Teaneck—In 1942, Sol Goldstein, a Jewish kid from Baltimore, enlisted in the army. He had experienced his share of antisemitism growing up, like kids calling him “a dirty Jew.” But he was totally unprepared for what he saw when his unit entered the Buchenwald concentration camp. Seventy years later, as he tells his story on film to a group of 8th-grade students from the Moriah School of Englewood who are interviewing him, his voice trembles with rage, his expression shows his incredulity, and his words only hint at the devastation he witnessed.
It is the race to put the memories of Holocaust survivors into a permanent record before time runs out that is fueling programs like “Names, Not Numbers.” Now in its second year at Moriah, “Names, Not Numbers,” is a yearlong, extra-curricular activity for 8th-grade students that teaches them about the Holocaust and then coaches them to interview survivors and produce a film under the direction of educational and industry specialists. The program was created in 2003 by Tova Fish Rosenberg, director of Hebrew language studies at both YU high schools,MTA and Central, who is present and available to the schools as the project progresses.
Names, Not Numbers 2014 had its premiere Monday, June 9, for over 800 people at Keter Torah in Teaneck. Before the film was shown, Moriah hosted a dinner for 250 including the students who participated and their families, the parent mentors who assisted the students, survivors and their families, survivors who participated last year, and invited guests from the community.
In his introductory remarks at the event, Dr. Elliot Prager, Principal of the Moriah School, quoted Rabbi Jonathan Sacks who said that “history is a story; memory is my story.” Memories are what the survivors shared with the students, giving them a personal and meaningful connection to the history of the Holocaust. Dr. Prager told the audience that in the opening meeting at the beginning of the year, he told the students they would be learning an “unsanitized, no holds barred” version of the Holocaust with a large time commitment—every Wednesday after school—and they shouldn’t participate if they thought it would be too difficult. He spends three months teaching the history of the Holocaust and the students break into groups to research the biographies of the survivors they will be interviewing with the help of a parent mentor. Jeannette Friedman, editor of The Jewish Link, gave the students a workshop on interview techniques and filmmaker Sandra Stacic taught them camera work and editing. Dr. Prager motivated the students by stressing the importance of what they were doing. “I said to them, you have the power to bring forth the stories,” he told the audience.
The dinner was a beautiful counterpoint to the film’s sadness. The survivors basked in the love and admiration of family and community, soaking up honor instead of degradation, being feted instead of starved. The affection the students had for the men and women they interviewed showed in hugs and smiles—some students were interviewing their grandparents.
While many of the students have family members who were in the Holocaust, others had no knowledge but wanted to learn more. Hyatt Aranoff told me, “We have no Holocaust survivors in our family and I was excited to learn. Dr Prager made it easy, showing us the many steps, many parts to the learning.”
Gabe Mehler said he wasn’t sure about joining at first. “I knew there would be disturbing things, but it was amazing,” he said. “I came home and told my parents the whole story.”
Sarah Lieberman said the project helped her learn more about her great-grandmother. “She didn’t tell us too much before she died,” Sarah said. “I thought hearing other people’s stories would shed light on hers. And it did.”
For the survivors, participating in “Names, Not Numbers” was bittersweet. “It was difficult to relive the experience,” said Ira (Israel) Lulinski, who was interviewed by his grandson Judah Strulowitz. He had talked before about his experience as a partisan during the Holocaust to family and friends and in an interview by Yad Vashem, but not publicly. I realized that I knew of him from a book, Falling Leaves by Isaac Aron, the father of a friend of mine, who was with him in the partisans’ brigade.
Lulinski shared this story with me: As a little boy, he and his father, and a few other partisans, including Aron and his sister Jennie Simpkin, were allowed into a Christian home for an hour to warm up from the bitter cold outside. They were hiding on top of the oven, which was very hot, and he was crying. They heard Germans passing by and had to be completely silent. Jennie put her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. “It saved my life,” he said. When I told this story to my friend she was very happy. Her aunt Jennie, who passed away last year, always thought he never believed her that she did it to save him.
Hannah Wechsler, who was in last year’s film, enthusiastically told me how much “Names, Not Numbers” meant to her. “This project is important for future generations,” she said. “The kids really care and want to learn. They have respect for the people they interview. And Dr. Prager is really in touch with the children.”
The film presents the interviews to tell a chronology of events: life before the war, how the Nazis created and then liquidated the ghettos, life—and death—in the camps, and liberation. Interspersed with the interviews are photos and maps to give context. A soundtrack of music, with some original compositions, added another layer of professionalism. The film includes visuals of the students behind the camera and some audio of their questions, reinforcing the premise that students are doing the work and not simply observing.
In an interview prior to the event, Abby Herschmann, sponsor, parent coordinator, mentor, and the initiator of “Names, Not Numbers” at Moriah, said that as they were planning this year’s film they wondered how they could top last year’s amazing stories. “All the survivors are incredible,” Herschmann said. “The stories are all different.”
An unusual aspect of this year’s film was the meeting of participants Sol Goldstein, who liberated Buchenwald, and Dr. Moshe Avital, who survived the camp. In the film, Dr. Avital reads a letter to Goldstein that he composed on behalf of all the survivors, thanking him and the United States for liberating them. In a further connection, Rabbi J.J. Schacter of Yeshiva University, whose father was a chaplain and conducted the first Rosh Hashana service in Buchenwald after liberation, attended the film and met the men.
Other survivors interviewed in the film are: Helen Kugelmas, a member of the Bielski partisans; Sara Wolinsky, who survived by being hidden in a barn by the Banetka family, recognized as Righteous Gentiles by Yad Vashem; Helga Stern, who was arrested with her parents trying to cross the French border from Belgium, and ultimately sent to concentration camps until liberated by the American army; Judith Kallman, who wrote her autobiography, A Candle in the Heart; Joseph Orbach, who was in a part of Poland under Soviet rule and sent to Siberia; Sonia Kaner, protected by Father Celis, a Righteous Gentile, and then placed with another family so she didn’t know she was Jewish until her brother and sisters came for her; and Eli Stern, a survivor of several camps until he was liberated by the British at Bergen-Belson.
Dr. Prager hopes Moriah will be able to continue “Names, Not Numbers,” although funding is always a challenge. He said, “Our goal is to do this until the very last survivor.”
By Bracha Schwartz
