Impressive Visual History Archive Now Available in its Entirety in San Francisco JFCS Holocaust Center, in partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation founded by Steven Spielberg, now gives people full access to view thousands of video testimonies, and is one of just two sites in Northern California to do so along with Stanford University. The Visual Read More

JFCS Partners with the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow on a New Exhibit Featuring Rywka’s Diary When the JFCS Holocaust Center first received an old and tattered school notebook written in Polish and pulled from the ashes of Auschwitz, JFCS Executive Director Dr. Anita Friedman suspected the power the mysterious volume contained as she turned Read More

John Damski: Rescuer Today’s post comes from the JFCS Holocaust Center’s YouthFirst Summer Intern, Waheeb. In addition to helping Holocaust Center staff with administrative projects, Waheeb spent part of his summer researching, writing, and editing this portrait of John Damski, a Polish Catholic who risked his life to save Jews during the Holocaust. Waheeb completed this project using Read More

The JFCS Holocaust Center is pleased to co-present eight films at this year’s film festival! Be sure to use the promo code JFACSHC17 for a special deal. This code will reduce your regular ticket price to $13 (regular price $15).  We look forward to seeing you there! 116 Cameras  in Jews in Shorts: Documentaries | directed by Davina Pardo Read More

Letters for Ralph Earlier this spring, Holocaust survivor Ralph Samuel shared his story with students at Valley View Middle School in Pleasant Hill as part of the JFCS Holocaust Center’s William J. Lowenberg Speakers Bureau. The following comments make up just a small sample of some of the feedback that we received from the students at Read More

Letters for Leon During the first week of May, Holocaust survivor Leon Rajninger shared his story with students at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley as part of the JFCS Holocaust Center’s William J. Lowenberg Speakers Bureau. Regarding Leon’s programs, the organizing teacher wrote: “He is a treasure. My students were especially struck by his Read More

A Legacy of Remembrance and Resilience Recently, the members of 3gSF attended Café by the Bay’s Passover Seder. At this special event, survivors of the Holocaust mingled with the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors (3Gs), sharing food, drink, and life experiences. J Weekly By Rob Gloster Berta Kohut endured more than 1,000 days at Auschwitz. She Read More

Iris Bendahan is one of three winners of this year’s Morris Weiss Award for Outstanding Holocaust Education. Gathering most of the materials herself, she has put together an incredible Holocaust museum at Congregation Beth David in Saratoga. J Weekly By Rob Gloster As a child, Iris Bendahan was confused when her grandmother would speak of relatives Read More

Sunday, April 23 5:00-6:15pm JCCSF, 3200 California Street San Francisco The Future of Our Past A Conversation about Memory and Testimony with Stephen D. Smith, USC Shoah Foundation, Followed by a Memorial Ceremony This community event is free and open to the public. 4:00 pm: Reading of the Names—On a continuous cycle prior to the Read More

In the beginning of March, William J. Lowenberg Speakers Bureau member Helen Farkas addressed the students at Mt. Eden High School in Hayward, California. Following the program, we received a large stack of letters from the students at Mt. Eden. Helen really made an impression on this large group of young people; each letter was Read More

On Sunday, March 19, 2017, more than 700 students and teachers from the Bay Area and beyond came together for the 15th annual Day of Learning. This week, The J. – The Jewish News of Northern California, featured the event in their publication. “While most high school students wouldn’t choose to spend their weekends inside a classroom, Piedmont High Read More

At the Threshold of Memory: An Exploration of New Modalities in Holocaust Education Please join our friends at Jewish LearningWorks this weekend for an exploration of new modalities in Holocaust education. The program is free of charge and open to all adult community members, but registration is required. Register > Sunday, February 12 2:00 – 5:30pm University Read More

Day of Learning Sunday, March 19 12:30 – 5:00 pm Galileo Academy of Science and Technology San Francisco All Northern California students (grades 7 – 12) and teachers are invited to this annual, free event. Come learn from preeminent educators and Holocaust survivors. At the Day of Learning, gain a deeper understanding about the Holocaust Read More

The JFCS Holocaust Center was honored to have the students from Adele Harrison Middle School in Sonoma join us for the BAY AREA BIG READ! Upon careful reflection after reading The Children of Willesden Lane, the students at Adele Harrison Middle School wrote incredible poems. The following poems are just a few examples of the Read More

Today’s San Francisco Chronicle featured a great story about The Children of Willesden Lane BAY AREA BIG READ and its impact on local students. We are so proud that we were able to bring Lisa Jura’s story to nearly 7,000 students and teachers throughout Northern California. From the article by San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Filipa A. Ioannou: Read More

The response from students and teachers throughout Northern California to The Children of Willesden Lane BAY AREA BIG READ has been incredible! This past week the JFCS Holocaust Center has received over 120 thank you letters from students at Lowell High School in San Francisco. Each heartwarming letter serves as a reminder of the importance of educating youth Read More

We are pleased to announce a new collaboration between the JFCS Holocaust Center and The Contemporary Jewish Museum, inspired by the new exhibition From Generation to Generation. From Generation to Generation examines memory, sometimes personal, but more often collective or historic, through the lens of art. The artists invite us into their worlds, urging us to make Read More

