Noted Holocaust Scholar Gives High School Students a Primer on the Power of Film to Capture Survivors' Testimony “You are the last generation to know the survivors. The best of you will accept the responsibility for being witnesses for the witnesses.” Addressing seniors at Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB), Holocaust scholar and Academy Award-winning producer Michael Berenbaum told them that they have the responsibility—and with film, the ability—to create a vivid and lasting record of the Holocaust. “Imagine what a Passover Seder would be if you could hear from someone who was there. That is what film can do,” said Berenbaum, former director of the United States Holocaust Museum Research Institute who coproduced the Academy Award-winning film One Survivor Remembers. Berenbaum was one of several speakers to address students at YUHSB and Yeshiva University High School for Girls in connection with “Names, Not Numbers,” an oral history project and curriculum in which students research, interview and film Holocaust survivors. Article Photo Michael Berenbaum addressed seniors at YUHS-Boys. Nov 24, 2009 -- “You are the last generation to know the survivors. The best of you will accept the responsibility for being witnesses for the witnesses.” Addressing seniors at Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB), Holocaust scholar and Academy Award-winning producer Michael Berenbaum told them that they have the responsibility—and with film, the ability—to create a vivid and lasting record of the Holocaust. “Imagine what a Passover Seder would be if you could hear from someone who was there. That is what film can do,” said Berenbaum, former director of the United States Holocaust Museum Research Institute who coproduced the Academy Award-winning film One Survivor Remembers. Berenbaum was one of several speakers to address students at YUHSB and Yeshiva University High School for Girls in connection with “Names, Not Numbers,” an oral history project and curriculum in which students research, interview and film Holocaust survivors. The program was created in 2003 by Tova Fish-Rosenberg, the director of Hebrew language at YUHS and recipient of the Baumel Award for Excellence in Jewish Studies, which honors outstanding Jewish studies educators at the University. “The purpose of the program is to touch our students’ souls, so they learn about the Holocaust through personal connection,” Rosenberg said. Since the program’s inception, over 280 students in seven cities have interviewed and videotaped 110 survivors and World War II veterans. Every year, excerpts from the taped interviews are combined into a documentary, which stands as a culmination of the project. Watch videos of last year’s Names, Not Numbers project by YUHSG here and YUHSB here. The students are taught interview techniques by adult professionals. Previous years have featured training sessions from journalists such as Joseph Berger from The New York Times and Gary Rosenblatt from The Jewish Week. This year, CBS news producer Stephanie Cassell spoke to the girls about interviewing and gave them a tour of the CBS news studio. “You want to maintain a professional integrity but a human presence,” said Cassell. “Really, really listen to what they have to say. It’s the nuances that will tell the story.” “By memorializing the victims, survivors and heroes of the Shoah, the students are all personally invested in making sure that the lessons of that horrific time period will never be forgotten,” said Rochelle Brand, Head of School at YUHSG. “It’s a unique opportunity,” said Yehuda Kupferman, a senior at YUHSB. “I was never able to talk to my grandparents about the Holocaust. This is an opportunity for me to make up for that.”