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

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

JFCS Holocaust Center is excited to announce its newly designed website at holocaustcenter.jfcs.org. The new website highlights our Holocaust education programs, the Tauber Holocaust Library and Archives, The Diary of Rywka Lipszyc, the oral histories of Bay Area survivors, and much more. The website promises to become an important teaching resource on the Holocaust and Read More

We are thrilled to announce the release of Never the Last Road: A Partisan’s Life by Mira Shelub and Fred Rosenbaum. Mira Shelub is a partisan and a familiar face to many Bay Area students who have had the privilege of hearing her speak. Never the Last Road: A Partisan’s Life tells Mira’s miraculous story or resistance and Read More

The wooden barracks, stretching off into seeming infinity as the gaps between them are shrouded in a thick white fog, the layers of barbed wire fence with pencil-trunked trees and green grass just beyond the environs of the camp. The atmosphere here is just as I’d seen it in the recurring bad dreams I’d had Read More

On the bitterly freezing day when we were on the market in Karzimierz, Daniel pointed me to a table of souvenirs with a curious collectible set: This was a replica of a seal used in the Lodz ghetto.  The text reads: “Der Aeltester der Juden.  Litzmannstadt”  (The Chair of the Judenrat.  Lodz ghetto).   I’ve seen Read More

It is hard to know where to begin in writing about the experience of Shabbat in Poland. Since I had never been here before, I did not know what to expect; now that I am here, I see that this was just as well, because Poland is unlike any other place I have been, and Read More

The official start of the Legacy tour began midday Friday, the 24th with a meet and greet of all the participants with introductions around including the introduction of Dariuysz Kyzniar, to be our tour guide during the entire time of schedule tour in Poland.  He distributed earphones and receivers to each of us so that Read More

Our travel portion of the journey has concluded, but our experiences and memories will always be with us. Below are reflections from the final days of the trip. July 10, 2012   Yesterday we traveled southwest in the direction of Tel Aviv. One the way we visited a unique farming program that educates groups on Read More

July 8, 2012 Today, we went to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. It was absolutely magnificent and well thought out. The museum focused on the remembrance of the unnamed victims of the Holocaust. We had the opportunity to explore on our own and fill our heads with so much information. The countless photos of people before Read More

After our first few days in Jerusalem I can honestly say it feels like we have been here forever…. like coming home again. Enjoy our photos and reflections… tomorrow we venture south to the Negev and then on to Tel Aviv. You will notice the introduction of some beautiful photography taken by Alex, Legacy Tour Read More

July 6, 2012 Warsaw is 1000 times different than both Berlin and Krakow on the outside, and that was the first thing I noticed. It has much larger buildings, bigger lights and it is more like a classic city. But as we got more familiar with the synagogues and Jewish community I realized that it Read More

Greetings from Jerusalem! We arrived just before sunrise, and the group is loving the rest and relaxation. We’ll post pictures and reflections tomorrow. Shabbat shalom!

Over the past few days we have traveled over 500 miles and through 500 years of history. We are still attempting to catch our breath, but at the same time stopping to smell the roses in each garden along the way. Tomorrow will be our final day exploring Warsaw and then off to Israel.  Enjoy Read More

I didn’t know what to feel as we approached Auschwitz Birkenau. There was no dramatic music or flashes of tears or terror. I felt a more subtle kind of fear. The kind that starts as a small chill at the bottom of my spine or as a fleeting shadow when I’m home alone. It was Read More

Today we visited the site of Auschwitz Birkenau. There is a great deal to say and the students are doing so with amazing eloquence. Know that each participant felt so connected to their families at home through the letters you sent… the emotional impact stayed with them throughout the day. Helen was unbelievably strong and Read More

This is Peretz Wolf-Prusan, blogging in from Krakow, where we arrived from Berlin Friday morning.  We were met by our guide Kamala and whisked to the Stradomska Center for Dialogue where we learned a great deal about the revival of Polish Jewish life in a very short time with Dr. Karen Underhill, Taube Jewish Heritage Read More

  Today we stood under the Brandenburg Gate and learned about the waves of history that have flowed through this gate.. from the Prussian Monarchs through the Nazi era and the fall of the Berlin wall. Including JFK and his famous declaration. This moment truly illustrates our cohort of amazing students. After viewing memorials to Read More

After 20 hours of travel and a quick stop over in London we have arrived to Berlin! After crossing the international date line we entertained ourselves with games of ninja and airport yoga and snacked on fish and chips while passing the time in Heathrow. Yvonne shares with us some of her first impressions: So, Read More