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A 21st Century Resource Center

The Mercer County Holocaust-Genocide Resource Center is located on the West Windsor, NJ, campus of Mercer County Community College. We are dedicated to providing the most current resources on Holocaust and genocide education for the 21st Century classroom. Learn more about us at mccc.edu/holocaust.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Commemorate Yom HaShoah this Wednesday, 4/18


"If not for the Holocaust, my parents would never have met and I would never have been born, so I have always felt a profound sense of irony about the Holocaust." 
Steve Besserman

The Mercer CountyHolocaust-Genocide Resource Center and Congregation Beth Chaim of Princeton Junction, NJ, are commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day with a screening of Only A Number a documentary of Holocaust survival by Hamilton, NJ filmmaker Steve Besserman.

Only A Number is the autobiography of Besserman’s mother, Aranka, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp.  A powerful narrative, Only A Number is as much a love story as it is a Holocaust memoir.  It was in a slave labor camp that Aranka fell in love with Josef, the man who would eventually become her husband.  Using his mother’s diary as his guide, Besserman journeys through the sites of the ghettos, concentration camps, and slave-labor factories, reflecting on his mother’s experiences and how they have impacted him as a second-generation survivor. 

In 2011 alone, Only A Number was recognized as an Official Selection of the Garden State Film Festival, the Best FeatureDocumentary at the Jersey Shore Film Festival, an Official Selection of the Santa Rosa Film Festival, and nominated for Best Documentary at the Orlando Film Festival.  A special edition of Only A Number accompanied by a Study Guide has been recommended by the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education to middle and high schools for use in the curriculum with students in grades 7-12.

Filmmaker Steve Besserman will take questions from the audience and discuss his experiences making the film after the screening.  DVDs will be made available for purchase after the program.

The event is free and open to the public.  It will be held Wednesday, April 18, at 7 pm at Congregation Beth Chaim, 329 Village Road East, Princeton Junction, NJ, 08550.  For directions, please visit Beth Chaim’s website at: http://www.bethchaim.org.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Stay Tuned...

Exciting things have been happening at the MCHGRC.

On March 28 we hosted over 15 educators from Mercer County and northern New Jersey at our Echoes and Reflections Workshop.  Hosted by Jerry Clark, this seminar on the 21st Century Holocaust curriculum developed by the ADL, in conjunction with Yad Vashem and the Shoah Foundation, reinvigorated our attendees with fresh material and insightful perspectives.  If you are an educator seeking a strong multimedia resource to bring Holocaust-related education into your classroom, you need Echoes & Reflections.  Check it out online today!

Just this week we hosted educators from across the state at our War Horse workshop.  This multifaceted interactive experience included a series of presentation by MCCC education majors who tackled the book for audiences grades K-4 as well as insights from our own Co-Director/MCCC Education Professor Elizabeth DeGiorgio and Advisory Commission member/High School Guidance Counselor & Peer Leader Lisa O'Neill.  Stay tuned to the blog for resources, including lesson plans, discussed at the workshop!

Upcoming Events  

Mercer County honors Yom HaShoah with a free screening of this amazing Holocaust biopic made by local documentary filmmaker and second-generation survivor, Steve Besserman.  Come for the film, stay for the Q&A with the filmmaker!  Held at Congregation Beth Chaim, 329 Village Road East, Princeton Junction, NJ.  No reservations required!


"The Joy of Teaching Critical Thinking through Primary Sources." This K-12 workshop for educators at all levels and subjects is designed to demonstrate how to combine teaching critical thinking and the content of the Holocaust  and genocide through primary sources.  Presentation by Christopher Zarr – Education Specialist, National Archives at New York City.  Free workshop!  Meals provided!
Register today at http://education.state.nj.us/events/


Sunday, June 3 - Join the Kidsbridge Tolerance Museum 
KIDSBRIDGE is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing imaginative, hands-on exhibits in the Kidsbridge Tolerance Museum, generously housed on the campus of The College of New Jersey in Ewing. These programs focus on: anti-bullying and anti-cyberbullying; tolerance; diversity appreciation and respect for all persons; victim empowerment and positive self-esteem; conflict resolution and empathy; sensitivity to persons with disabilities; understanding of LGBT persons and grassroots youth activism.  Join Kidsbridge on the campus of TCNJ as we walk to send a message: Stop Bullying Today!  Register online now!