Holocaust Awareness, One Penny at a Time

“I don’t want people to forget.”   That is what Georgie, a middle school student in San Mateo, found herself thinking when she was asked to explore topics for a two-year-learning project at school. As her friends explored starting a catering business or learning how to train pets, Georgie wondered how she could share about a Read More

Posted by Admin on November 27, 2023
Resources for Responding to Antisemitism and the Israel- Hamas War

The JFCS Holocaust Center is steadfast in our mission to combat antisemitism through education. As we witness the rampant spread of misinformation, we offer a pillar of support and guidance for educators, parents, students, and community members who are wondering how best to respond. Read on for a range of educational resources, expert guidance and Read More

Posted by Admin on October 11, 2023
Join Us for The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 39!

The JFCS Holocaust Center is pleased to co-present seven films at this year’s film festival! Be sure to use the promo code JFCSHC39 for a special deal. This code takes $2 off any regularly priced screening.  We look forward to seeing you there! Afterward | directed by Ofra Bloch In this documentary, psychoanalyst and trauma expert Read More

Posted by Admin on July 16, 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
Upcoming Event: Holocaust Education Workshop

Join us for workshop with Dr. Magdalena Gross and filmmaker Yoav Potash! Sun., Nov. 11, 2018 2:00 – 6:30 PM Flora Lamson Hewlett Library Building 2400 Ridge Road Berkeley, CA RSVP > Hear from Dr. Magdalena Gross on teaching the history of the Holocaust through Structured Academic Controversy. This will be followed by an exclusive Read More

Posted by Admin on October 22, 2018
Holocaust Memory in Poland

Join us for a fascinating discussion on Holocaust Memory in Poland: Attitudes, Studies, Politics, and More with Dr. Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs and JFCS Holocaust Center Associate Director Alexis Herr! Thu., Nov. 29, 2018 6:00 pm Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, CA Different historical narratives and collective memories linked to the post-WWII constructions of national identity still divide Western Read More

Posted by Admin on October 11, 2018
Faces of Genocide Film Premiere

The JFCS Holocaust Center is excited to sponsor the upcoming premiere of Faces of Genocide! Sun., Nov. 11, 2018 5:00 pm Cowell Theater at Fort Mason 2 Marina Blvd, Building C San Francisco Faces of Genocide is a unique short documentary about the shameful succession of genocidal atrocities throughout the 20th and beginning of the 21st Read More

Posted by Admin on October 11, 2018
The Holocaust Across the Disciplines

  Fall 2018 Lecture Series at San Francisco State University We are excited to co-sponsor the Department of Jewish Studies at SFSU’s Fall 2018 lecture series The Holocaust Across the Disciplines! All lectures are free and open to the public. Learn more >

Posted by Admin on September 27, 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
Fall 2018 at the Jewish Community Library

Upcoming Events We are excited to partner with the Jewish Community Library on two events this Fall! Both events are free and open to the public. Europe’s Underground Railroad with Megan Koreman Wed., Oct. 3, 2018 7:00 – 8:30 pm Jewish Community Library 1835 Ellis St., San Francisco Learn More > Hear from Megan Koreman, Read More

Posted by Admin on August 28, 2018
Local Artist Creates Piece to Benefit JFCS Holocaust Center

Local San Francisco artist Aimee Golant has just unveiled one of her newest pieces, the Shoah Aliyah placeholder. We are grateful that Aimee has chosen to donate 10% of the proceeds from this piece to the JFCS Holocaust Center. The shape of this Torah placeholder is reminiscent of the yellow Star of David badge which many Jews were Read More

Posted by Admin on June 14, 2018
Morris Weiss Award Recipients Announced

Holocaust & Genocide Educators Receive Prestigious Grants Each year, the Preisler Shorenstein Institute celebrates the role of teachers in the field of Holocaust education with the Morris Weiss Award. Morris Weiss, a Holocaust survivor, was a founder of the JFCS Holocaust Center and was dedicated to fighting discrimination and antiseminism. His family established this scholarship Read More

