I didn’t know how serious the situation was for the people living there, as I mostly just learned about the facts or the big picture, not the stories of specific people who had to go through that event.

I like how they told the stories in a way that felt very personal. Before Dr. Fripp’s visit, the Holocaust felt like a terrible historical event that we were researching in class. I didn’t really understand it on a more personal level. After Dr. Fripp’s visit, I had a better understanding of how the people felt.

Wow – what an amazing program- Jennifer Rudick Zunikoff and Deborah Fripp crafted an amazing journey through a granddaughter’s Holocaust recounting of family love, resilience, determination, and a gift of appreciation between generations. And the experience didn’t stop there. I’m in awe of the steps taken for appreciation, learning, sharing and imagining. I’m intrigued for more.

Dr. Fripp brings new light to the understanding of passing on stories, the most interesting thing about these stories is that they are told through the perspective of the Jewish survivors. This adds more of a personal level and makes the students more intrigued.

Last night we had our graduation ceremony, and the kids were raving about the storytelling. This vehicle was more successful than anything I could ever have imagined.

How to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive without living witnesses poses a critical dilemma for those who care deeply about the history of the Jewish people. Light from the Darkness offers a powerful tool to help future generations bear witness, to understand the history of the Shoah, and to apply its universal themes to modern times.

What you have created is such a precious gem. We are all so blessed to have this sacred space.

Recently, we invited Dr. Fripp to our Grade 9 Humanities class in order to augment our unit on the Holocaust. Fripp worked closely with our teaching team prior to her visit in order to understand where we wanted to go, and she offered excellent suggestions on how to get there. She is an expert in Holocaust education, including the scope, sequence, and pacing of Holocaust curriculum.  Her tips to foreground personal stories, ahead of the perpetrators’ actions, gave us a new way to teach our unit. During Dr. Fripp’s visit, students were engaged, attentive, and even emotional when listening to three uniquely told stories.  Dr. Fripp provided background, thinking questions, and continued to relate her work to our unit’s driving question in a way that classroom teachers cannot always do. The value of storytelling was incalculable.  We will gladly invite her back in years to come.

A poignant and ultimately hopeful ritual. Using the words and visual artwork of the victims and survivors creates a deep and humanizing connection, reminding us to preserve and share the echoes of this tragedy to inspire future generations to ensure this history never repeats.

The process of connecting the events into a story with an experienced coach was really valuable. I became the person in voice, and the story flowed in a way that surprised me. Those who have heard me tell the story have responded in amazing ways.

Oh my, there was a moment of striking oral history, ancestral traditions, ancestral connection as I heard my first “Their Stories, Our Voices” through Teach the Shoah. Time folded in on itself and honoring the living experience of a person came to the forefront.

Something I learned about was how, in ghettos, Jews risked their lives to preserve their culture and teach, making children there happier. Their is a great focus on Jewish suffering when teaching the Holocaust, and Dr. Fripp’s inclusion of a story that involved joy was very important. It helped me reevaluate my view of how Jewish children in ghettos felt.

I have had the privilege of working with Deborah Fripp from Teach The Shoah.  I participated in the program during my tenure as Director of Education at the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre.

The program teaches participants the skills to engage with the personal stories of those who survived the Shoah and those who did not.  This engagement gives docents and teachers the opportunity to share the lives of those who went through the Holocaust in “snapshot” moments. The stories are intended to open a window onto a life, share a moment of a life and convey the visitor to that moment. It allows the visitor to the museum to meet the human beings behind the numbers.

My experience learning this storytelling technique has been invaluable, it has changed the way I approach the exhibition and I have seen changes in the way the visitors respond to the exhibition.

Jennifer Rudick Zunikoff, master storyteller, is extremely generous in sharing her craft. My experience with her was in many ways life changing as she helped me discover the ability to share stories with others in a respectful and honest way.

I would recommend this program to all museums that teach a difficult and dark history. So often individual stories get lost in the attempt to teach the vastness of what happened, but it happened to individuals and it is vital that we remember them respectfully.  This is what Teach the Shoah does.

Good liturgy bends time. It has a way of taking the past and bringing it into the now, connecting us generationally. It takes you to your descendants and brings your ancestors to you. You really captured that.