Teaching History Matters
A new film: and what do you want the world to be?
It's time for the big news. [] I've been working for nearly three years with a highly respected film producer...
Read the articleThe better question.
The Jewish nurse who treated the gunman. "The better question is, what does it mean to you?" Ari Mahler November...
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Today is Why.
I had some pretty big news I wanted to share today. Good news. But on Saturday, eleven human beings were...
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On the Run.
[caption id="attachment_6003" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Floyd Dumas (L) and two other escapees, Bill Robb of Scotland and a South African, pose...
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To every thing there is a season.
[caption id="attachment_6018" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Looking out of my writing studio, Oct. 2017. Pic by me.[/caption] Matthew Rozell will have a...
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What If?
(What if you imagined something, beyond imagination?) My last child graduated from high school today, the same high school that...
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My Friend Frank.
My friend Frank Towers would have turned 101 years old today. Frank passed on July 4th, 2016. [caption id="attachment_490" align="alignleft" width="200"]...
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The Remembering Tree.
[caption id="attachment_5816" align="aligncenter" width="851"] My tree in my hometown of Hudson Falls NY, 2018, and some of the just-liberated survivors...
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“I said, ‘Did you even have to ask?’”
I was unpacking a box from my classroom last week, full of framed pictures and awards from my previous life...
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MTF Spotlight - Matt Rozell
Here's a recent article from the Museum Teacher Fellowship Program at the USHMM. Many friends, so dedicated to this mission...
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snowflakes on little boys
Soon after liberation, surviving children of the Auschwitz camp walk out of the children's barracks. Poland, after January 27, 1945....
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2017. Another year down. And here's to Smalltown, USA , 100 years ago.
2017. Another year down. I have not posted a lot since I "retired" but here is one I wanted to...
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"So I knew I was going to have to belly land this thing."
In 2003, I interviewed one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, who visited our school on numerous occasions to tell his...
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The Last Generation.
A reminder for Veterans Day. My classroom is gone now, but Mr. P is still with us, at 95. I...
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'I hope to see them all again in heaven.’
[caption id="attachment_5673" align="aligncenter" width="500"] L-R- Sergeant Clarence B McGuire, Sergeant Maurice J Franzblau, Sergeant Fenton D Strohmeyer, Sergeant Guido Signoretti,...
Read the articleI hated the Army, but they trained me to kill Nazis.
I wrote this post on my Facebook author page the other day; I met one of the principal characters in...
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A few of us must be brave.
My third book is now available as an ebook. The paperback should be out by first week of September. It...
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real history from real people.
My third book is now available as an ebook at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and other outlets. The paperback...
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‘There Are No Heroes’
[caption id="attachment_5621" align="alignleft" width="500"] THE THIRD BOOK[/caption] I'm putting together the final edits for my new book, The Things Our Fathers...
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If I ever question the world and humanity...
'If I ever feel lost, or if I ever question the world and humanity, I will be able to find...
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I am an American.
Two of our high school classes went to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York on Friday....
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'A large number of those who have been treated have lived for years as animals.'
72 years ago, on Friday the 13th of April, the 743rd Tank Battalion overran the train near Magdeburg, Germany. Shortly ...
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I've got your number now, old man.
Three months ago I got up early, fired up the computer, and typed out the letter that has been in the...
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I'll be in a better frame of mind tomorrow.
April 17, 1945, was a Sunday. It was three days after the liberation of the train near Magdeburg, near the...
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A lump in my throat.
On April 15th, 1945, soldiers of the 11th Armoured Division of the British army arrived and liberated 60,000 prisoners of Bergen Belsen...
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'New branches on the Tree of Life'-April 14th, 1945.
72 years ago this very morning, Lt. Frank W. Towers of the 30th Infantry Division arrived to take the survivors...
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For the 13th of April 2017.
From our great friend, survivor Leslie Meisels, to his fellow survivors and his liberators. He sends a version every year...
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Hold that thought.
Only a few weeks back, I was teaching a lesson to my 12th graders on the German invasion of the...
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Hope to see you in California.
My second book, the one on the death train and my journey as a teacher in discovering and retracing the...
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Hell came in like a freight train.
Seventy-two years ago, it began. Hitler's last gamble would claim more American lives than any battle in U.S. History. Frank Currey was...
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A Walk in the Snow.
[caption id="attachment_5238" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Paige and flag. Credit: Dan Hogan[/caption] We walked in the snow, squinting against the early winter...
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Thanksgiving-'The sweet memory of their friendship will remain with me to the end of my life.'
From my good friend Leslie, who plays a major role in my recent book. Happy Thanksgiving indeed. Hello Matt my...
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Denial.
"The Holocaust is one of the most well-documented events in human history. And yet some people, driven by hate and...
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The prism and the purpose.
Today I received two timely comments on the last book I wrote. You can get it here. I just finished...
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Why I Loathe 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas'.
From the Author's collection. Warning. This is kind of a long post. WHY I LOATHE 'THE BOY IN THE STRIPED...
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It is important to have the past in front of you, not in the rearview, as one moves forward.
The new book is getting some early good reviews. ~"A 'Must-Read'. A real tribute to the survivors and liberators. I...
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