Names, Not Numbers: HAFTR students impress audience

Several HAFTR eighth grade students spent much of the year taking part in a unique and incredible program, entitled Names Not Numbers. The program, created by Tova Fish Rosenberg, helps students learn about the Holocaust in a new way. Three students were assigned a survivor. The students researched the survivor using books, the internet and a trip to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. They composed their own questions for the survivor. The students learned video interview techniques from a professional filmmaker, including practiced use of the hi-tech equipment. Using documentary film tools, they conducted actual videotaped interviews with their survivors. They edited their own work with assistance from a professional and completed their own documentary film project. The student project culminated last week in a celebration with a gala movie premiere at HAFTR High School with the community and participants invited. Members of the audience were blown away at the presentation, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.