Frances and Sam Fried Holocaust Education Fund

The Sam and Frances Fried Holocaust Education Fund
is proud to be partnered with the University of Nebraska at Omaha, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, University of Nebraska at Kearney, Creighton University,
Wayne State University.






Thanks to the support of the  Frances and Sam  Fried Holocaust and Genocide Education Fund formerly the Heartland Holocaust Educational Fund, life changing lessons are being learned across the state. Use the links below to see what educators and students are saying about the classes which have been supported by the Fried Holocaust Education Fund.

Links to what students are saying:

University of Nebraska at Lincoln: www.judaic.unl.edu/

The Harris Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln supports all forms of scholarly activity relating to Jewish history and culture.  For several years students at UNL have been able to take History 339 – The Holocaust - through the combined auspices of the Center and the Department of History. The course has an annual enrollment of 120-150 students. The Fried Fund has contributed to graduate student/teaching assistant support for this course. Some appreciative comments from students:

“This is probably the best class I have taken at this university.” (2009)

“This class is a necessity to have in the curriculum, learning about this subject matter can be timeless and priceless information.” (2009)

“This was a very interesting and informative class.” (2010).


University of Nebraska at Kearney


A Letter from Prof. Kurt Borchard:


Our spring 2007 semester ended in early May. The student evaluations for the course I offered that semester, "Sociology of the Holocaust," were were overwhelmingly positive. Students assigned me perfect evaluations scores in the areas of stimulating their thinking, being enthusiastic about the subject material, being responsive to student questions, and being knowledgeable about the subject matter.

As I reported in a previous letter, your organization's generous donation allowed me to attend a conference in fall 2006 on the Holocaust at Clarement McKenna College. A portion of your grant is now also being used to improve our library collection at UNK. I chose 100 Holocaust-related items (books and DVDs) for our library, significantly expanding our Holocaust materials available for students and faculty. Finally, I am scheduled to present a paper at a ten-day Holocaust Education Foundation conference in Israel in December 2007. A portion of your grant, along with funding from the Holocaust Education Foundation, will be used to defer the total cost of my participation in the conference. Immediately following the conference, I will begin teaching the "Sociology of the Holocaust" again in spring 2008.

In sum, your generous assistance has substantially improved the quality of our course offerings at UNK, our permanent library materials, and my ongoing training in and ability to meet other scholars in the field of Holocaust studies. Thank you.

Kurt Borchard, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
University of Nebraska at Kearney


Student comments regarding the “Sociology of the Holocaust class”:

Dr. Borchard seems very active and interested in the the Holocaust. At times, it can really fuel the class. I have had a lof of friends interested in taking this course if it is offered again. I especially enjoyed reading Primo Levi's book and Maus II . They were a good break from reading the other scholarly textbook material .

I believe that this is one of the most challenging courses to teach due to its morbid nature, but it was presented very effectively. And although it is a sad topic, the professor kept a very upbeat presentation and was always prepared and presented very well. I will recommend this or any other class taught by Professor Borchard to anyone asking or seeking a Sociology class .

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This course should be added as a general class offered every year. What a great learning experience. Thank you for teaching. Hard work but great rewards
.

From the Students' Discussion Board:

I thought it was sick that they booked the Jews like there were going on a vacation. Did you see it said that they were so good about keeping secrets about some camps that most Hungarian Jews did not know about Auschwitz in 1944? Sick and wrong, by very impressive that they could keep a death camp hush-hush for so long. -- Alicia Webber

Learning about this does fill you with a huge sense of guilt. It's hard to understand why one group was chosen to suffer so much. In the Vulgar Modernism article it describes one woman's feeling who managed to stay hidden in Berlin during the war. She explained her feeling by saying, "I felt very guilty that I didn't go myself and I tried to escape fate that the others could not escape. There was no more warmth around, no more soul...only this feeling of being terribly alone...What made us do this? To escape the fate that was really our destiny or the destiny of our people." -- Angela Ohri

From Creighton University in Omaha...


“With the support of the Frances and Sam Fried Holocaust and Genocide Educational Fund formerly the Heartland Holocaust educational Fund, we are willing to lead—by educating the whole student in mind, body and spirit. Your generosity has allowed our College of Arts and Sciences to expand its curricular offerings and teach three new courses focusing on the context of the Holocaust and its historiographical recording; the relationship between Christianity and the Holocaust; and theology after the Holocaust.”

Laura C. Simic
Senior Associate Vice President of Development and Campaign Director
Creighton University