Holocaust Social Media Project

31/01/2026

From Shadows to Strength: Uncovering a Lost Holocaust Legacy
What happens when a forgotten box of letters reveals a world that was meant to be erased?
Thanks to the South African Jewish American Community SAJAC-United States for inviting me to present online at their AGM about my family's journey from the streets of Hanau, Germany, to the heart of the South African Jewish community and final stop Jerusalem, Israel.
Yad Vashem: World Holocaust Center, Jerusalem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yhs-esjBr0
Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust דורות ממויראליין-Dorot Memorialine

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

11/01/2026

From Things Lost: Forgotten Letters and the Legacy of the Holocaust is considered well-regarded in academia.

The book is considered highly regarded academically and a significant contribution to Holocaust scholarship. Within the specific fields of Holocaust studies and Jewish history, the book is viewed as an important and high-quality work.

It received a Special Mention for the **British Association for Jewish Studies Book Prize, a prestigious acknowledgement in its field.
Academic Reviews has been reviewed favorably in top-tier academic journals such as the "American Historical Review" and the "German Historical Institute London Bulletin". Critics praised its unique methodology using a massive cache of letters to reconstruct a family's history and its handling of complex themes like the relationship between a Jewish refugee and a N**i friend.
Institutional Impact: The research was significant enough to serve as the basis for a permanent exhibition at the"Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre" and another exhibition in Hanau, Germany. This level of institutional adoption is a strong indicator of its historical weight and reliability.

Summary

If you are looking for a book that "everyone is reading" (a bestseller), this is not it. However, if you are determining its quality as a piece of historical literature, it is exceptionally well-regarded. It is a serious, scholarly work that has earned respect from historians and institutions for its unique contribution to the understanding of refugee experiences and Holocaust memory.

The book is considered exceptionally well-regarded by professional historians, academic institutions, and prize committees in the field of Jewish Studies.

Here is a list of sources confirming its standing:

1. The British Association for Jewish Studies (BAJS)

Date: 2018
Recognition: Book Prize Special Mention (Runner-up/Honorable Mention for the annual book prize).
Quote: The committee recognized the work for its significant contribution to Jewish studies literature, noting it as a "Special Mention" alongside the main prize winner.

2. AJS Perspectives (Association for Jewish Studies)

Date: Fall 2017 (The Migration Issue)
Quote: "Beautifully written and deeply researched, Gilbert’s empathetic but unblinking investigation of this transnational story suggests that the belated and well-intentioned inclusion of refugees as ‘Holocaust survivors’ can obscure their particular ambivalent and traumatic experiences."

3. The American Historical Review (Oxford University Press)

Date: April 2019 (Vol. 124, Issue 2)
Quote: "[An] almost-epic documentation of one typical Jewish family in N**i Germany... emotionally, frankly, and in great detail."

4. South African Jewish Report

Date: February 2022
Quote: Describes the work as a "treasure trove" that constitutes a "vivid contemporary perspective of Jewish life in N**i Germany, rather than a retrospective one."

5. Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre

Date: Permanent Exhibition (Ongoing)
Significance: The institution deemed the research significant enough to build a permanent physical exhibition based entirely on the book's contents, titled "The Rudolf Schwab Collection."
Quote (from exhibition context): The collection is described by the institution as "extraordinary" for how it "portrayed the tragedy of European Jewry in microcosm."

Here are additional references from academic journals, Jewish community publications, and institutional reports that further establish the book's high standing.

6. Joachim Schlör, *German Historical Institute London Bulletin

Date: November 2021 (Vol. 43, Issue 2)
Quote: Describes the book as a "tone that is sometimes very personal, which might surprise readers expecting a purely academic book," ultimately praising its ability to treat "emigration and immigration as cultural practice."

7. UK Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) Impact Case Study
Date: 2021
Quote: Cited as a "pioneering move in the ongoing work of restoring Jewish voices and perspectives on the Holocaust" that has "fundamental[ly] reshaped Holocaust commemoration."

