The Next Chapter enables 10th, 11th, and 12th graders to develop profound connections to the Holocaust. Over the course of the rigorous six-month program, teens interview Holocaust survivors and create books that include each survivor's story, along with genealogical and historical research. These books are  presented to the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

In 2011, 19 Holocaust survivors were paired with 19 Bay Area students to create these books. The project is a partnership of JFCS and  the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture and its Jewish Heritage Initiative in Poland. Other research was gathered from the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Poland and from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center.

Survivor Stories

You can access the essays by clicking on the names of the survivors listed here. The research on the towns and countries is also linked.

Survivor Irma Broclawski
Essay by Amber Pearson
Wisnicz (Krakow) (pdf), Poland (pdf)

Survivor Morris Eskenazi
Essay by Nicolas Held
Salonica (pdf), Greece (pdf)

Survivor Lenci Farkas
Essay by Hannah Olsen
Kralovo Nad tisou (pdf), Czechoslovakia (pdf)

Survivor Abram Geldman
Essay by William Danforth
Lublin (pdf), Poland (pdf)

Survivor George Heller
Essay by Avie Sanchez
Budapest (pdf), Hungary (pdf)

Survivor Herbert Heller
Essay by James Benner
Teplice-Sanov, Czechoslovakia (pdf)

Survivor Warren Hirsch
Essay by Zoe Lyon
Mannheim (pdf), Germany (pdf)

Survivor Wilfred “Bill” Kay
Essay by Natasha Tabachnikoff
Pultusk (pdf), Poland (pdf)

Survivor Denise Kopecky
Essay by Josh Temes
Nemecka Lupca (pdf), Slovakia (pdf)

Survivor Hedy Krasnobrod
Essay by Ayani Hayashi
Vienna (pdf), Austria (pdf)

Survivor Ed Lichtman
Essay by Sophia Koperweis
Dobromil (pdf), Poland (pdf)

Survivor William Lowenberg
Essay by Katrina Allick
Ochtrup (pdf), Germany (pdf)

Survivor Gloria Hollander Lyon
Essay by Emma Brenner-Bryant
Berehovo (pdf), Czechoslovakia (Transcarpathian Ukraine (pdf) / Hungary (pdf))

Survivor Isaac Nittenberg
Essay by Maya Argaman
Lodz (pdf), Poland (pdf)

Survivor Bill Rooz
Essay by Ian Glazman
Berehovo (pdf), Transcarpathian Ukraine (pdf) / Hungary (pdf)

Survivor Beatrice Sarkany
Essay by Bridget Blum
Sibiu (pdf), Romania (pdf)

Survivor Lori Shearn
Essay by Eva Geisse
Vienna (pdf), Austria (pdf)

Survivor Ben Stern
Essay by Yael Levin
Mogenize (Warsaw) (pdf), Poland (pdf)

Survivor Ann Marie Yellin
Essay by Ellenor Harkin
Chemnitz (pdf), Germany (pdf)

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