The Children of Willesden Lane Bay Area BIG READ is a powerful education initiative for grades 6-12. It teaches youth about the Holocaust, the importance of standing up against bigotry and hatred, and the transformative nature of art. Recently, KCBS reporter Scott Lettieri visited a classroom at City Arts and Technology High School in San Read More

The JFCS Holocaust Center is pleased to partner with Taube Philanthropies in hosting screenings of Denial. Based on the book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier, the film tells the story of Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt’s legal battle with Holocaust denier David Irving. Directed by Mick Jackson and starring Rachel Weisz, Denial is not to Read More

What are “oral histories”? Oral histories are testimonies of Holocaust survivors, recorded on audio and video tape. These personal stories provide us with an immediate way to grasp the horrors of the Holocaust. The oral history clips on this site are excerpts from testimonies in the JFCS Holocaust Center collection. They have now been digitized Read More

Please join us for a presentation by Dr. Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She was the 2011/2012 Ina Levine Invitational Scholar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and is the author of Me – Us – Them. Ethnic Prejudices and Alternative Methods of Education: The Case of Read More

This year, the JFCS Holocaust Center will co-present four films at the 36th annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival! Continuing to inspire communities in the Bay Area to expand their understanding of Jewish culture through film, this year’s festival lineup includes 68 films from 15 countries. The JFCS Holocaust Center is proud to co-present the following Read More

Meryl Botkin was delighted when she heard that her granddaughter, Julia, had been accepted into the Manovill Holocaust History Fellowship at the JFCS Holocaust Center. She knew that she would get the chance to see her beloved granddaughter more often throughout the school year, and it would give Julia an incredible opportunity to study the Read More

The Children of Willesden Lane Bay Area BIG READ The JFCS Holocaust Center is happy to announce an exciting new opportunity to engage students about the Holocaust using an interactive curriculum focusing on art, music, and the power of storytelling. All Northern California teachers (grades 6-12) are invited! This training is part of a larger Read More

We are pleased to announce that 7,000 students will participate in a powerful education program this fall. Thanks to generous donors, The Children of Willesden Lane Bay Area BIG READ will be offered to Northern California middle and high school teachers and their students. This unique program teaches youth about the Holocaust, the importance of standing up against bigotry Read More

More than 900 Holocaust testimonies recorded over four decades by the Jewish Family and Children Services Holocaust Center of San Francisco (JFCS) are now fully integrated into USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive as part of the Preserving the Legacy initiative – an ambitious plan to save recorded eyewitness testimony and bring voices of genocide Read More

Please join Jewish Family and Children’s Services for the San Francisco observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year’s program, Out of the Shadows: Rediscovering Artists, Musicians, and Poets, includes a screening of Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh, a documentary about the young Hungarian poet; five workshops, including eyewitness testimony from Read More

More than 600 students and educators representing 120 different schools from throughout California joined the JFCS Holocaust Center for the 14th annual Day of Learning. Eighteen different workshops were offered and 16 different survivors of the Holocaust and genocide shared their stories. Please visit the JFCS Holocaust Center on Facebook to view photos, tag yourself, and Read More

Registration is now open for our annual Day of Learning! We are excited to welcome over 750 students (grades 8 – 12) and educators from all public and private schools throughout California for an incredible day to gain a deeper understanding of the Holocaust and patterns of genocide. How does one apply the lessons of Read More

Calling all educators! JFCS Holocaust Center is proud to co-sponsor an upcoming professional development workshop held by Echoes and Reflections. Join us in San Jose for a three-hour workshop to learn effective strategies for teaching the Holocaust in the classroom. Registration is free and each participant will receive a free Echoes and Reflections Teacher’s Resource Guide. Read More

The JFCS Holocaust Center is proud to co-present several upcoming programs with the Jewish Community Library in San Francisco. All events take place at the Jewish Community Library, 1835 Ellis Street in San Francisco, unless indicated. Free garage parking is available on Pierce between Ellis and Eddy (click here for a map).   Saved by Read More

Praise for Rywka’s Diary Rywka’s Diary: The Writings of a Jewish Girl from the Lodz Ghetto has received glowing reviews internationally and has been published in more than 10 languages by major publishers, including Harper Collins in the U.S. Found in the ruins of Auschwitz, this recently re-discovered diary of a Polish teen is being sold Read More

Rywka’s Diary: The Writings of a Jewish Girl from the Lodz Ghetto Please join us for a book reading of Rywka’s Diary with JFCS Executive Director Anita Friedman Rywka Lipszyc was a 14-year old Jewish girl, orphaned and living in the Lodz ghetto. From October 1943 to April 1944, she recorded her thoughts, feelings, hopes and Read More

JFCS Holocaust Center is pleased to co-present these films with the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival: Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah | directed by Adam Benzine In this documentary, Lanzmann discusses the making of his masterwork, Shoah along with his personal struggles creating one of the most important Holocaust documentaries. Castro Theatre (San Francisco) – Tuesday, Read More

You’ve asked for an Instagram page and we’ve listened. We are excited to announce the launch of the official JFCS Holocaust Center Instagram! An exciting new way to stay up-to-date with our events and programs, the JFCS Holocaust Center Instagram page will also feature rarely seen items from our archive and items from the Tauber Holocaust Library’s 13,000 volume Read More