8. Cape Jewish Chronicle

Date: October 2017
Quote: "Historian Gilbert takes the reader on a journey... highlighting the trauma of those years [in a way that] brings us closer to grasping the complex choices and motivations that make us human."

9. Jewish Historical Studies (UCL Press)

Date: 2024 (Retrospective on South African Jewish Scholarship)
Quote: Cited as a key text in the "state of the field" for understanding the distinctiveness of the South African Jewish community and its integration during the apartheid era.

10. Sussex Jewish News

Date: September 2018
Quote: Featured as a "Public Lecture" highlight, describing the work as a critical examination of "forgotten letters" that challenges established narratives of the Holocaust.

11. Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Oxford Academic)

Date: Fall 2018
Quote: Referenced in the context of "pioneering" methodology for using private correspondence to map the "transnational" nature of Jewish refugee experiences.

Yad Vashem: World Holocaust Center, Jerusalem Claims Conference (Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) Jewish Review of Books Center for Jewish History Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

I am pleased to announce the upcoming launch of an Exhibition hosted by the South African Jewish Museum based on the book "From Things Lost" authored by Dr Shirli Gilbert, Professor of History at the University of Southampton. The launch event will take place at the South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town on August 9th at 6:30pm. Please contact the museum directly via their website for more details: http://www.sajewishmuseum.org.za/ or RSVP @ [email protected] by August 1st 2017.

The book called "From Things Lost: Forgotten Letters and the Legacy of the Holocaust" is based on letters written between Rudolph Erwin Alexander Schwab my grandfather and his family and friends between 1933 and 1969.

For more details about the book, please go to the following website: http://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/things-lost

To see examples of the letters, go to https://www.scribd.com/user/27829319/Daniel-Schwab/lists

11/01/2026

A Powerful Endorsement: Why Our Story Matters Now More Than Ever

I am deeply honored to receive a formal letter of support from Dorot Hahemshech (The Next Generation to Holocaust & Heroism Legacy) and its Chairman, Shmuel Sorek.

In a letter addressed to educators and community leaders, Mr. Sorek articulates exactly why the "Schwab Family History is Our Story" initiative is critical for the times we are living in.
Download the Letter of endoresement from Chairman of דורות ממויראליין-Dorot Memorialine:
https://tinyurl.com/dorotschwab
Why This Matters Today: We are witnessing a reality many thought we would never see again, with antisemitism returning to the mainstream in universities and cities across the globe . Mr. Sorek notes that the questions young Jews face today are no longer theoretical they are frighteningly similar to those faced by our ancestors.
The Power of the Archive: This project utilizes a treasure trove of over 2,000 letters written between 1936 and 1939, documenting the agonizing correspondence between a son who escaped to South Africa and his parents trapped in Germany.
A Mirror for Today: The letters document the "slow, creeping normalization of hatred," providing a historical echo to the hostility students currently see on social media and international news.
An Educational Shield: The program contextualizes current events, showing that today’s anti-Zionism is part of a historical continuum, while validitating the necessity of Jewish sovereignty.
Let’s Start the Conversation: As the letter states, to prepare our communities for the world they are entering, we must give them verified knowledge and a strong narrative.
I am currently booking sessions to bring this story to your community or school through:
Speaking Engagements: To bridge the gap between the 1930s and 2025 and discuss identity and resilience.
The Traveling Exhibition: A visual story to spark vital discussion on your campus.
👉 Please DM me directly to discuss how we can bring the "Zion Trail" curriculum or the exhibition to your organization. for a small taste of what to expect listen to: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5lLIljgTorKsFywoKBI1Yg...
https://dorot-hemshech.org.il/
Yad Vashem: World Holocaust Center, Jerusalem Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust Holocaust Remembrance Shmuel Sorek Shmuel Kastiel דורות ממויראליין-Dorot Memorialine

גב' בילי לניאדו יו"ר העמותה – יום הזיכרון הבינלאומי לקורבנות השואה 26.1.15

10/01/2026

A Powerful Endorsement: Why Our Story Matters Now More Than Ever

I am deeply honored to receive a formal letter of support from Dorot Hahemshech (The Next Generation to Holocaust & Heroism Legacy) and its Chairman, Shmuel Sorek .

https://tinyurl.com/dorotschwab

In a letter addressed to educators and community leaders, Mr. Sorek articulates exactly why the "Schwab Family History is Our Story" initiative is critical for the times we are living in .

