Remembering the Forgotten Genocide of the Herero and Nama
by Angelique Silva, YouthFirst Summer Intern In 1884, Germany (a minor power in Africa at the time) ruled over south-west Africa. After Germany had taken over, the Herero and Nama grew sick of the colonization and oppression, and in January 1904, decided to start a rebellion. With their revolt, Germany began a massacre targeting the Read More
Posted by
Admin on August 22, 2023
JFCS LAUNCHES CAPITAL CAMPAIGN TO BUILD NEW, STATE-OF-THE-ART HOLOCAUST CENTER
June 6, 2023, San Francisco—The Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) Holocaust Center has announced the public phase of a $45 million capital campaign to build a new, state-of-the-art Holocaust Center, library, and archive. The JFCS Holocaust Center is widely recognized statewide, nationally, and internationally as a leader in Holocaust and genocide education. The organization Read More
Posted by
Admin on May 31, 2023
What is a Symbol?
The Corruption and Reclaiming of the Jewish Star By Dr. Yedida Kanfer, Director of Collections and Programming This Jewish American Heritage Month, we consider how the meaning of the Jewish Star has changed over time. Consider the blue and gold logo of the Golden State Warriors, with the Golden Gate Bridge in its center, or Read More
Posted by
Admin on May 19, 2023
Morgan Blum Schneider Receives Prestigious Diller Educator Award
On March 23, 2023, the four recipients of the Diller Educator Awards and the recipient of the Diller Prize for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement were announced. The recipient of the Experiential and Communal Diller Educator Award is Morgan Blum Schneider, Director of the Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) Holocaust Center, who has been an instrumental Read More
Posted by
Admin on May 11, 2023
From the Tauber Archives: Torah Ornaments Recovered from the Ashes of Kristallnacht
The following article is an excerpt from forward.com, written by Yedida S. Kanfer, PhD; Director of Collections and Programming at the JFCS Holocaust Center Several years ago, a Holocaust survivor came to see me at the JFCS Holocaust Center Tauber Library and Archives. He had left his hometown of Frankenwinheim, Germany as a child, several Read More
Posted by
Admin on April 20, 2023
Events in Honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 2023
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, testimony with George Elbaum, JFCS William J Lowenberg Speakers Bureau Presented in partnership with the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, and the Consulates of Germany, Israel and Luxembourg. This program will include an introduction by California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis and testimony with George Elbaum. Watch the recording here: February 2nd, Read More
Posted by
Admin on January 19, 2023
JFCS Holocaust Center Leads First Statewide Symposium on Holocaust and Genocide Education
Holocaust and genocide education is mandated in the state of California, but many educators lack the resources they need to effectively teach this sensitive and difficult subject. With antisemitism at its highest levels in recent history, many are wondering how to correct course. This November, the JFCS Holocaust Center held its inaugural symposium of the Read More
Posted by
Admin on December 12, 2022
Pell University Fellow Reflects On The Holocaust and Current Day Antisemitism
Jules, Pell University Fellow, 2021-22 I was catching up with my close friend Caroline over the phone in late January, “There were swastikas on the bench in front of my house”, my friend said, “and then more were drawn around my block. I didn’t know what to do at first, so I took photos, called Read More
Posted by
Admin on June 2, 2022
Conversation with a Holocaust Survivor Changed My World
By Zoe Stricker, a participant in the JFCS Holocaust Center’s Conversation Circle 2020 It has never been lost on me that my generation is one of the last to be in contact with survivors of the Holocaust, so when I learned about the JFCS Holocaust Center’s Conversation Circle, I was eager to partake. I was so curious to hear from a survivor about how they navigated Read More
