More than 16,500 people tuned into The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous’ (JFR) weekly summer movie series on Facebook. The Foundation aired one of its award-winning documentaries highlighting the Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust each Monday starting July 27 and culminating on August 24. The series was specifically designed to air on its Facebook page, in an effort to educate Facebook followers on the dangers of antisemitism – or hateful speech toward any ethnic or religious group – since the social media platform has recently become a hotbed of such negative content.
Due to the overwhelmingly positive response from viewers, the JFR documentaries will remain on its Facebook page for viewers to re-watch and for teachers who would like to share with their Holocaust studies classes which are being taught virtually this semester. The videos can be viewed at: https://www.facebook.com/JewishFoundationForTheRighteous/videos.
The films focused on the heroism of rescuers Melpomeni Gianopoulou (Greece) which aired on July 27; Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds (Knoxville, TN) which aired on August 3; Krystyna Jakubowska (Poland) which aired on August 10; and Helena Weglowska (Poland) which aired on August 17. The page also screened the documentary celebrating the life of Roman Kent, the Holocaust survivor and president of the JFR on August 24.
The JFR’s production team travelled throughout Europe, Israel and North America to meet with and interview the rescued, the rescuers and their families, upholding the responsibility to help in sharing the stories of heroism in an effort to educate so that the atrocities of the Holocaust are never repeated. The films have previously been screened in classrooms, as well as at film festivals. This is the first time that they were made available to the general public.
“The response to the summer film series has far exceeded our expectations. Since it was virtual and done over social media, teachers and their students participated as well as grandparents and their grandchildren all from different locations. It led to conversations about these rescuers and how they stood up against hate which is a message that is very important today as social media platforms – including Facebook – have become a hotbed for antisemitic rants,” said JFRExecutive Vice President Stanlee Stahl.
