'Kristallnacht' Remembrance In Mahwah To Feature Ramapo Student Research On Survivors

MAHWAH, NJ – A class of Ramapo College students are producing Holocaust survivor story maps, and will share their research at a local synagogue's commemoration of Kristallnacht — a 1938 anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany often seen as a tipping point in the Nazis' war on Jews.

Each of the students is enrolled in a course on the Holocaust and is producing a virtual story map based on the testimonies of survivors of Kristallnacht, and will then help Jewish Congregation Beth Haverim Shir Shalom mark 84 years since the atrocity on Nov. 9.

"By focusing on the testimony of a single survivor, I was able to learn about the experience of a Jewish person in Germany at the time, and see how Kristallnacht shaped that experience," Amanda, a student in the course said. "The project showcased how unique the experience of every Jewish person was, and the importance of preserving and learning from the personal life stories."

Amanda, along with her classmates, will learn and teach others about survivors of the Kristallnacht, a wave of antisemitic attacks that killed at least 91 Jews and led to the imprisonment of over 30,000 Jewish men in Nazi camps, Director of the Gross Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Jacob Ari Labendz said.

"We cherish opportunities like these,” Labendz said, “when our students may enrich and give back to our communities by sharing their research and time. The eager support of those same communities demonstrates to students the enduring value of their studies well beyond campus.”