BROOKLYN (VINnews) – Four Holocaust survivors are telling their stories in an impactful video that is aimed at a demographic that typically knows little about the atrocities of World War II – children.
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Their Stories, Our Legacy: Holocaust Survivors Talk to Kids is produced by Tziri Preis, better known to thousands of fans of the InKredible Kids podcast and its devoted Tehillim Army as Morah Tziri. A former kindergarten teacher who lives in Baltimore, Preis first launched her InKredible Kids podcast in February 2023 to inspire Jewish children of all ages to believe in themselves. Since that time, she has won the hearts of tens of thousands of listeners with nearly 50 podcasts and over 175 videos that remind kids that they have the power to change the world.
As the oldest in her family, Preis was the only one of her siblings who had the opportunity to get to know her Holocaust survivor great-grandmother in her active years, and it wasn’t lost on her that today’s children would have few if any opportunities to meet those who lived through World War II. With the Holocaust denial growing ever stronger in every generation, Preis felt it was a story that needed to be told, albeit in an age-appropriate way.
Having livestreamed a podcast from the grave of the Noam Elimelech in Lizhensk while on a Project Mesorah heritage trip to Poland in the spring of 2024, Preis decided to create a video that featured survivors. Preis had already introduced weightier materials to her audience when she created the InKredible Kids Tehillim Army in the wake of October 7th, and knew that if the topic was broached with care and sensitivity, it could be enormously educational for children.
Working closely with Project Mesorah and the Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island’s Holocaust Survivor Support Services division, Preis lined up four interviews in a whirlwind one-day, pre-Chanukah visit to Brooklyn. Arriving at each surivor’s house with donuts and her GoPro, Preis heard from Holocaust survivors Shmuel Beller, Yani Halpert, Sol Goldberg and Toby Levy, each one sharing their stories for her young audience. Beller spoke about his five and a half years doing backbreaking labor in work camps, while both Halpert and Levy told how they hid from the Germans, Halpert and his family in a snowy cave, and Levy and her family in a barn. Telling Preis that it would take him years to tell over everything he had witnessed, Goldberg showed a picture of himself holding a family menorah that was miraculously retrieved after being buried in the Polish soil for 59 years. Their Stories, Our Legacy also includes a music video featuring Shulem Lemmer created by the JCCGCI honoring Holocaust survivors, and Preis concludes by sharing the story of her final visit with her own great-grandmother shortly after her wedding.
“I went to visit her and I held her hand and told her, ‘Babby, you are the strongest woman I ever met – give me some of your strength and I promise you, I will make sure your legacy continues,’” recalled Preis. “I kissed her hand and I walked out, and I never saw her again.”
Clocking in at just over an hour and 23 minutes long, Preis hopes that parents will take the time to watch Their Stories, Our Legacy with their children. Her own children acknowledged that it was scary, although not traumatic, but they appreciated its importance. Preis is happy that her nine and ten year old daughters have gained familiarity with the subject, which will be introduced in their school as part of the sixth grade curriculum.
The film was released within days of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and given the length of the film, Preis doesn’t aspire for it to go viral. She sees herself channeling the role that Mr. Rogers once played in the world of education, introducing children to different experiences in an age-appropriate way, while presenting her subjects with respect and honor.
“Our kids have never had this kind of exposure, and they are being presented with this material in a safe environment,” noted Preis. “These are real people, and they saw that, and heard it from them. One more thing that stands out is that there were big miracles mentioned in each story – how amazing is it for kids to hear that firsthand, and not just read it in a book.”