Why This Matters Today: We are witnessing a reality many thought we would never see again, with antisemitism returning to the mainstream in universities and cities across the globe . Mr. Sorek notes that the questions young Jews face today are no longer theoretical they are frighteningly similar to those faced by our ancestors .

The Power of the Archive: This project utilizes a treasure trove of over 2,000 letters written between 1936 and 1939, documenting the agonizing correspondence between a son who escaped to South Africa and his parents trapped in Germany .

A Mirror for Today: The letters document the "slow, creeping normalization of hatred," providing a historical echo to the hostility students currently see on social media and international news .

An Educational Shield: The program contextualizes current events, showing that today’s anti-Zionism is part of a historical continuum, while validating the necessity of Jewish sovereignty .

Let’s Start the Conversation: As the letter states, to prepare our communities for the world they are entering, we must give them verified knowledge and a strong narrative .

I am currently booking sessions to bring this story to your community or school through:

Speaking Engagements: To bridge the gap between the 1930s and 2025 and discuss identity and resilience.

The Traveling Exhibition: A visual story to spark vital discussion on your campus.

👉 Please DM me directly to discuss how we can bring the "Zion Trail" curriculum or the exhibition to your organization. for a small taste of what to expect listen to:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5lLIljgTorKsFywoKBI1Yg?si=b537e7b6999149e6

Yad Vashem: World Holocaust Center, Jerusalem Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust Holocaust Remembrance Shmuel Sorek Shmuel Kastiel דורות ממויראליין-Dorot Memorialine

SB Campus Radio · Episode

09/12/2025

בס"ד

דניאל שוואב –אלפיים מכתבים נשכחים שהניעו למאבק למען שורדי השואה
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חברים יקרים, אתם מוזמנים להאזין לשלושת תוכניות הרדיו, אותם אנחה, היום, יום שני כ"ה באדר ה'תשע"ח 12 במארס 2018, כמו בכל יום שני, בקול ישראל – הרשת החינוכית, רדיו קס"ם 106FM בין השעות 11:00 ל 14:00 מהמכון הטכנולוגי בחולון.

ועל מה נדבר בתוכניות?
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במסגרת תוכניתנו "ובחרת בחיים" במסגרת תוכניתנו הקבועה: "אות לאות תביע אומר" - תכנית הרדיו היחידה שמקדישה זמן שידור ובמה להנצחת השואה ולסיפור חייהם של שורדי השואה.

בצד קיום הצו "לזכור ולא לשכוח" או כפי שכתוב בתנ"ך "וְהִגַּדְתָּ לְבִנְךָ בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא" [שמות י"ג ח'], אנו מקדישים היום את תוכניתנו לסיפורו של דניאל שוואב – סיפורם של אלפיים מכתבי הסב שהניעו אותו למאבק למען צדק לניצולי השואה ולבני משפחותיהם.

אנו נספר בתוכנית את סיפורו של דניאל שוואב, אשר גדל בדרום אפריקה כיהודי חילוני גמור.

בגיל 7 הגיע דניאל לראשונה לישראל. ביקור אשר גרם לו לחזור לישראל בגיל 15 במסגרת תוכנית של ביתר בה התנדב לצה"ל לתקופה קצרה. בגיל 18 חזר לישראל ללמוד בישיבת הסדר והתקרב ליהדות ובסוף אותה שנה החליט לעלות ארצה והקים בה משפחה לתפארת.

לפני כעשר שנים חזר לדרום אפריקה, מצא במרתף משפחתו אלפיים ממכתבי סבו שברח לבדו מגרמניה הנאצית בשנת 1933 ואיבד את כל משפחתו שם. מכתבים אילו הביאו אותו להירתם למען שורדי השואה וילדיהם להשגת פיצויים וצדק עבורם. מכתבים אילו אוגדו ופורסמו בספר בשפה האנגלית. דניאל מחפש עכשיו דרך לתרגם את הספר לעברית.