Posted by
Admin on September 13, 2021
The Social Construction of Coffee
By Shayna Dollinger, Pell University Fellow at the JFCS Holocaust Center Coffee is one of the oldest luxuries and strongest addictions. From Costa Rica to Tanzania and all across the globe, coffee tells stories. But what stories does coffee tell about one of the darkest periods in Jewish history? Coffee first arrived in Europe in Read More
Posted by
Admin on April 13, 2021
My Bar Mitzvah Project: Encounters with Antisemitism and Resilience
In January 2020, I was only a month away from my Bar Mitzvah. On winter break, my family and I went to Jamestown, California in the Gold Country on the way back from a trip to the mountains and a stop to visit the Gold Rush town of Columbia. We went into an old antique Read More
Posted by
Admin on October 12, 2020
Pell University Fellow Reflects on Social Justice Education
Carolina Samayoa, Pell University Fellow, 2019-20 Whenever a chapter in our lives ends, we always want to look back and think about all the things we learned and accomplished. But when I think of the last eight months as a Pell University Fellow, I look forward. I look forward to the doors that have opened Read More
Posted by
Admin on July 14, 2020
Reflections from a Pell University Fellow, 2019-20: Holocaust Remembrance
Liana Rokh, Pell University Fellow, Reflects on the JFCS Holocaust Center’s First Virtual Yom HaShoah Commemoration Yom Hashoah 2020 was a commemoration like no other. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, our original plans of traditional in-person programming were altered. With only a week of turn-around time, the JFCS Holocaust Center was able to conduct the Read More
Posted by
Admin on July 14, 2020
Reflections from University Fellows 2018-2019
Each year at the JFCS Holocaust Center, students from colleges and universities throughout the Bay Area apply for the Pell and Manovill University Fellowships. University Fellows mentor and teach high school students, conduct research, develop curriculum, work with primary source materials in the Tauber Holocaust Library and Archives, and gain first-hand experience learning from Holocaust Read More
Posted by
Admin on August 8, 2019
Japanese Internment in San Francisco
Turning Our Gaze to What is Around Us By Michael Campos, PhD As a JFCS Tauber Holocaust Educator Fellow with the Holocaust Center, I spent the summer immersed in Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. We traced the conditions that magnified antisemitism throughout Europe and learned Read More
Posted by
Admin on March 26, 2019
Turning “Never Again” into a Battle Call with Bite
Genocide in Darfur and the U.S. Response By Alexis Herr, PhD In the wake of the Bosnian, Cambodian, Guatemalan, and Rwandan Genocides, the common idiom “Never Again” that emerged after the Holocaust may seem like a mute battle cry. In my work empowering local survivors of the Darfur genocide to join our Survivor Speakers Bureau Read More
Posted by
Admin on February 22, 2019
Recent Holocaust and Genocide Articles
Curated by Alexis Herr Is Genocide Predictable? Researchers Say Absolutely NPR, December 20, 2018 The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Dartmouth University created a model to predict genocide and are now putting it to use. Read Article> Son of local Rabbi Helps Genocide Orphans in Rwanda J– The Jewish News of Northern California, December 28, 2018 Read More
Posted by
Admin on January 4, 2019
Resistance and Resilience
The Meaning of Hanukkah By Morgan Blum Schneider Hanukkah is the Hebrew word for dedication. During this year’s celebration I find myself reflecting on what dedication required and meant during the time of the Maccabees (160 BCE) and the Holocaust (1933 to 1945), and what it means to me as the director of the Holocaust Read More
Posted by
Admin on December 6, 2018
What Earns More “Likes” – Hatred or Remorse?
