Phoenix Holocaust Association

The PHA has a long history of working with the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, pertaining to active involvement in both local and national Holocaust education and remembrance events. The PHA started in the valley more than 36 years ago, and offers a place for Holocaust survivors to connect to others with similar experiences. At its core then, as it is now, was recognizing the importance of talking about the Holocaust.  The PHA works closely with AZJHS to help facilitate survivor talks onsite or at schools.

Helios Education Foundation

Helios Education Foundation exists to support postsecondary attainment for Latino students, Black students, and students from low-income backgrounds in Arizona and Florida. Driven by their fundamental beliefs of community, equity, investment, and partnership, Helios has invested more than $324 million in partnerships and initiatives focused on improving college-going and postsecondary attainment in the two states they serve since 2006. Thanks to Helios Education Foundation, Arizona Jewish Historical Society (AZJHS) is excited to launch the 2nd Annual Oskar Knoblauch Content Creator Contest. High School Students are invited to create a 3-to-4-minute video using the story of an Arizona Holocaust survivor to create an impactful entry that educates on the topic of the Holocaust.

National History Day in Arizona

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is a proud partner of National History Day in Arizona makes history come alive for America’s youth by engaging them in the discovery of the historic, cultural and social experiences of the past. NHD inspires children through exciting competitions and transforms teaching through project-based curriculum and instruction. Each year, AZJHS sponsors a special prize in Holocaust history or the history of Antisemitism. Through hands-on experiences and presentations, today’s youth are better able to inform the present and shape the future.

ASU School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is a proud partner of ASU’s Public History, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, on the HIS582 “Professional Experience,” which serves as an opportunity for Graduate & Undergraduate student experience of research & gaining a hands-on experience in a museum/education setting. ASU students will work closely with Holocaust survivor testimonies and artifacts. More specifically, students will learn to convert, digitize, and transcribe survivor oral histories, and also learn how to accession artifacts connected to local survivors.

Arizona Department of Education

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is a proud to have its resources highlighted on the Arizona Department of Education’s, AZ Holocaust and Genocide Education Resources toolkit, of recommended resources for educators. In 2021, House Bill 2241 was signed into law requiring students to receive instruction in the Holocaust and other genocides at least once in either grade seven or eight and at least once in high school in their social studies courses. Our partnership provides resources, training, and support for educators in meeting this requirement. It also houses the work of the task force on the Holocaust and other genocides.

Our Holocaust Story

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is proud to have acquired the naming right for our Holocaust Education Series, inspired by Rosie & Irving Guttman. Through the generosity of Jerry Guttman, this series will continue over the next 10 years, and will focus on the Making an Emotional Connection to the Holocaust (survivor programs), and the Our Parents’ Stories education programs. In total, the Arizona Jewish Historical Society will produce 16 live seminars (education programs) produced per year. In addition, the Guttman Family has donated artifacts, testimonies, and photographs.

AGUILA Youth Leadership Institute

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is a proud partner of AGUILA Youth Leadership Institute and have hosted a number of in-person and virtual AGUILA Symposium over the years, including 2019, 2020, & 2022. AGUILA is a unique college access organization that serves a growing number of youths to navigate through their personal, professional, and academic worlds. More specifically, AGUILA Students had the unique opportunity to interact with Holocaust survivors, World War II Veterans, and other primary sources. Students were led in specific pedagogical breakout sessions that included roundtable experiences with survivors, exhibition tours, and to meet Arizona Artist, Robert Sutz.

Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix

The Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix has been a great partner and grantor to the Arizona Jewish Historical Society. More specifically, the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix invites AZJHS to apply for funding through their competitive grant application process. Typically, funds awarded goes toward Holocaust education programming and exhibition purposes/goals Most recently, AZJHS has been awarded $5,000 that will go towards the expansion of our current exhibition, Stories of Survival: An Immersive Journey through the Holocaust.

AZ Commission on the Arts

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is a proud recipient of the Creative Capacity Grant which provides general operating support to nonprofit organizations whose primary mission is to produce, present, teach, or serve the arts. CCG funds are intended to support general day-to-day operating costs, such as salaries, production, and administrative expenses, which includes production supplies, equipment, materials, etc.

Bureau of Jewish Education

In 2020, the Bureau of Jewish Education donated a collection of 77 Holocaust survivor testimonies, which have been converted, digitized, indexed, transcribed, and will soon be housed on the Arizona Memory Project. These testimonies were produced in 1988/89 by the Phoenix Holocaust Association, but were still in the possession of the BJE. In addition to this project, AZJHS plays a role in past Holocaust education projects, once directed by the Bureau of Jewish Education.

Arts & Culture City of Phoenix

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is a proud recipient of the Arts & Culture City of Phoenix Grant which provides general operating support to nonprofit organizations whose primary mission is to produce, present, teach, or serve the arts. Arts & Culture City of Phoenix funding is intended to support general day-to-day operating costs, such as salaries, production, and administrative expenses, which includes production supplies, equipment, materials, etc.

