I’m a teacher.
This blog is about the Power of Teaching.
If you decide to spend a few moments here, you will see what I mean…
Start by studying the photograph below.
I mean, click on it to enlarge, really look at it.
Study the faces.
Imagine being the man behind the lens…
You may be here to find out more about the photograph that shows the moment of liberation. Watch the ABC News clip below about how I was first shown it by US Army veterans of World War II, the story they told me, and what I did afterwards, and the consequences of those actions. It is nothing short of a miracle. Then again, in the words of one survivor, there are no coincidences.
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Do you know that nearly 250 survivors of this train transport have now had contact with their actual American liberators? It’s true. There are 10 other photos of the liberation that day on this site, and many folks have been identified.
Feel free to explore. Thanks for stopping by.
Matt
I wrote the piece below after our second Holocaust survivor/American soldier reunion, reaching out to a student audience of 1500 kids over three days. Just before the final banquet on Friday evening, Sept. 25, 2009, the ABC piece aired, and the soldiers, survivors, teachers and students watched it together in a restaurant lounge. Not a dry eye!
Unforgettable week at Hudson Falls High School! ABC World News named us their “Persons of the Week”!
I’ve posted Diane Sawyer’s “Person of the Week” story on us below. Thank you to the staff and students of Hudson Falls Central School District, to the representatives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and also the Bergen Belsen Memorial, as well as the liberators, survivors and their families and all those who made this week a resounding success for our young (and not so young) people! Our kids were great and treated our guests like the rock stars they are. We are very proud of them!
Matthew Rozell
marozell@gmail.com
THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPH
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Holocaust survivors reunite with US veterans By CHRIS CAROLA (AP) And this is one of the Associated Press article by my friend Chris Carola. It was Chris’ article 2 years ago that went all over the world and led these folks to us. Now it is happening again… Thanks, Chris.
- UPDATE: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum made a film on our project while they were here. My college alma mater honored us with a magazine cover story.
- Holocaust survivor Leslie Meisels meets his liberators for the first time.
- Survivor Fred Spiegel meets his liberator for the first time.
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Holocaust survivors reunite with their rescuers-Hudson Falls High School hosts annual event-Glens Falls Post-Star:Local daily article, with some rambling video narration by me, running between presentations….
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Emotional reunions 65 years after liberation from horror-Holocaust survivors meet World War II American rescuers-(from Albany Times Union)
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Finally, click here for the streaming video of whole 2009 conference. 2011 highlights are here and here.
- oh and if you want to help me get to finally realize the dream of visiting the sites in the story, click here.
