HHREC Collaborates With New York State Education Department on New Holocaust Education Resource

The HHREC was selected by Dr. Betty Rosa, NYS Commissioner of Education to revise and update all curricular resources to teach the Holocaust and other genocides in order to meet the 1994 mandate. Steve Goldberg, the HHREC Director of Education, served as the project manager. Jordan Jace of the NYS Archives Partnership Trust designed a unique platform to house the project which appears on ConsiderTheSourceNY.org.

Steve brought together a team of 28 active and retired educators from New York State to research and write materials for elementary, middle, and high school social studies and ELA teachers. One of the guiding principles is the notion of unique people rather than anonymity, reflecting the importance of case studies of individuals as lenses into a better comprehension of the enormity and complexity of these historical events.

In addition to chronological segments on the Holocaust, the Resource Guide include sections on the Nature of Human Behavior, Rescue and Resistance, Literature and Art, The United States and the Holocaust, and “other genocides,” such as Armenia (1915-17), Holodomor (1932-33), Rwanda (1994), and Rohingya (2016). A special template for the analysis of genocides is included. The guide contains glossaries of terminology, lessons, activities, primary and secondary source readings, with questions, visual documents (i.e. photographs, maps, political cartoons, graphs, and charts), and hyperlinks to both personal testimonies and films. 

The initiative aligns with the NYS Social Studies Framework, the Learning Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education framework, and the Social Emotional Learning Benchmarks. The material is geared towards students in grades 8-12, but there are also resources for younger grades. Materials can be adapted for both special education and English-as-a-New Language classes. 

Congratulations to Steve and to all of the teachers- retired and current- who worked so long and hard to make this critically important resource a reality!

HHREC High School Living History Project

This unique intergenerational program brings together students who meet and work with children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors (HHREC GenerationsForward members). Every individual who hears these stories, either firsthand or through a living witness, becomes responsible for ensuring they endure for generations. Students learn and process these narratives, so that they can better safeguard them and our society’s knowledge of this period in history.

This year, students in grades 10-12 presented from Archbishop Stepinac, Byram Hills, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Somers, and Valhalla high schools. HHREC Coordinator of Student Programming Jeanne Claire Cotnoir worked with these students to help them document and present their Holocaust Survivor stories. Their final works were very powerful and moving. For more information click here.

Congratulations to all!

Pictured L to R: Desirae Bailey-McCalla, Mount Vernon High School, Helen Rubel

Pictured L to R: Joseph Kaidanow, Joey Schacher, Byram Hills HS, Jerry Kaidanow

Pictured: Elden Agee, Archbishop Stepinac High School

Pictured: Penn Copeland, New Rochelle High School

Pictured L to R: Elden Agee, Archbishop Stepinac High School; Desirae Bailey-McCalla, Mount Vernon High School; Joey Schachter, Byram Hills High School; Liv Bergstein, Byram Hills High School; Lianna Brown, Byram Hills High School; Jeanne Claire Cotnoir; Penn Copeland, New Rochelle High School; Olivia Sexton, New Rochelle High School; Summer Befanis, Somers High School; Victoria Grigorova, Valhalla High School.

HHREC GenerationsForward speakers and mentors view presentations

HHREC Community Outreach

As part of our outreach to teachers and the community at large, Director of Education Steve Goldberg conducted presentations and interactive workshops on Exploring the Symbols and Language of Hate and The History of European Antisemitism this past year.

A wide variety of venues and groups experienced these highly interactive events, including the North Rockland School District Social Studies Department; Carmel Central Schools District (community and George Fischer Middle School faculty and students); White Plains High School faculty and Social Studies Department; The Osborn Senior Community; Sleepy Hollow Middle School and High School faculties; Learning Through Retirement at Iona (retired educators); HH Wells Middle School students (Brewster Schools); Rye Middle School students; and Haviland Middle School (Hyde Park). To schedule a presentation or workshop at your venue, contact Steve at sgoldberg@hhrecny.org.

Teachers Institute

In partnership with the Clark Scholars program at Manhattanville University, HHREC conducted a full day of teacher training entitled Meeting the Mandate: Best Practices for Teaching the Holocaust and Other Genocides at the Manhattanville campus in Purchase, N.Y. 

