Kerri Flynn, a history teacher at Washington High School in Union, Missouri, has used IWitness to introduce her students to a variety of people who survived genocide.

After learning about IWitness at last year’s National Council of Teacher of English (NCTE) conference in Washington, D.C., Flynn created her own Information Quest activity using Rwandan Tutsi Genocide testimonies to introduce her students to modern genocides – which most of them have not ever heard of, she said.

She and her colleagues in her department also created an activity in which students watch and respond to several Holocaust testimonies, including Kurt Messerschmidt, Paula Lebovics and Leon Bass, who she first learned about from Echoes and Reflections. Flynn said she chose these particular survivors because they represent a range of experiences outside of what they read about in Night by Elie Wiesel and the testimony clips can deepen her students’ understanding about different events of the Holocaust.

In addition, if after learning about different topics such as Kristallnacht through testimony, they are interested in learning more, Flynn is eager to provide them further reading about it.

“I like for them to hear as many voices as possible. I feel that it deepens their understanding and piques their interest,” Flynn said.

Testimony, she said, gives students more personal and memorable view of historical events.

“I really appreciate being able to bring survivors to my students and having them tell what the experience felt like,” Flynn said. “That stays with them more than the dates and facts.”

Flynn, who was a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Teaching Fellow in 2012, feels it's important to teach about the Holocaust and genocides because we will never be able to stop and prevent them if we don't understand how and why they happened.

“I want my students to see the world through someone else's eyes – and testimony helps them gain empathy and understanding for other people's suffering,” Flynn said. “I hope that my teachings help them be nicer people.  That would make the world a much nicer place.”