by George J Elbaum

American High School, with enrollment of 2000 students, teaches a World History course for sophomores which includes an extensive curricular exploration of the Holocaust.  As the culmination of that unit of instruction, teacher Wali Noori organized an opportunity for over 200 students from his own and other teachers’ classes to hear my story.  In introducing me to the students, Jack Weinstein of Facing History & Ourselves (who arranged this talk and advised Mr. Noori and his colleagues about the content of this instruction unit) spoke to the students about the importance of learning about the Holocaust directly from the few remaining survivors, and for the students to pass it onward someday when no survivors remain.  My talk, supported by Mr. Noori and his colleagues, John Creger, Audrey Suratos, and Chris Fulton, augmented the exploration of the Holocaust and resulted in an active Q&A session which was extended by Mr. Noori collecting additional questions on cards which had been previously passed out to the students.

Post-talk laughter with teachers Wali Noori and John Creger

Pre-talk, the audience gathers