractured and xenophobic society: at the very least, always in our consciousness.
This is the reason that we at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, intend to further increase our international presence, in order to make Shoah remembrance a shared value in every nation. Shoah remembrance and education is not only for Europe or Jews, but rather a universal mission and a pledge. Thank you.
—Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan
Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland
„Gespräche mit Überlebenden der Schoah bestärken die Folgegenerationen darin, sich für eine bessere Welt einzusetzen. Doch diese Begegnungen sind nicht nur von unersetzlichem Wert für junge Menschen. Sie zeugen den Jüdinnen und Juden Respekt, die mit der Last der Erinnerung und Trauer leben müssen. Der Dialog mit Zeitzeugen fördert eine Kultur der Empathie. Das wird gerade jetzt immer wichtiger, wenn es heißt, die Deutschen hätten auch ein „Recht zu vergessen“ oder der unsägliche Begriff einer „Holocaust-Kultur“ verwendet wird. Dem stellen sich Kampagnen wie „Our Holocaust Story“ dezidiert entgegen und können gerade auf den Sozialen Medien vor allem unter jungen Menschen eine große Reichweite erzielen. Ich danke der Claims-Conference für diese wichtige Initiative, die sich gegen das Vergessen und für die Gestaltung einer menschenwürdigen Zukunft einsetzt.“
—Zitat von Herrn Dr. Schuster, Zentralrat
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The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), a nonprofit organization with offices in New York, Israel and Germany, secures material compensation for Holocaust survivors around the world. Founded in 1951 by representatives of 23 major international Jewish organizations, the Claims Conference negotiates for and disburses funds to individuals and organizations and seeks the return of Jewish property stolen during the Holocaust.
Learn more.
All content ⒸConference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference)