Posted by Admin on May 1, 2018
Introducing the Next Generation Speakers Bureau

Holocaust survivors are dwindling, but their children are just getting started The JFCS Holocaust Center’s newest education initiative, the Next Generation Speakers Bureau (NGSB), was recently featured in the J. Weekly! The Next Generation Speakers Bureau is a training program for second- and third-generation speakers to share their families’ stories of survival during the Holocaust. Read More

Posted by Admin on April 26, 2018
German Again Citizenship Workshop

Did you or a direct ancestor lose German citizenship between 1933 and 1945 because of Nazi persecution? If so, you might be eligible to reclaim your German citizenship. We are excited to co-sponsor an upcoming workshop on the Peninsula about reclaiming German citizenship: Fri., May 11, 2018 10:30 am Peninsula Jewish Community Center 800 Foster Read More

Posted by Admin on April 19, 2018
Shoah: How Was It Humanly Possible?

We are pleased to co-sponsor an upcoming event at Congregation Sherith Israel. SHOAH: How Was It Humanly Possible?, an exhibit by the American Society for Yad Vashem, will be on display from April 16-19, 2018. This exhibit is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required. See below for details. Don’t miss two Read More

Posted by Admin on April 2, 2018
Questions of Complicity: January 31, 2018

Alexis Herr, Associate Director at the JFCS Holocaust Center, will be speaking at Tennessee Technological University on January 31. Dr. Herr and the other members of the panel will speak on the history of the American South and the history of the Holocaust to initiate a larger discussion about the legacy of complicity. Other panelists include: Dr. Betsie Read More

Posted by Admin on December 21, 2017
A Reason to Remember

“A Reason to Remember” reception and presentation The JFCS Holocaust Center is pleased to partner with Mercy High School’s Farkas Center for this special event! November 9, 2017 4:00 to 6:00 pm Mercy High School 3250 19th Avenue, San Francisco 94132     All middle and high school students from San Francisco are invited to Read More

Posted by Admin on October 25, 2017
JFCS Holocaust Center Now Offers 55,000 Video Testimonies

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

Posted by Admin on August 14, 2017
Rywka's Diary Focal Point in New Exhibit in Poland

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

Posted by Admin on July 24, 2017
Join Us for The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 37

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

Posted by Admin on June 29, 2017
Letters from Valley View Middle School

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

Posted by Admin on June 20, 2017
3gSF in the News!

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

Posted by Admin on May 23, 2017
JFCS Holocaust Center in the News!

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

Posted by Admin on May 12, 2017
Yom HaShoah 2017

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

Posted by Admin on April 7, 2017
Incredible Letters from Students at Mt. Eden High School

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

Posted by Admin on April 4, 2017
Upcoming Event: At the Threshold of Memory

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

Posted by Admin on February 7, 2017
Register Now for the Day of Learning 2017!

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

Posted by Admin on January 5, 2017
BAY AREA BIG READ Featured in San Francisco Chronicle

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

Posted by Admin on November 21, 2016
Thank You Letters Fly in from Lowell High School

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

Posted by Admin on November 18, 2016
"From Generation to Generation" at the CJM

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

Posted by Admin on November 18, 2016
BAY AREA BIG READ Featured on KCBS Radio

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

Posted by Admin on November 15, 2016
Denial Film Screening

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

Posted by Admin on September 30, 2016
The Past is a Foreign County: Poland Confronted with Holocaust History

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

Posted by Admin on August 18, 2016
JFCS Holocaust Center to co-present four films at the SF Jewish Film Festival

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

Posted by Admin on July 12, 2016
Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day in SF

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

Posted by Admin on April 20, 2016
We continue to remember
The JFCS Holocaust Center is comprised of the Tauber Holocaust Library and Education Program, the Manovill Holocaust History Fellowship, the Speakers Bureau, the Day of Learning, the Oral History Project and the Zisovich Fellowships programs, as well as The Next Chapter Project. All of these organizations operate on the generous support of our donors.
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