Governor Phil Murphy • Lt. Governor Tahesha Way

Holocaust Survivors of South Jersey Project

The Holocaust Survivors of South Jersey Project (HSSJP) is an initiative of the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University. The project aims to document the lives of Holocaust Survivors who settled in Atlantic, Cape May, and Cumberland Counties in New Jersey. The project is an invaluable asset not only to the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center but also to the communities of southern New Jersey. Since the project was launched in 2020, we have been able to document the lives of more than 1,800 Holocaust survivors.

For each Holocaust survivor, the project conducts research and gathers digital documents, family photos, oral histories, and much more. Drawing from the range of available sources, the project writes biographical narratives for each survivor. The large and growing digital archive can be accessed at the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University. We have launched websites presenting brief life stories as well as profiles of South Jersey businesses owned and operated by local Holocaust survivors. The archive and the websites will continue to grow as more information and documents become available. 

The original goal of the Holocaust Survivors of South Jersey Project was to document and write the narratives of Holocaust survivors so that their stories would be told for future generations. By bringing these stories into public school classrooms, it ensures that their stories are heard, their names are known, and the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten.

logo for the sara and sam schoffer holocaust resource center

Objectives

  1.  Students will be able to identify and describe key events of the Holocaust and the experiences of Holocaust survivors who settled in South Jersey after the war.
  2.  Students will investigate personal stories and biographies of Holocaust survivors who lived in South Jersey, understanding their contributions to the community.
  3.  Students will connect the stories of Holocaust survivors to broader themes of identity, community, and resilience in their own lives.

HSSJP Resources

HSSJP Activities

Memoirs (to receive copies of the memoirs, please email holocaust@doe.nj.gov)

  • Girl in a Striped Dress by Rosalie Simon
  • A Partisan's Revenge by Sidney Simon
  • An Exile from Paradise by Hanna Granek Ehrlich 
  • Chocolate, The Taste of Freedom by Maud Dahme
  • Flower of Ice, Cobweb of Lace: Escape to the U.S.S.R by Nella Juffe

Teachers Guides for Memoirs (to receive hardcopies of the Teachers Guides, please email holocaust@doe.nj.gov)

Testimonies

HSSJP Survivor Resources

Rosalie & Sidney Simon

Esther & Irving Raab

  • Esther Raab interview with clips from Escape from Sobibor

Leo Ullman

  • Leo: A Hidden Child in WWII by Leo S. Ullman- Excerpts 
  • Leo: A Hidden Child in WWII by Leo S. Ullman - Poster Set

Eric & Greta Seelig

Esther & Solomon Distenfeld + Meyer & Nella Glick

Irving & Joanna Beller

Hanna & Wolf Ehrlich

Al & Mary Cinger 

Sonia Kaplan

Ann Holzer

Harry Hirsch

HSSJP Teaching Resources

Portraits of Resilience

Text Graffiti

Two Voice Poem

SJ Business Project

Eric & Gretel 

  • Canva free online cartoon maker

Primary Source Eval. 

Image of Dr. Michael R. HayseDr. Michael R. Hayse is Professor of Historical Studies and the Wally and Lutz Hammerschlag Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey. He is also Director of the Holocaust Survivors of South Jersey Project at Stockton’s Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center. His publications include Recasting West German Elites: Higher Civil Servants, Business Leaders, and Physicians between Nazism and Democracy, 1945-1955 (Berghahn Books, 2003), and he translated and edited Anna Rosenberg’s memoir, A Hard Life Leavened with Love (ComTeq, 2017). He has recently curated two permanent public exhibitions on Holocaust survivors’ stories in Southern New Jersey. He is currently working on two book manuscripts, “Memory in Ruins,” a monograph on memorials to the destruction of World War II in Europe, as well as “Through the Tempests of War and Genocide: One Extended Family’s Experiences in the Twentieth Century.







Photo of Irvin Moreno-RodriguezIrvin Moreno-Rodriguez is a distinguished bilingual Holocaust educator whose research focuses on the role of Latin America during the Holocaust and the histories of Holocaust survivors in southern New Jersey. By focusing on Latin America’s role during the Holocaust and by leading tours and programs of the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center in Spanish, Irvin has made Holocaust education accessible to new audiences across the United States.

