Thursday, October 1, 2026
Seaford Middle School sixth graders deepened their understanding of Holocaust history this month through a visit from Donna Rosenblum, director of education for the Nassau County Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center, who spoke with students Feb. 5 and 6 as part of the district’s ongoing Holocaust education program.
Rosenblum met with students in small group sessions, connecting classroom lessons to real-life experiences and emphasizing the importance of confronting hatred and intolerance. She said students arrived well prepared, having already studied background history and read literature introducing the Holocaust through stories of rescue and survival.
“They were very attentive, and they seemed to really grasp the material,” Rosenblum said in an interview with the Herald a few days later. “They had some really engaging questions, which is always great.”
The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators. Nazi Germany also persecuted and murdered millions of other victims from 1933 to 1945.
Over the past two months, students read “Jacob’s Rescue,” a historical fiction novel by Malka Drucker and Michael Halperin based on the true story of a Christian family that hid three Jewish brothers during World War II. Students also completed research projects highlighting individuals who helped protect Jewish families during the Holocaust.
Rosenblum’s presentation built on those lessons, providing historical context and sharing testimony from Holocaust survivor Irving Roth, who emigrated to the United States in 1947 and later settled on Long Island. Roth, who frequently spoke to students about his experiences, died in 2021 at age 91.
The center works with districts both at its museum and in schools, Rosenblum explained, noting transportation costs often lead districts like Seaford to host programs on campus rather than traveling for museum visits.
Rosenblum said Holocaust education is intentionally introduced in stages, beginning in upper elementary grades with stories of rescue before expanding in middle and high school. She stressed that educators do not need graphic details to teach the subject effectively.
“You don’t have to traumatize students,” she said. “What we try to do is tell survivor stories so students can be empathetic and understand the path that hate leads you down.”
Each session concluded with a question-and-answer period, encouraging students to reflect on how lessons apply today. Rosenblum said the goal is to inspire students to think critically about their own actions and responsibilities.
Middle school Principal Raphael Morey said the curriculum, developed by sixth-grade teachers, helps students understand the human impact of historical events.
“Students make connections by hearing real stories of survival. They develop empathy and learn how others demonstrated resilience while faced with the most difficult of challenges,” Morey said.
He thinks that studying difficult history remains essential to the students’ education.
“It’s important to learn about historical tragedies, so we can ensure that they don’t happen again, and work on ways of bettering our community,” Morey said. Rosenblum added the work remains urgent, adding that Holocaust education continues to serve as “a lens through which we want to make a better world.”