HHREC Director of Education Steve Goldberg, Coordinator of Student Programming Jeanne Claire Cotnoir and Librarian Dan Browne organized and facilitated the program. 38 middle school and high school social studies and ELA teachers attended from Blind Brook, Bedford, North Rockland, Greenwich, Chappaqua, New Rochelle, Hendrick Hudson, Nyack, Pelham, Yonkers, Lakeland, Rye Neck, Mahopac, Pleasantville, Haldane, Nyack, and Scarsdale school districts, along with teachers from German International School, Ursuline School, and Archbishop Stepinac High School. Topics included The History of European Antisemitism, Guidelines to Create Curriculum Units in SS and ELA, Teaching the Ten Stages of Genocide, Holocaust Memoirs and Poetry, The Chronology of the Holocaust, and The United States and the Holocaust. 

For more information about the HHREC Teachers Institute, click here.

Susan J. Goldberg Memorial Teacher Award

The late Susan J. Goldberg's memory is upheld in an award given annually to a regional educator whose work exemplifies Susan's passion to eradicate bigotry and hatred and her outstanding contributions as a Holocaust and human rights educator over the course of her long and distinguished career.

Daniel Wolfe, Social Studies teacher at Denzel Washington School for the Arts in Mount Vernon was the recipient of the 23rd annual award, presented in April at the Yom HaShoah program at Iona University.  

Every year Dan accompanies seventh grade students to our Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders and sophomores to the Human Rights Institute for High School Student Leaders, and has encouraged his students to become workshop facilitators for that event.  In 2022, Dan joined the HHREC Educators’ Program Committee, and he was an active participant in the Educators’ Trip to Germany and Poland in 2024. His willingness to continue his education reflects his desire to provide his students with new insight and understanding of a difficult subject. It is obvious that teaching the Holocaust to illustrate where prejudice and hate can lead has been a cornerstone of the lessons taught in his classes.  Recently, he was part of the team of research/writers on the NYSED Teaching the Holocaust and Other Genocide Curriculum Resource Guide and worked on profiles of Liberators and Robert Jackson and Ben Ferencz, attorneys at the Nuremburg Trials. 

Congratulations Dan on receiving this award and for your ongoing contributions to HHREC!

This event is named after former Westchester resident Benjamin Ferencz (1920 – 2023) who was a prosecutor at the Nuremburg War Crimes Trials. This student writing and creative expression competition was introduced last year for high school and middle school students.

Here are the winning student entries for 2025:

Middle School Creative Expression

Merav Groner - Westchester Day School

National Winners - Middle School

First Place:

Cassidy White - Rotolo Middle School

Second Place:

Riley Cheesman - Rotolo Middle School

Third Place:

Evie Merriman ­- Rotolo Middle School

Writing Competition – High School Winners

First Place

Noah Brümme – German International School New York

Second Place

Sky Corradino – Brewster High School

Third Place

Hannah Gubitz – Rye Neck High School

Creative Expression

First Place

Evan Thorsen – Byram Hills High School

Second Place

Zabelle Shil – Byram Hills High School

Third Place

Theodore Lashmet – Byram Hills High School

Writing Competition - Middle School Winners

First Place

Andrew Moreland - Rye Middle School

Second Place

Jonah Seitz - Farragut Middle School

International High School Creative Expression

First Place:

Maggie Harrison – South Kamloops Secondary School

Second Place:

Sofia Centeno – South Kamloops Secondary School

Third Place:

Kayne St. Pierre – South Kamloops Secondary School

Congratulations to all of our winners and contestants, you are making a real difference in your communities! For more information, including the next competition, please click here.

HHREC Human Rights Institute for Middle School Student Leaders

This 9th annual program was held November 15th -17th at Congregation Emanu-El of Westchester in Rye. Students and teachers from 37 public and private middle schools in the Hudson Valley attended. HHREC staff and area educators facilitated a breakout session on the themes: What does the term “human rights” mean?, What does it mean to respect human dignity?, and How do we incorporate human dignity and human rights while learning to be an upstander?

Students were engaged in activities to address these vital issues, and met in small groups to develop activities to implement in their schools. Students from John Jay High School (Cross River), Byram Hills High School, Manhattanville University Clark Scholars and Iona University helped facilitate the breakout sessions run by Westchester County educators. The event was organized by HHREC Coordinator of Student Programming Jeanne Claire Cotnoir. Returning to present the keynote performance was Sheila Arnold, a nationally renowned Master Storyteller, Historic Character Interpreter, and Teaching Artist.

For more information about the HHREC Human Rights Middle School Institute, click here.

Jeanne Claire Cotnoir facilitates workshop “Human Rights, What it Means to Respect Human Dignity”

HHREC Human Rights Institute for High School Student Leaders

Over 300 students and teachers from 31 schools in Westchester, Dutchess, Putnam, Orange County and Fairfield County, Connecticut attended the 23rd annual HHREC Human Rights Institute for High School Student Leaders on Thursday, March 20th at Iona University in New Rochelle, New York.

