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A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

The Holocaust

St. Louis Holocaust Museum, 16 others condemn 'War Crimes' In Ukraine

St. Louis Holocaust Museum, 16 others condemn ‘War Crimes’ In Ukraine

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished April 12, 2022

The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum joins Holocaust museums across the world to release a joint statement condemning Russian war crimes in Ukraine. In response to the reports of mass graves and acts of brutality against Ukrainian citizens...

Canada set to outlaw Holocaust denial

Canada set to outlaw Holocaust denial

Published April 11, 2022

(JTA) — Canada is set to outlaw Holocaust denial, a move that has the backing of the governing Liberal Party government coalition and the opposition Conservative Party. The CTV reported on Saturday that language adding Holocaust denial to the criminal...

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns filming interviews for "The Roosevelts" in 2014. (Daniel J. White/PBS)

Ken Burns’ next documentary is about the US response to the Holocaust

ANDREW LAPIN, JTAPublished April 11, 2022

(JTA) — For his next historical deep dive, famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is exploring America’s relationship to the Holocaust. Tentatively titled “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” the three-part miniseries set to air Sept. 18-20 on PBS...

Mimi Reinhard, Jewish secretary who typed up Schindler’s list dies at 107

Mimi Reinhard, Jewish secretary who typed up Schindler’s list dies at 107

Published April 11, 2022

(JTA) — Mimi Reinhard had studied literature and languages as an undergraduate before World War II. But it was a course in shorthand that saved her life. Reinhard was imprisoned at the Plaszow concentration camp outside of Krakow when she was chosen,...

Ben Ferencz, 103, prosecutor of Nuremberg trials with awarded with Medal of Freedom

Ben Ferencz, 103, prosecutor of Nuremberg trials with awarded with Medal of Freedom

JNSPublished April 9, 2022
Ben Ferencz, 103, said he has worked his whole life for “a more humane and peaceful world, where no one would be killed or persecuted because of his race or religion or his political beliefs.”
2022 St. Louis Yom HaShoah Holocaust commemoration to take place virtually

2022 St. Louis Yom HaShoah Holocaust commemoration to take place virtually

Published March 31, 2022

This year’s Holocaust commemoration, Yom HaShoah 2022: Faith & Healing, will be presented on Wednesday, April 27 at 7 pm. As in past years, this program will honor the victims, remember the survivors, and educate the community about the history...

Irving and Oskar Jakob, 1946

How soup helped St. Louisan Oskar Jakob survive the Holocaust

St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum, Special For The Jewish LightPublished March 29, 2022

Today, we tell the remarkable story of Oskar Jakob a St. Louisan who survived five camps before being liberated by the British. The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum is allowing us to republish portions of their  Oral Histories Project, as a...

Why this Holocaust survivor wears the same hand-knit sweater every Passover

Why this Holocaust survivor wears the same hand-knit sweater every Passover

By Tanya Singer, JTAPublished March 29, 2022

(New York Jewish Week) — Every Passover for the last 75 years, Helena Weinstock Weinrauch, a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor, has worn a vibrant blue hand-knit sweater to the first seder, which she hosts in her Upper West Side apartment building. The...

Chesterfield honoring 3 residents who experienced WWII 3 different ways

Chesterfield honoring 3 residents who experienced WWII 3 different ways

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished March 18, 2022

In his 1998 best-seller, Tom Brokaw coined the phrase "The Greatest Generation" which created a well-deserved awareness, wonder, and appreciation of those Americans born in the 1920s. They were the Americans who, through their sacrifices, deprivation,...

This St. Louisan met Mengele, fooled the Nazis and survived

This St. Louisan met Mengele, fooled the Nazis and survived

The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum, Special For The Jewish LightPublished March 15, 2022

Today, we tell the remarkable story of Helena Schonfeld, a St. Louisan who concealed her Jewish identity, had contact with Dr. Josef Mengele, lived in multiple concentration camps before being liberated. The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum is...

West Virginia ‘critical race theory’ bill leads to a statehouse debate over Jews and race

West Virginia ‘critical race theory’ bill leads to a statehouse debate over Jews and race

ANDREW LAPINPublished March 10, 2022

(JTA) – When West Virginia lawmakers opened a discussion about proposed “critical race theory” legislation on Monday, it didn’t take long before topic of conversation turned to Jews. West Virginia’s House of Delegates was debating legislation...

Lisa Johnson

Webster student making sure Holocaust memories aren’t lost in translation

Jordan Palmer, Chief Digital Content OfficerPublished February 17, 2022

Lisa Johnson says her internship at The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum is nothing short of a labor of love. "I’m learning through doing, and that doing is helping make history come alive in translation," said Johnson. Johnson is an...

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