In conjunction with The Names Not Numbers© program, the eighth graders at JKHA are creating a moving documentary featuring incredibly brave women and men who survived the atrocities of the Holocaust.

The students have been meeting with their survivors to hear their recollections of World War II and the Holocaust and record their stories for posterity. The survivors shared their experiences with the students, who will likely be the last generation to hear these accounts firsthand. The eighth graders displayed empathy and compassion throughout the moving question and answer sessions with the survivors.

The students spent time preparing for the interviews and researching their survivors. The students were previously mentored by a professional journalist who has worked at ABC News and Good Morning America to learn about appropriate interview techniques and how to elicit responses from an interview, as well as a professional videographer who taught the students how to properly film the interviews. The students were ready for the interviews, developing all of the questions on their own as well as being the ones to conduct and film the interviews. After all the days of interviewing were completed, Rabbi Hertzberg led sessions for the students about emunah and the difficulty of continuing belief after living through such atrocities.

The screening of the Names Not Numbers© documentary at JKHA is scheduled for Monday, May 22, at 7pm.