IHE News and Updates
March 2020
Upcoming Week of Understanding
Please plan to come to an event during the Week of Understanding this March 23-27. We will have community events during the evenings for the public. For more information on times and locations, click here .

During the school day, will will have our survivors, second-generation survivors and third-generation survivors speaking at local schools throughout the metro area. We have more than 20 schools in the area scheduled to hear the testimony. While it is only a few minutes of interaction between people of vastly different ages, the students we touch often carry our message with them for the rest of their lives, as described by Katti Suter, Central High School alumnae, “Almost ten years ago, I chose to take a class that would forever impact me— Holocaust Literature. During this semester we had the pleasure of hearing a survivor speak, coordinated by the IHE. As soon as he started speaking, I felt immediately humbled. I strongly remember how I felt listening to him, and how I felt for the rest of the day, and many days after that. My appreciation for life truly grew so much that day. I am so thankful to the Institute for Holocaust Education for providing me and countless others these. It is truly an honor.”
Speaking Engagement
Rebecca Erbelding
On January 23rd we headed back to school when we hosted more than 200 people at Central High School to hear Ms. Rebecca Erbelding speak about her book, Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America’s Efforts to Save the Jews . Ms. Erbelding highlighted the activities of Mr. John Pehle, who was a graduate of Central High School, and the first Director of the War Refugee Board. In addition, he was a  US Treasury Department   lawyer and one of the authors of the  Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government in the Murder of the Jews , a 1944 document exposing the  State Department ’s alleged cover-up of the  Holocaust .  

Ms. Erbelding is the winner of the  2018 National Jewish Book Award for Writing Based on Archival Material . She is also an archivist, and curator and historian at the  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . As part of her work at the Museum, she has presented on US immigration policy during the 1930s; Holocaust-era diaries; Anne Frank; and the “Hoecker album,” a photograph album owned by Karl Hoecker, the final adjutant to the commandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Teaching About the Holocaust Workshop
The IHE and Nebraska Holocaust Education Consortium held a full-day workshop for middle and high school teachers on Jan. 24th, in the new Community Engagement Center room at the JCC. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Teacher Fellows from across Nebraska provided educational break-out sessions in topics such as: Understanding Propaganda and the Nazi's Use of It; Going Beyond a Single Story: The Universe of Obligation; Why Didn't the Jews Just Leave; USHMM Guidelines for Teaching About the Holocaust; and Rationale Writing. Based on a post-workshop survey, teachers hoped to expand teaching skills for more hands-on learning, increase interaction and interest for students, gain knowledge about the Holocaust to better teach, and to gain better resources to enhance instruction. When asked if the workshop met their goals, 100% of respondents stated that the workshop exceeded their goals.
High School Movie Night
The IHE held a special event for Jewish high school students on February 19th. The students gathered to eat pizza and salad and watch Big Sonia, a story about a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor who operates the last store, a tailor shop, in a defunct shopping mall in Kansas City. After the movie, Scott moderated a short question and answer to talk about the legacies of survivors and the next generation's role in keeping their stories alive. Thank you to Mr. Michael Staenberg for the opportunity to share Sonia's story.
Essay Contest Judging
The first round of judging for the Essay Contests took place on February 27th. Our volunteer judges had a busy night, scoring 524 essays turned in from high school students throughout Nebraska and Iowa, a 25% increase in essays from 2019. The next round of judging will take place in mid-March, with the essay contest reception on April 27th. Students can win scholarships ranging from $100 to $800. The essay contest is generously funded by the Carl Frohm Memorial Foundation.
Educator Spotlights
Ruth Kros
When I started teaching at Skutt Catholic High School 14 years ago, I taught a freshman course called Character Skills. One of the class projects involved students learning about Skutt’s definition of a leader. Students were randomly assigned a leader from a list of approximately 200 names, which included Golda Meir, Raoul Wallenberg, Oskar Schindler and Elie Wiesel. As I helped my students with this project, I realized that I needed to learn more about the Holocaust. My journey began so that I could inspire my students to care more about history and how they could impact the future.

My first formal training was the Bearing Witness program, where Catholic school teachers learned more about the relationship between the Jewish faith and the Catholic Church. I have also had the privilege of attending the Advanced Bearing Witness program in Israel, where I had the opportunity to meet many local experts. In 2019, I was fortunate to be selected for the TOLI (The Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights) summer institute in NYC. There, I met Alexandra Zupruder, the editor of the Salvaged Pages: Young Writer’s Diaries of the Holocaust and was able, through a grant approved through TOLI, to purchase 32 copies of the book for my classroom.
Becki Zanardi
My Holocaust education journey began in 2011, when I returned to teaching at Scotus Central Catholic School, where I teach English for grades 10 and 12. Prior to teaching Night to my students, I went to Washington, D.C. and the USHMM. Nearly every time someone from my community hears I teach Holocaust education, I am asked if I've heard about the former businessman in this area who denied the Holocaust until his death. He had business transactions with Nazis and former Nazis in Europe but refused to believe the Holocaust happened. Being in Dachau in 2012 and then Auschwitz and Auschwitz Birkenau last summer, paired with the latest headlines regarding antisemitism - whether about the percentage of people who don't know what Auschwitz was or hate crimes - solidifies for me the need for Holocaust education. 

I decided in 2017 to attend the Nebraska Institute for Holocaust Education Advanced Educator Training as well as the three-day Belfer Conference for Educators. Also in 2017, I was asked to join the Nebraska Institute for Holocaust Education Consortium Council. In 2018, I began giving community presentations on the Holocaust and entered a master's degree program last fall. Holocaust education has become a passion for me, and God has placed it on my heart for a reason. I am not certain of that reason just yet. Just when I thought I had read "the worst" one human can do to another human, I come across another atrocity in my reading assignments. We as humans are all capable of great good or great evil, and by learning about the evil, maybe I can promote great good. 
Mark your calendars for these important dates in 2020!
Institute for Holocaust Education