In middle school, Irvin met his first Holocaust survivor, Betty Grebenschikoff. Betty spoke to countless students about her experiences surviving the Holocaust and fleeing to Shanghai, China, after the terrible events she witnessed growing up in Nazi Germany. Betty’s harrowing story was also about resilience, immigration, and the American dream. As a child of Mexican immigrants, Irvin finally felt someone understand his story.

Since 2018, Irvin has been a vital member of the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University. He began as a program assistant under the guidance of the late Gail Hirsch Rosenthal, the beloved center's former director. In 2022, he became the assistant director. Today, he serves as the director of Stockton’s Holocaust Resource Center.

It was Betty Grebenschikoff and Gail Rosenthal who inspired Irvin to learn more about the Holocaust, with the belief that one person can make a difference.
Irvin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice with a Minor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies (2015) and a Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies (2022), both from Stockton University.

The research of Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez has been featured in several significant projects:

  • The permanent exhibit of the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center, The Extraordinary Heroism of Ordinary People: The Rescue of One Jewish Family in the Netherlands
  • Associate producer of the award-winning documentary film, There Were Good People . . . Doing Extraordinary Deeds: Leo Ullman's Story
  • The Holocaust Survivors of South Jersey Digital Archive and Website
  • Co-author of the memoir, From Munkács to Millville: The Story of Holocaust Survivor Elizabeth Roth
  • Beyond his academic achievements, Irvin is deeply committed to community involvement. He currently serves as the Board President of El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City, an advocacy organization working for immigrant rights in Atlantic County, New
  • Jersey. He has also held other high-profile positions, including:
  • Member of American Jewish Committee’s Latino-Jewish Coalition
  • Member of the Fund Development Committee of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Atlantic & Cape May Counties
  • Former Secretary & Advocacy Chair of the Hispanic Association of Atlantic County (HAAC)
  • Former Co-Chair of the Education Committee of the NAACP's Atlantic City Branch

In recognition of his outstanding contributions, Irvin was selected as the recipient of the Civil & Human Rights Leadership Award by the AC Puerto Rican Festival Association and the Campus Partner Award by Stockton University in 2023. He has also been named an Auschwitz Jewish Center Fellow for the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and an Alfred Lerner Fellow for the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous.

In 2021, Governor Phil Murphy appointed Irvin as a member of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, acknowledging his tireless work and dedication to promoting Holocaust education in the state.
Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez's unwavering commitment to Holocaust education, community advocacy, and preserving Holocaust survivors' stories has established him as a respected voice in the field. His passion to educate about the Holocaust drives his tireless efforts to research, document, and share the experiences of survivors, particularly those in southern New Jersey. He has earned the trust and admiration of colleagues, Holocaust survivors, and the wider community, solidifying his position as a leading authority on bilingual Holocaust education and a powerful advocate for preserving history, confronting antisemitism and other forms of hatred, and promoting the lessons and legacies of the Holocaust for future generations.

To contact Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez regarding speaking engagements, educational programming, or other inquiries related to Holocaust education and advocacy, please contact Irvin.Moreno-Rodriguez@stockton.edu or call the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton University at 609-652-4699.

Photo of Michaela SpainMichaela Spain is a graduate of Stockton University (2025) with her Bachelor of Arts in Education with a minor in Holocaust & Genocide Studies. She has her New Jersey teaching certification in K-6 all subjects, and two middle school certifications in English Language Arts and Social Studies. During her time at Stockton University, Michaela worked as a volunteer on the Holocaust Survivors of South Jersey Project (HSSJP) for two years and was later hired by the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center as a student research assistant on that same project. She is the recipient of Stockton’s Spring 2024 Board of Trustees Fellowship for Distinguished Students where she proposed her project to design teaching activities using the stories of Holocaust survivors that lived in Southern New Jersey and the information within the HSSJP database. As a result of that fellowship, Michaela completed a summer internship with the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education in 2024, where she worked alongside the state curriculum team to polish her lessons and maximize their impact.