Cold Spring Harbor Students To Interview Holocaust Survivors

COLD SPRING HARBOR, NY — Students at Cold Spring Harbor Jr./Sr. High School are helping preserve Holocaust history through a documentary filmmaking project that will allow them to interview survivors and share their firsthand accounts with future generations.

The school launched its participation in Names, Not Numbers, an oral history film project, with an introductory training session Oct. 28.

Subscribe

Created by award-winning educator Tova Fish-Rosenberg, Names, Not Numbers connects students with Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans who helped liberate concentration camps. Through firsthand conversations, students learn about stories of loss, resilience and hope while documenting experiences that might otherwise be lost to time.

The program was made possible through sponsorship from the Cold Spring Harbor Educational Foundation.

"The opportunity to sit with someone who experienced the Holocaust firsthand is becoming increasingly rare," Principal Daniel Danbusky said. "And we are approaching a moment when students will no longer have the same opportunity to look into a survivor's eyes, hear their voice, and ask them what happened in their own words."

During the training session, students worked with Names, Not Numbers representative Jeff Salgo, a former CBS television producer and director with 35 years of experience.

Salgo introduced interviewing techniques focused on research, history and empathy, emphasizing the importance of preparation, active listening and building trust when discussing sensitive experiences.

Professional filmmaker Michael Puro also introduced students to the documentary filmmaking process and the equipment they will use to record their interviews.

Students watched excerpts from "Searching for Sosúa," a documentary featuring Holocaust survivor Helga Rieden and her eventual refuge in the Dominican Republic.

The session also featured photographs and field journals belonging to a social studies teacher's grandfather, who served in World War II and participated in the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp. The materials provided students with a personal connection to the history they are studying.

Over the next several months, students will participate in lessons and workshops covering Holocaust history, research, interviewing and filmmaking.

Interviews with Holocaust survivors are expected to take place in late January, with the completed documentary scheduled to premiere in the spring for students, survivors, families and community members.

"The films you create will become more than a record of a school project. They will become a bridge between generations," Danbusky told students. "They will allow a survivor's voice to reach beyond this room, beyond this school, and beyond this moment in time."