Scottsdale Arts

Hope Chest is a curriculum set of teaching resources designed to immerse students in Holocaust survivor Oskar Knoblauch’s memoir, A Boy’s Story, A Man’s Memory: Surviving the Holocaust 1933-1945. This emotional coming-of-age story recounts Oskar and his family’s struggle to escape the Nazi’s rise to power in Germany by fleeing to Poland, only to be subjugated to the Krakow Ghetto and forced to labor camps. Oskar’s story of survival and relevant themes inspire and connect directly to students, which is why AZJHS has his USC Shoah Foundation DIT that correlates nicely with the Hope Chest. Source: Hope Chest (scottsdaleartslearning.org)

USC Shoah Foundation

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is a proud partner with the USC Shoah Foundation, as we are 1 of 13 locations around the world with a Dimensions in Testimony, interactive survivor biography of local Holocaust survivor, Oskar Knoblauch.  Using state of the art technology, Oskar’s Dimensions in Testimony interview form the USC Shoah Foundation will allow students to ask Oskar’s image over 1,000 real-time questions related to Holocaust experience. Additionally, AZJHS utilizes virtual reality simulations that bring the experience to the student.

Virginia Piper Charitable Trust

The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust supports organizations that enrich health, well-being, and opportunity for the people of Maricopa County, Arizona. The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is a proud recipient of funding earmarked for arts and cultural education programming. In addition, to receiving generous grant-matching opportunities.

Claims Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany

Since 1951, the Claims Conference has sought a small measure of justice for Jewish victims of Nazi Persecution. The Claims Conference: Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany is a proud partner of our education/exhibition programming, and has an interest to provide support that will go towards educating on the horrors of the Holocaust and other Genocides. 

Martin-Springer Institute

Partner Description: Martin-Springer Institute explains the experiences of the Holocaust in order to understand the events in the context of today’s world, and similar to the Arizona Jewish Historical Society, both organizations share a similar mission to education, advocate, promote and raise awareness for Holocaust & Genocide Education. Additionally, AZJHS has partnered with Martin-Springer on a number of projects in the past, one in particular is their traveling exhibition, Through the Eyes of Youth: Life and Death in the Bedzin Ghetto tells the story of young people in the Jewish ghetto of Bedzin Poland, which will be on display at AZJHS in June, 2024.

Jewish Family & Children Services of Southern Arizona 

Partner Description; The Jewish Family & Children Services of Southern Arizona has worked very closely with the Arizona Jewish Historical Society in partnering on several programs that included local Holocaust survivors of Southern Arizona. More specifically, AZJHS & JFCS completed education programs that included Tucson area survivors, namely Dr. John Kessler, Andrew Schot, Bertie Levkowitz, Wolfgang Hellpap, Wanda Wolosky, & Sidney Finkel. 

Benjamin Goldberg Memorial Trust

The Benjamin Goldberg Trust Fund is a proud community partner of AZJHS and has helped to fund Holocaust education programming & exhibitions, which includes our current exhibit, Stories of Survival: An Immersive Journey through the Holocaust. Additionally, the funding from the Benjamin Goldberg Trust went towards the production of our live/education programs/seminar series. 

Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center 

The Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center is a proud partner to AZJHS and shares a similar vision to promote a more just, equitable, and nonviolent world by educating on how to apply the lessons of the Holocaust & other Genocides. Additionally, when AZJHS includes Tucson-area survivors into our programming, TJMHC always offers the opportunity to interview at their historic & enriching location. 

We Remember Holocaust Art Collection by Robert Sutz

Originally from Chicago, Robert Sutz was an executive art director for Leo Burnett, a worldwide advertising company. Additionally, his fine art includes paintings of urban scenes of Chicago, western art, paintings of Israel, as well as a large variety of commissioned portraits. 

Sutz, whose father’s Polish family perished in Nazi concentration camps, first began producing Holocaust-related art during the 1990’s, after he served as an interviewer for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah project.  He initiated his own We Remember Holocaust Memorial Art Project as a way to pay tribute to local survivors, liberators and righteous gentiles and to ensure that their stories and lessons of hope and resilience are never forgotten. 

After relocating to Scottsdale, AZ in 1997, Sutz established a studio to pursue his Holocaust project and his artwork now includes approximately 160 life masks and portraits of Holocaust survivors, liberators, and righteous gentiles.  Subjects are interviewed on video and a short bio, concisely describing the subject’s Holocaust & post-liberation. Sutz’s Holocaust artwork is unique because of its artistic and educational approach and breadth, particularly by a single artist.

United State Holocaust Memorial Museum 

artner Description: The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is a proud Community of Holocaust Education Centers (CHEC) Partner to the USHMM. Additionally, AZJHS utilizes USHMM resources, materials, & traveling exhibitions, namely, Some Were Neighbors & Stories of Rescue. 

ADL’s No Place for Hate 

ADL’ No Place for Hate has been an organizational partner for many years, as we have partnered with ADL NPFH on a number of Holocaust education programs, featuring Holocaust survivor, Oskar Knoblauch. Additionally, AZJHS works closely with ADL’s NPFH education committee. 

Childsplay

AZJHS & the PHA are partnering with Childsplay, pertaining to their upcoming performance, No Going Back which offers an intimate, immersive experience directly in your classroom. Performed with limited props and costumes, this 45-minute one-woman show is followed by a 30-minute Q&A session where students can engage with performer Debra K. Stevens. Additionally, the program includes workshops designed to deepen the learning experience, helping students process the themes and apply them to their own lives through interactive activities. No Going Back opens doors for vital conversations about history, personal responsibility, and the importance of being an upstander. This unique program aligns with Arizona's genocide and Holocaust curriculum standards, providing students with a powerful, personal connection to historical events and encouraging them to consider their roles in impacting their communities. AZJHS & the PHA look forward to working with Childsplay on this impactful and meaningful project.