The Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and 

Human Rights ​Education of North Carolina ​

& 

​Holocaust Speakers Bureau 

Over the Mountains to Safety: Hal Hanauer Myers' Story ©

​Accompanying lesson plan and PPT (links to Carolina K–12 website) US Immigration Policy and Attitudes towards Refugees during World War II and Today.

​​Hiding For Our Lives: Esther Gutman Lederman's Story ©

Accompanying lesson plan and PPT (links to Carolina K–12 website) How & Why Did the Holocaust Occur?  Exploring Action and Inaction through the Survival Story of Esther Gutman Lederman.

A Greek Girl in Auschwitz: Rebecca Yomtov Hauser's Story ©

​Accompanying lesson plan (links to Carolina K–12 website)

Growing Up Under Nazi Rule in Prague: Peter Stein's Story ©

Accompanying lesson plan (links to Carolina K–12 website).

On the Back of a Stranger's Bicycle: Renee Fink's Story ©

Accompanying lesson plan Survival and Resistance: Hidden Children of the Holocaust 

and  PPT Survival and Resistance. The Netherlands Under Occupation

(links to Carolina K–12 website)

How to Use Our Videos

 Teachers will be able to: 
 

• Hear and see a survivor share their personal stories 
• Incorporate the activities and lesson plans into a course of study or assignment
• Use the resources and links to further enrich your understanding of the Holocaust, World War II, anti-Semitism, social justice and human rights
• Draw parallels between the Holocaust and current important topics, such as hate, racism, intolerance and present day genocides

 
Students will be challenged to think about whether recent events locally, nationally and globally were impacted by the lessons of the Holocaust. For example, students can examine North Carolina's history (e.g., in the areas of eugenics, Jim Crow laws, and the removal of American Indians from North Carolina) in relation to the events of World War II. Discussion of recent genocides in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda can help foster a better understanding of human behavior and world response to such atrocities.
 

We have produced documentary shorts on five of our survivors, each is approximately 30 minutes in length and divided into chapters. They contain photographs, maps, historical film footage and documents to accompany the survivor's testimony. Together, these firsthand accounts represent a permanent repository of North Carolina Holocaust survivors’ and liberators’ testimonies and are available for teachers, students and the general public.

The Holocaust survivors’ personal testimonies are the most important component of our educational film project. The testimonies refute the lies and distortions of Holocaust deniers, who continue their assault on history.

The individuals filmed represent a diverse mix of experiences and can be used by educators in various ways. For example, our interviews of survivors who were hidden as children under Nazism can be used when reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Accounts from death camp survivors and liberators can be used when reading Night, by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. The topics of intolerance and anti-Semitism discussed by survivors who witnessed the horrors of Kristallnacht and the effects of the Nuremberg Laws can be used in social justice and history classes.

Lesson plans and activities have been created to assist educators in helping students explore the lessons of the Holocaust and their role in today’s world. The Carolina K–12 (a component of the University of North Carolina Program in the Humanities and Human Values) has aligned each survivor film with approved educational standards. All materials are accessible via links on our website to the Carolina K–12 database. 

The videos can be viewed by clicking on the video player windows below or by visiting our YouTube channel. You can also access the lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations for each video by following the links below the videos. 

Documentaries of North Carolina Holocaust survivors