Stockton University unveiled a new program that will let middle and high school students in New Jersey interact with Holocaust survivors.
The Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University has an interactive program to allow the students to speak to and ask questions of the survivor. The program was created by the USC Shoah Foundation through hours of interviews that create a virtual experience for the students.
“The survivor, Edward Mosberg, is from Parsippany, New Jersey. He is 94 years old and he’s a survivor of three concentration camps,” says Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center director Gail Rosenthal.
Stockton University will be testing the program for the next three years to allow the students to virtually interact with Mosberg.
“It was just like we were almost having a conversation with him,” says Pleasantville High School senior Evelisa Merced.
Merced said that she wanted to ask why Mosberg continued to share his story.
“He made a very powerful statement saying that it needs to stay alive because there's not a lot of Holocaust survivors that are left,” she says.
Mosberg lost his whole family during the Holocaust.
“His whole family was murdered during the Holocaust. How can you ask somebody about that?” says Rosenthal. “But knowing that the person is not there and they’ve addressed the question make it so easy for them to ask.”
Rosenthal says that she is looking forward to welcoming more students to the Holocaust Resource Center. She says that the lessons learned at the center are invaluable.
“It’s one thing to read it in a book. It’s another to memorize the dates for the test. But a story – everyone always remembers the story,” Rosenthal says.
The program will run for the next three years. Stockton University says that the students who visit will play a crucial role in testing and refining the program.