TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON — In observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Westwood Regional School District hosted a series of educational events in January at Westwood Regional Middle School and Westwood Regional High School, bringing students into direct contact with personal family narratives of survival through a partnership with 3GNY (Third Generation New York), a nonprofit founded by the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.
Designed to create a “living link” to the past, the initiative moved beyond traditional textbook instruction by centering descendants’ testimonies — stories passed down within families that carry the human face of history and the urgency of memory. Through these presentations and related classroom lessons, students engaged not only with the facts of the Holocaust, but with the moral stakes that surround it: how intolerance takes root, how hate is normalized, and why human rights education remains essential.
In the lead-up to the descendant-speaker visits, students completed preparatory lessons using resources from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to build historical context and help students recognize and combat antisemitism, district officials told us.
“We wanted students to have the necessary historical grounding before hearing these family testimonies, and to understand what it means to respond to intolerance in the present,” said Michael Kenduck, the district’s K–12 supervisor of humanities, and treasurer and past president of the New Jersey Council for the Social Studies. “Using United States Holocaust Memorial Museum resources, the lessons helped prepare students with background knowledge and trained them to recognize and combat antisemitism.”
The program began Wednesday, Jan. 21, when seventh-grade students at Westwood Regional Middle School attended sessions in the media center featuring Rachel Fishman, a descendant speaker whose grandmother survived the Holocaust. The initiative continued Wednesday, Jan. 28, at Westwood Regional High School, where ninth-grade students gathered in the Hurley Theatre for a special assembly featuring Alexander Levine, whose grandfather survived the Holocaust.
“3GNY’s mission is to educate diverse communities about the perils of intolerance and to provide a supportive forum for the descendants of survivors,” said Superintendent Dr. Patrick McQueeney in a statement shared with Pascack Press. “By integrating these personal testimonies into our classrooms, the Westwood Regional School District continues its mission to foster a respectful, informed, and compassionate student body.”
District officials said the descendant-speaker presentations were part of a broader, monthlong curriculum focus. Throughout January, middle school students explored Holocaust history in Social Studies, while high school students participated in lessons designed to examine intolerance and antisemitism — past and present — alongside broader discussions of civic responsibility and the protection of human rights.
About 3GNY
3GNY (Third Generation New York) is a nonprofit founded in 2005 by grandchildren of Holocaust survivors to preserve and share family testimonies and educate communities about the dangers of hate, antisemitism, and intolerance. Now a community of more than 6,000, 3GNY offers educational and cultural programming including museum tours, film and theater events, discussions, genealogy workshops, intergenerational gatherings, and both in-person and virtual programs. Based in the New York City metro area, 3GNY also serves communities in New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island, and Upstate New York, and on its website welcomes participants nationwide through virtual events. In 2023, 3GNY helped launch Living Links, a national network for grandchildren of survivors.
To learn more or get involved, email info@3gnewyork.org.