January was a series of firsts for us at Teach the Shoah.

In early January, we held two Exploring Their Stories workshops. For the first time, we had a story of a liberator, told by Emma Glinsmann, and a non-Jewish Holocaust story, of a little Roma girl named Krystyna Ciuran, told by Greg Eftimie.

On January 24, we held A Moment of Witness in person for the first time. This was our third annual interfaith program at the public library in Flower Mound, TX but the first in person. Violet Neff-Helms and Greg Eftimie led the program, including Greg telling the Roma story. 

This program was also the debut of the Moment of Witness questions, questions built into the program designed to draw our audience into the conversation. Under the guidance of Storytelling Director Jennifer Rudick Zunikoff, participants opened up about their experiences encountering prejudice and violence. We could not have asked for a better conversation.

On January 26, we held the first Light from the Darkness timed for an Israeli and European audience. The program included stories from Violet Neff-Helms, Tanya Wisoker, Dvora Caspi, Lynne Feldman, and myself, and the beautiful singing of Cantor Faith Steinsnyder.

On January 29 and 30, we presented the second in our quarterly series of story-infused lectures, Sharing Their Stories: Liberation and Return to Life. Led by the expertise of our Director of Holocaust Scholarship, Lynne Feldman, the program was interspersed with stories from Emma Glinsmann, Shifra Poupko, Lyla Chernotsky, and myself. Thirteen-year-old Lyla told her great-grandmother’s story as part of her bat mitzvah, which happened the same week.  

On January 30 in Singapore, I participated in a panel on Holocaust Remembrance and Accessibility as part of an International Holocaust Memorial Day program jointly presented by the Israeli and Swedish embassies. The event was attended by educators from across Singapore and ambassadors from around the world.

We are looking forward to more exciting programs in the coming months. We hope you will join us.

B’Shalom, In Peace,
Deborah  

“Being a storyteller has been a most wonderful open door.”

Violet Neff-Helms is a founding partner, a member of the board of directors, and the executive vice president of Teach the Shoah. She is one of the authors of Light from the Darkness and A Moment of Witness. And she was one of Teach the Shoah’s first storytellers.

“I couldn’t give enough,” Violet says. “I was always looking for what else I could do. As a storyteller, it’s unending. I can take it anywhere. I can do this until I cannot move anymore. It has given me such a feeling of capability. I love being a storyteller.”

To Violet, storytelling is about making connections. When Violet looks for stories to tell, she chooses ones that connect to her. “I want to feel as if I am honoring the story I have been given. I look for a connection on some level, at some point. If that doesn’t come, I’m not going to be able to do a good job or honor that person.”

Not every story connects, but Violet is undaunted. “I read story after story after story and some of them are wonderful but I do not feel as if I could tell them, so I look for others.”

When she crafts a story, Violet goes deep, not broad. Rather than looking at the facts of a person’s life, she looks for a nugget that defines that person. “I remember a story we were told at Yad Vashem,” Violet says, “of a child’s shoe where they pulled open the heel and found a small written note that said, ‘Will anyone know that I was here?’ When I go to a story, I look for that little note in the heel of each story – that’s the heart of that person.”

She’s careful not to let herself get overwhelmed by the work she does, though. “Storytelling has allowed me to take all this on but not internalize it forever,” she says. When she crafts a story, she looks for something positive in the person’s life, even if they were murdered. “That allows it not to lay heavily on me.” Passing the stories on is an essential part of keeping her grounded as well: “just the fact that I’m able to share the story and pass it on, that it doesn’t have to stay with me.”

Violet loves the connection with people that comes when she tells a story. Telling stories at the in-person interfaith program in January was “the most wonderful thing,” she says. “I was able to give these people something precious that I had. I was sharing something that had been shared with me.”

The desire to make connections permeates Violet’s entire life. For 14 years, she was the beloved kindergarten teacher at her synagogue in Texas. Her students, and most of the congregation, called her “Tante Violet.” Professionally, she works as a medical assistant for Alzheimer’s patients, giving people a consistent connection in a confusing world. When she travels, Violet says, “I go to the local market and see the actual people that live there.”

In all of her connections, Violet is unrelentingly positive. She looks for “lightness and humor in others. I want to know what makes them smile.”

In everything she does, Violet is “overwhelmedly, unashamedly, happily Jewish.” And these Jewish connections are important to her too.

“I want to be a part of the worldwide Jewish community. A niche that I see that is sorely needed is reminding us of where we’ve come and our inheritance. Our inheritance is not just the laws of Moses. Our inheritance is the lives of all of our people. In telling these stories of the Holocaust, we share those lives.”

We are looking forward to an exciting spring.

Our monthly Exploring Their Voices introduction to Holocaust storytelling workshops continue. Join us for our next workshops on Monday, March 13 (8 pm EDT: TheirStories.org/Mar13ETS) and Tuesday, March 14 (8 pm Israel, 2 pm EDT:  TheirStories.org/Mar14ETS).

Yom HaShoah is on April 18 this year.

Our annual online ritual Holocaust remembrance, Light from the Darkness, will be held on Sunday, April 17 at 8 pm EST: TheirStories.org/Apr17LFTD.

This Yom HaShoah marks the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. To honor that anniversary, our third quarterly story-infused lectures, Sharing Their Stories: Uprisings and Resistance, will be held on Thursday, April 20 (8 pm EDT: TheirStories.org/Apr20STS) and Sunday, April 23 (8 pm Israel, 1 pm EDT: TheirStories.org/Apr23STS).

We are excited to announce that in May, we will be inaugurating a new program: Moving from Testimony to Story, an in-depth exploration Holocaust storytelling. We hope you will join us for this unique 4-week online class, where you will learn to tell a story of the Holocaust. The classes will be held on Wednesdays throughout the month (May 3, May 10, May 17, and May 24) at two times (8 pm Israel/1 pm EDT and 8 pm EDT). Watch your email and Facebook for more information and registration links.

Follow us on Facebook and online for more information on upcoming events and news. You can also watch previous programs, including all the International Holocaust Memorial Day programs, at our YouTube page.