• To help students apply the lessons of the Holocaust and other historical events – the dangers of discrimination, peer pressure, unthinking obedience to authority, and indifference – to the moral decisions they make in their own lives.

Make a Donation to the Holocaust Commission

Speakers' Bureau and Holocaust Histories
For over twenty years, local survivors from the Holocaust Commission's Speakers' Bureau have shared their stories with thousands of students throughout Tidewater. Read their biographies and those of other local survivors, rescuers, and Righteous Gentiles. 

What We Carry
The What We Carry program is a multimedia program that supplements the Speakers’ Bureau, and will continue to share its message for years to come. Using raw interview footage and archival footage, the Holocaust Commission created four short films, each one based on a Speakers’ Bureau survivor’s experiences and reflections. They are available to come to schools as part of a docent-led presentation including a vintage suitcase full of replicas of all of the photos, artifacts, and memorabilia the four still have from their Holocaust experiences

Elie Wiesel Competitions
The Elie Wiesel Writing and Visual Arts competitions are open to middle and high school students annually.

White Rose
Proceeds raised through the White Rose project, honoring martyred teen activists, educate local students and residents about the Holocaust.

Teacher Awards
Awards for excellence in Holocaust education are offered by the Holocaust Commission to honor teachers in the area's public and private schools who have demonstrated excellence in Holocaust education.  Learn More.

Yom Hashoah
For the commemoration of the Day of the Holocaust, the commission sponsors an annual Yom Hashoah program that celebrates the power of the human spirit and the enduring faith of those who witnessed and survived the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel competition and Teacher award winners are honored at this event.

Through the Eyes of a Friend
“Through the Eyes of a Friend” is a dramatic presentation that offers students in Tidewater public and private schools the opportunity to learn about Anne Frank and her world from a unique perspective.

Educators’ Conferences
Biennial educators’ conferences bring nationally recognized speakers, authors, and child advocates to the Tidewater area, to give teachers and school counselors continuing education themselves, and practical tools to use in their schools.

The Holocaust Commission of UJFT encourages teachers, students and the community at large to apply the lessons of history to the moral decisions they make each day.