We are sorry to hear about the recent passing of Jewish Holocaust survivor Margot Schlesinger. The Chicago resident was 99.

Schlesinger gave her testimony to USC Shoah Foundation in 1995.

Born Maria Miriam Wind, on July 24, 1918, she was raised in Berlin. In her interview, she talks about life before the war, and living in a ghetto, before being sent to the Plaszow concentration camp, where she was put to work in Oskar Schindler’s nearby factory. She was among a group of women who were accidentally sent to the Auschwitz death camp.

In Rwanda, where the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi remains a fresh wound, education is a critical piece of promoting lasting peace.

A group with Aegis’s education team in Rwanda has concluded a three-week visit with the Institute to develop expertise for accessing testimony in IWitness, create testimony-based educational content for local educators and establish plans and expectations for the next phases of our partnership.

Even absent this current era of “alternative facts” and “fake news,” the new Polish law making it a crime to point out Poland’s complicity in the Holocaust would be alarming. 

But that it is occurring in today’s climate of demagoguery, heightened nationalism and ethnic tension – an unholy trio that threatens to metastasize on a global scale – is a troubling development.

Poland’s effort has come under attack by Israel and stewards of Holocaust memory.

In this activity, students will examine the impact that personal stories can have in inspiring others to action. They will listen and reflect on genocide survivor testimonies, discuss the concept of leadership and form belief statements about how they can become leaders in their communities.