Temple Sinai Students Create Holocaust DVD

June 12, 2008 - Aaron Passman, Staff Writer

Annalise Nossbaum and her mother were sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp in 1945, where for the month until they were liberated, they slept among the dead, waiting to be buried.

"When I was liberated, I was numb," said Nossbaum in a DVD interview. "I was happy that my mother was still there, but it was almost a disbelief that the years of oppression had ended at that point."

The current Jenkintown resident is part of a new documentary, put together by Temple Sinai in Dresher, in which three local Holocaust survivors and a liberator tell their stories.

The documentary, titled "Remember Us ('Zachrenu')," was part of a required project for B'nai Mitzvah students and was spearheaded by George Marcus, chairman of Temple Sinai's Holocaust Education Committee. As far as Marcus was concerned, the time to do this was now or never.

"We may be the last generation that's ever able to sit down and talk to survivors," he said. "In the next five to 10 years, they may not be around or in a position to talk."

Their Point of View

Marcus, who also served as executive producer on the DVD, said that he saw another synagogue present something similar to its B'nai Mitzvah students and thought the idea was perfect for his own shul -- with one change: Tell the stories from the children's point of view.

The project began late last spring by asking for volunteers from the Hebrew school. The 10 participants were then asked to read Holocaust literature and write a timeline of pre-Holocaust history before reviewing the biographies of their subjects and formulating their questions.

The project also got some help from a Philadelphia celebrity: Marc Zumoff, the voice of the 76ers, who served as producer on the project, handling the technical end of things.

"What I was able to offer was the professional expertise necessary to give their stories some emotion," said Zumoff, "to give it some sensitivity and to help craft a vehicle that could really tell the story through the eyes of the children."

Zumoff also helped secure the videographer, editor and sound technician to give the finished product some professional heft.

The interviews were filmed in November at Temple Sinai, and also include file footage (supplied by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.) that's interspersed with the interview footage. The children who conducted the interviews also narrated the project, which begins with 32 minutes of background information mixed with interview clips, followed by the complete interviews.

The completed DVD was financed through a grant from the community outreach wing of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, as well as with donations from community members and organizations.

Marcus estimated that the total budget would end up being $9,000, and that the DVD would be ready by July, with a first run of 1,000 copies. These will be given to all B'nai Mitzvot at Temple Sinai, as well as be made available to educators at area schools, libraries and synagogues.

More copies of the DVD would be produced depending upon demand, according to Marcus.

"The way this was done professionally and the scale of it, we really feel that it's a teaching tool," said Marcus, who added that some public schools have already shown an interest in it.

Zumoff said he hoped that telling these stories would make it easier for children and adults to discuss the Holocaust with one another.

"I know that with my own children, when they watch a movie or television, they become very interested when other children their age are involved," he said.

Marcus echoed that point, saying that the DVD was how "our children are going to teach their children."