אנו נקשיב לסיפורו המדהים של דניאל, במידת האפשר תעלה לשידור מבריטניה הסופרת אשר כתבה את הספר ונתבונן מעט במפות עץ החיים הקבליות של דניאל וסבא רודולף.

אני מזמין כל אחד ואחת מכם, לכוון את מקלטי הרדיו שלכם באיזור חולון-בת ים לערוץ 106 FM ולהאזין לתוכנית. מי שלא בטווח האנטנה, יכול להאזין באמצעות כרטיס הפייסבוק "רדיו קסם".

כמו כן, כל הרוצה לשאול שאלה או להתייחס לדברי האורח בתוכנית מוזמנים להתקשר לאולפן בזמן השידור לטלפון 03-5011834

וכמובן ... שירים ההולמים את האירוע.

מי שמעוניין לשאול שאלות בזמן שידור או לשוחח עם אחד האורחים בתוכנית מוזמן להשאיר פרטים כאן בפייסבוק או להתקשר לאולפן בזמן השידור לטלפון 03-5011834
ואם אתם חושבים שהסיפור שלכם מעניין ומעוניינים לחלוק אותו עם אחרים, פנו אלי בהודעה בפייסבוק או למייל שלי [email protected] ויתכן ונזמין אתכם כאורחים בתוכנית.

יהיה מעניין... בואו ולהאזין.
ניתן להאזין לתוכנית "און ליין" באמצעות כרטיס הפייסבוק "רדיו קס"ם".

02/11/2025

CALLING EDUCATORS & STUDENT SUPPORT STAFF
Holocaust / genocide studies teachers, Jewish education coordinators, history & civics faculty, guidance counselors, social workers, teen engagement staff this is for you.
We’re offering FREE access to a powerful, student-centered Holocaust education package built around one real family’s story of warning, escape, silence, and remembrance.
What you’ll receive (no cost or donations accepted):
• Teacher’s Guide + lesson plans
• Discussion and reflection activities for middle + high school (Grades ~6–12)
• Short video modules and survivor-family testimony
• Printable / projectable letter excerpts from the 1930s (English translations)
• Guided student prompts on identity, warning signs, antisemitism, migration, resilience
• Connection to live speakers when possible
This package comes from the **Holocaust Social Media Project**, produced by **Jerusalem EdTech Solutions (JETS)**, and is rooted in the personal archive of over 2,000 letters saved by one Jewish family in Germany and South Africa between 1936–1939. It helps students ask:
- “Why didn’t they just leave?”
- “What would *I* have done?”
- “How do we respond to hate today?”
Included resources you can use in class:
• **“From Things Lost”** – the book telling this family’s story of flight, loss, and rebuilding through letters, memory, and silence.
• **Travelling exhibition materials** (“Letters of Loss and Refuge”) panels, visuals, and narratives designed for schools / JCCs / libraries / museums.
• **Online video playlist for classroom use** (student-friendly clips, reflection prompts, and guided activities):
https://youtube.com/playlist...
• **Letters of Loss and Refuge channel** (family testimony, talks, and program excerpts you can screen or assign):
www.youtube.com/
• Curated media clippings, podcast interviews, articles, and academic mentions of this story — for context, source analysis, and cross-curricular work (history / civics / identity / migration / ethics).
Why this matters:
It’s not abstract “Holocaust history.” Students meet a real 21-year-old trying to save his parents, watch the warning signs get ignored, and then have to answer: “What would *you* do if this were your family?”
It bridges past → present: antisemitism, belonging, refugees, bystander choices, digital hate.
It’s built for engagement: polls, reflection boards, guided journaling, and collaborative class discussion rather than passive lectures.
If you are:
• teaching Holocaust / Shoah / antisemitism / human rights
• advising students dealing with harassment or identity-based bullying
• building Holocaust Remembrance Day / Yom HaShoah programming
• planning a school assembly, museum corner, advisory block, or grade-wide unit
…we’d love to share this with you at no cost.
HOW TO GET ACCESS
Comment “INTERESTED” below or send me a direct message with:
• School / org name
• City + country
• Grade levels you work with
• Email for materials
Feel free to tag another educator, counselor, museum educator, youth director, synagogue educator, or camp / teen program leader who might want this.
Please share this in other Holocaust education, Jewish education, social studies, DEI / anti-bias, or counselor networks. The more classrooms we reach, the more student voices we protect.
Thank you for helping keep these stories alive with depth, dignity, and relevance.

