Last Monday, Yeshiva University High School for Boys’ (MTA) Names Not Numbers program and the entire senior class was privileged to meet with Dr. Michael Berenbaum. He gave an informative presentation about filming documentaries and about Kristallnacht, the 77th anniversary of which was commemorated that day. Dr. Berenbaum is a renowned professor, writer and filmmaker in the world of Jewish and Holocaust history, best known for his roles and contributions to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Research Institute. The session served both to teach the group about the era of Nazi anti-Semitism, and develop techniques that would later be applied to the documentaries which the students would make. As Dr. Berenbaum put it, “It is our responsibility to document the words of the survivors, as we are the last generation that will be granted this tremendous opportunity.” Dr. Berenbaum referenced numerous cases in which he applied this premise to teach the story of the individual survivor and to move the crowd emotionally.
By Eli Kahn (‘16)
