Claims Conference-Funded Films Provide Virtual Holocaust Education

NEW YORK, April 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) in conjunction with the United Stated Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), the Azrieli Foundation and Katahdin Productions, announces the launch of online Holocaust film screenings paired with survivor stories and experiences.

In light of social distancing requirements and schools moving education to online formats, these Claims Conference-funded films are intended to provide students a virtual "fieldtrip," allowing them to watch limited-access films, a dynamic group discussion with Holocaust experts and hear direct testimony from Holocaust survivors related to the films.

The online film screenings can be found on the Claims Conference website for the next 48 hours: http://www.claimscon.org/film/ 

The schedule and films are as follows:

• Monday, April 20, beginning at 2:00 pm EDT
  Who Will Write Our History, written, produced and directed by Roberta Grossman, and executive produced by Nancy Spielberg
  
  
  Who Will Write Our History reveals how a clandestine group in the Warsaw ghetto vowed to defeat Nazi lies and propaganda not with guns or fists but with pen and paper. It is the first documentary about the effort code-named Oneg Shabbat. Led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum, a band of journalists, scholars, and community leaders secretly documented Nazi atrocities. The clandestine team faced constant danger, including the ever-present threat of being discovered by Gestapo agents. One of Ringelblum's greatest achievements was that the Germans never stumbled on the secret. The Oneg Shabbat resistors eventually buried 60,000 pages in hopes that the archive would survive the war, even if they did not.
  
  
  Holocaust survivor, Aviva Blumberg, a survivor from the Warsaw ghetto, will start the panel discussion by sharing her personal story.
  
  
  Additional subject matter experts include: Roberta Grossman, Writer, Director and Producer; Nancy Spielberg, Executive Producer; and Gretchen Skidmore, Director of Education Initiatives at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  
  
• Monday, April 20, beginning at 8:00 pm EDT
  116 Cameras, created and directed by Davina Pardo
  
  
  116 Cameras is a documentary that follows Holocaust survivor, Eva Schloss as she embarks on an ambitious new project: preserving her story as an interactive hologram that will have conversations with generations to come.
  
  
  Holocaust survivor, Eva Schloss, a survivor from Austria and stepsister to Anne Frank, will start the panel discussion by sharing her personal story of survival.
  
  
  Additional subject matter experts include: Sara Bloomfield, Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Naomi Azrieli, Chair and CEO of the Azrieli Foundation; and Michael Berenbaum, writer, lecturer and teacher, consulting in the conceptual development of museums and historical films.

Also promoting this program is the American Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the Galicia Jewish Museum, Hillel International and the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

About the Claims Conference: The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), a nonprofit organization with offices in New York, Tel Aviv and Frankfurt, secures material compensation for Holocaust survivors around the world. Founded in 1951 by representatives of 23 major international Jewish organizations, the Claims Conference negotiates for and disburses funds to individuals and organizations and seeks the return of Jewish property stolen during the Holocaust. As a result of negotiations with the Claims Conference since 1952, the German government has paid more than $80 billion in indemnification to individuals for suffering and losses resulting from persecution by the Nazis. In 2020, the Claims Conference will distribute approximately $350 million in direct compensation to over 60,000 survivors in 83 countries and allocate approximately $610 million in grants to over 200 social service agencies worldwide that provide vital services for Holocaust survivors, such as homecare, food and medicine. 

SOURCE Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany

Related Links

http://www.claimscon.org/film