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03/06/2025

From Shadows to Strength: Rediscovering My Grandfather’s Legacy in South Africa

By Daniel Schwab

I never met my grandfather, Ralph (Rudolph) Schwab. For most of my life, I didn’t even know his name as he died before I was born, in 1971 from a hit and run car accident on Corlett Drive, Johannesburg. We never talked about him while I was growing up in Johannesburg. I went to a Jewish day school, played football, had an amazing childhood… and somehow, I knew almost nothing about my father’s side of the family.

To read the rest of the article please click the link below:

10/05/2025

Hanau Jewish Community celebrates its 20th anniversary – and a new Torah scroll

From exile to everyday life with antisemitism

The exhibition “Letters of loss and refuge” tells the story of the extraordinary life of Rudolf Schwab from Hanau.

Starting next week, three special exhibitions in the foyer of Hanau's Neustadt Town Hall will illuminate Jewish history in all its facets: from survival in exile to confronting contemporary antisemitism.

Organized by the Hanau Jewish Community and the Department of Culture, Urban Identity and International Relations of the City of Hanau, the exhibition will explore the many facets of Jewish history.

Mayor Dr. Maximilian Bieri and the Managing Director of the Hanau Jewish Community, Oliver Dainow, will open the exhibitions on Wednesday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m. Interested parties can then visit them daily until Friday, May 30, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., and on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

The exhibition "Letters of Loss and Refuge" recounts the extraordinary life of Rudolf Schwab, a Hanau native whose family had already settled in Hanau in the early 16th century. His letters, found in a chest in South Africa, document the painful farewell to his homeland, the loss of his family in the Shoah, and the attempt to rebuild family ties across continents after the war. His long-standing friendship with a former N**i Party member also raises complex questions of guilt and reconciliation. The traveling exhibition of the South African Jewish Museum was already on display in Hanau in 2018 and is based on the book "From Things Lost" by Professor Shirli Gilbert.

Jewish Heritage Europe Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre USC Shoah Foundation Holocaust Educational Trust (UK) Yad Vashem: World Holocaust Center, Jerusalem HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOUSTON Melbourne Holocaust Museum European Holocaust Research Infrastructure

https://www.presse-service.de/data.aspx/static/1186499.html

27/04/2025

I invite you to join me on a journey through my family’s past and the indomitable spirit that carried us from the darkest hours of Europe’s destruction to new beginnings in Africa and, finally, the Land of Israel.
I sat down with SB Campus Radio for The Zion Trail: Episode 4 – From Ashes to Hope: A Family Odyssey, where I share stories passed down through generations—of loss, survival, and ultimately, renewal.
As we remember the six million and honor the courage of all who endured, I hope my family’s odyssey can serve as a testament to resilience and the power of hope.
► Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5lLIljgTorKsFywoKBI1Yg?si=ycc7Hu7UTVyaPqXZHz4IGg

SB Campus Radio · Episode

27/04/2025

https://youtu.be/6Ndo0rDrxhs?si=maU7-aT1IxmSGZaU

Jerusalem EdTech Solutions -- Online learning for Jewish classrooms

27/04/2025

This article is about the state-sponsored genocide of European Jews during World War II. For all peoples persecuted during this era, see Victims of N**i Germany. For other uses, see Holocaust (disambiguation) and Shoah (disambiguation).

Jerusalem EdTech Solutions -- Online learning for Jewish classrooms

26/01/2025

Please join us!