The program began with welcoming remarks by Millie Jasper, HHREC Executive Director and Dr. Tricia Mulligan, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Iona University.

This full day event featured powerful and moving presentations and talks. Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School Teacher Brett H. Bowden stressed the importance of students being “Upstanders” and taking a stand in their communities against hate.

HHREC Board Member and GenerationsForward Speaker Leah Sills shared the story of her father's survival from the invasion by the Nazis during the Holocaust due to the heroic efforts of Upstanders.  She has developed a new exhibition that assists her in telling this powerful story cast in the shadow of World War II. To learn more about this new exhibit and to schedule a presentation by Leah with the Call Me Stefan exhibit, please click here.

Congratulations to this year’s honorees for their commitment to becoming an Upstander in their communities:

The Richard A. Berman Leadership Award for Human Rights

Ashley Stangel, Byram Hills High School

The Andy Cahn “Community Service” Award

Owen Brennen, Ossining High School

Selena Nezaj, Pelham Memorial High School 

The Neil Ginsberg Student “Upstander” Award

Kaymbri Wells, Ossining High School

Thaddeus Kromelis II, Sleepy Hollow High School

Abigael Rondeau, Byram Hills High School

For more information about the HHREC Human Rights High School Institute, click here.

HHREC Human Rights Institute Honorees Pictured (L to R): Abigael Rondeau, Byram Hills High School; Kaymbri Wells, Ossining High School; Ashley Stangel, Byram Hills Highs School; Jeanne Claire Cotnoir, HHREC Education Coordinator; Owen Brennen, Ossining High School; Selena Nezaj, Pelham Memorial High School; Thaddeus Kromelis II, Sleepy Hollow High School.

Teachers participate in education workshop

HHREC GenerationsForward Speaker Leah Sills presenting story about her father's survival during the Holocaust

HHREC Speakers Bureau

Members of our Holocaust Survivors and GenerationsForward Speakers Bureau continued to share their stories with public, private and parochial schools and universities, synagogues, businesses and community organizations. 

Through Zoom and in person, our speakers have reached over 25,000 people in the past year in the Hudson Valley area, including at Byram Hills HS, the Hackley School, Mahopac HS, Pleasantville MS, Greenburgh Hebrew Center, Greenwich Academy, Regis HS, NY Medical College, Columbia University School of Business and other locations in the United States including Pikes Peak Academy, Wallingford (CT) Public Library, the Chabad in San Luis Obispo (CA), Ithaca College, and schools in California, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Louisiana. Kudos to Bette K Sparago, our HHREC Speakers Bureau Liaison for her remarkable work placing our speakers at these and other venues around the country!

For more information about the HHREC Holocaust Survivor Speakers Bureau and to schedule an appearance by one of our members, please click here, and for a GenerationsForward Speaker, please click here.

HHREC Holocaust Survivor Speaker Fred Schoenfeld

with students at Monroe University

HHREC GenerationsForward Speaker Lisa Salko shares her story about

13 Drivers' License on the HHREC MemoryKeepers Story Hour

HHREC Educators’ Trip to Germany and Poland

The 2025 HHREC Educational Trip to Germany and Poland offered educators and others interested in learning about the history of the Holocaust to participate in a sixteen-day tour of historic sites in Germany and Poland.

The tour was led by HHREC Education Director Steve Goldberg and professional tour guide Gerrit Book. The program is designed to offer insight into the history of the Jews in Germany and Poland, trace the origins of the Holocaust, and visit monuments and memorial sites through a series of interactive workshops and guided tours by experts in the field. The trip included stops at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, the Jewish Museum of Berlin, the Wannsee House, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Warsaw Ghetto, and Sachsenhausen, a former concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany.

The 2026 Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center Educators’ Study Tour will take place July 10-26th. For more information including registration please click here.

Summer Educators' Tour Guides and attendees gather in Krakow, Poland

We invite you to join us on Thursday, October 30th for the HHREC Annual Benefit, our most important fundraiser of the year, as we honor a very special family, the Kaidanows.

The program will also feature keynote speaker David Harris, Executive Vice Chair, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) and CEO, American Jewish Committee (AJC), 1990-2022.

To reserve your place, or to sponsor or donate to support HHREC, please click here.

Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center

4 West Red Oak Lane, Suite 204

White Plains, New York 10604

hhrecny.org

914.696.0738