Facebook and Genocide in Myanmar By Nikki Bambauer I often start my workday looking for the worst in humanity: checking for the latest news articles on the Holocaust, genocide, and atrocity. A little depressing, I know, but it’s actually one of my favorite parts of managing the JFCS Holocaust Center’s social media profiles. Facebook, Twitter, Read More
Posted by
Admin on November 6, 2018
Calling Out Columbus is Not Justice, But It's Something
By Nikki Bambauer In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Perhaps he initiated genocide, too. But should that matter in 2018? It should, and it does. Last spring, one of the Holocaust Center’s Manovill Fellows taught her peers at Encinal High School in Alameda about indigenous genocide in California. When looking over her lesson plan, Read More
Posted by
Admin on October 8, 2018
The Promised Lands of Eastern Europe, Past and Present
By Yedida Kanfer, PhD In 1899, Polish writer Wladyslaw Reymont wrote a book entitled The Promised Land. Its subject was the city of Lodz, the “Polish Manchester,” which boomed as a textile center of the Russian Empire in the late nineteenth century. Reymont intended the title of his book to be sardonic, a critique of Read More
Posted by
Admin on September 4, 2018
The Plight of the Romani People
Europe’s Most Persecuted Minority By Nikki Bambauer Over the past several years, I have become increasingly troubled by the widespread use of the word “gypsy” in pop culture. Among young Americans, the term is synonymous with “free spirited” and “adventurous.” A quick search of “#gypsy” on Instagram will present you with images of long haired Read More
Posted by
Admin on August 2, 2018
A Day in the Life of the Tauber Holocaust Library and Archives
Interacting with the Past in the Present By Yedida Kanfer, PhD My name is Yedida and I have the privilege of managing the Tauber Holocaust Library and Archives at the Holocaust Center. What is an archive? Theoretically, an archive is anything that you store, or a place where you store it. Our archive traces the Read More
Posted by
Admin on July 6, 2018
Recent Holocaust and Genocide Articles
Curated by Nikki Bambauer Friends separated by the Holocaust reunite in California Associated Press, April 13, 2018 Separated for 76 years, two Holocaust survivors had an emotional reunion last month in Los Angeles. Read Article > Everyone Supports Preventing Atrocity Crimes, But What Works? The Global Observatory, May 7, 2018 Since the Nuremberg Trials after the Read More
Posted by
Admin on June 6, 2018
What do Sesame Street, a British Stockbroker, and Refugees have in Common?
Creative Solutions to the Refugee Crisis By Alexis Herr, PhD In honor of Refugee Awareness Month, I want to discuss two innovative responses to the refugee crisis: one from 80 years ago and the other being carried out today. Both examples serve as an important reminder that when it comes to serving young refugees, determination, Read More
Posted by
Admin on June 5, 2018
The Ukrainian Experiment
The Story of Gerhard Panning By Seth Eislund Seth Eislund is a senior at Stuart Hall High School in San Francisco. He has participated in both the Manovill Holocaust History Fellowship and the Next Chapter. Most recently, Seth served as an intern for Dr. Alexis Herr, Associate Director, and conducted research for the Next Generation Read More
Posted by
Admin on April 30, 2018
Recent Holocaust and Genocide Articles
Curated by Nikki Bambauer After Documenting Nazi Crimes, A French Priest Exposes ISIS Attacks on Yazidis NPR, March 18, 2018 Father Patrick Desbois has spent the last 15 years uncovering details about Nazi massacres in Eastern Europe. He has now turned his attention to Iraq and Syria, where he is documenting ISIS’s crimes against the Yazidi. Read More
Posted by
Admin on April 30, 2018
Inspiration and Genocide Education
Genocide Awareness Month, 2018 By Alexis Herr, PhD “If women, children, and old people would be murdered a hundred miles from here, wouldn’t you run to help? Then why do you stop this decision of your heart when the distance is five thousand miles instead of a hundred?” — Raphael Lemkin When people learn that I Read More
Posted by
Admin on April 3, 2018
From Knowledge to Action
Genocide of the Rohingya Muslims By Nikki Bambauer “It was 2 AM when they came to our village. They set all our houses on fire. There was no time to grab anything. Not even food. All we could do was run.” — Rohingya Refugee, posted March 8, 2018 on Humans of New York At this Read More
Posted by
Admin on March 21, 2018
Overlooked but Not Forgotten
The Voices of Women in the Holocaust By Morgan Blum Schneider “Respond to hate with love… it is the only thing that works” –Helen Farkas, z”l [1] Why does it continue to be important to teach young women about great women in history? As Gershon Bacon reminds us, there is a “persistent tendency to assume the Read More
Posted by
Admin on February 6, 2018
The United Nations and Modern Genocide
If we have not learned from the past, why do we remember? By Alexis Herr, PhD Facing a crowd of nearly 2,200 people packed together at the United Nations headquarters in New York City in 2006 on the occasion of the first International Day of Commemoration of Holocaust victims, Professor Yehuda Bauer addressed the elephant Read More
Posted by
Admin on January 10, 2018