Teaching History Matters

480 articles

April 15, 2015

Through the Eyes of Liberators

I'm speaking this evening in Rochester, NY. You should be able the watch the ceremony beginning at 7pm EST at...

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April 13, 2015

Seventy Years. A Liberator Writes Home to his Chaplain.

April 17th. (1945) Dear Chaplain;- Haven’t written you in many months now, its funny how a few moments are so...

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April 13, 2015

Seventy Years: A Survivor's Eyes: 'The day of April 13 1945 was a Friday, and a sunny and windy day'.

Friday the 13th. Today is the 70th anniversary, to the day. This account comes to me from a survivor's son who...

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April 5, 2015

Seventy Years: Liberation/A Child's view: 'The soldiers were angels, with wings hidden under their shirts'.

[caption id="attachment_70" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Liberation, April 13th, 1945. Drawing by survivor Ervin Abadi. USHMM.[/caption] DEAR MR. ROZELL--I READ TODAY WITH...

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April 3, 2015

Seventy Years: Early April 1945: 'We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for.'

[caption id="attachment_626" align="aligncenter" width="382"] General Dwight D. Eisenhower (center), Supreme Allied Commander, views the corpses of inmates who perished at...

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March 22, 2015

Seventy Years: The Death March and the Defining Moment.

{To commemorate the spring of 1945 and liberation seventy years on, I am posting the unfolding nature of the discovery of the Holocaust as Allied...

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February 20, 2015

Seventy Years: The American Angels of Hillersleben.

The cosmos trips once more. This month, shortly after my previous post about the discovery of previously unknown artwork by...

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February 9, 2015

Seventy Years: 'If his name is mentioned, a person lives forever.'

[caption id="attachment_3934" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Victory, 1945. By Ervin Abadi. Hillersleben, Germany, May 1945. Courtesy Chriss Brown, granddaughter of American soldier...

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January 30, 2015

The First Lesson I Really Learned as a Teacher.

The First Lesson I Really Learned as a First-Year Public School Teacher, Though the Moral does not strike me for...

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January 28, 2015

Seventy Years: When we were in the camps, we would always ask, 'How can the world stand by and let this happen'?

This week I introduced what will be a series of posts under the heading of ‘Seventy Years’, marking the 70th...

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January 28, 2015

Seventy Years: 'People forget what Auschwitz was, and that terrifies me'..

Yesterday I introduced what will be a series of posts under the heading of 'Seventy Years', marking the 70th anniversary...

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January 27, 2015

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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January 26, 2015

I said, “It’s about schools, isn’t it?”

Last Thursday evening I got out of bed because I could not sleep. The news of the day stayed with...

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January 22, 2015

And am I teacher, or a technician?

[caption id="attachment_3742" align="aligncenter" width="620"] New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers his State of the State address and executive budget proposal...

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January 11, 2015

"How did I get here?"

This is a good a time as any to announce that I am going to be launching my first book...

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January 9, 2015

Nashville is Next!

Received from Frank Towers,97 yr old Sec/Treasurer of the 30th Infantry Division Veterans of World War II. I am going...

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December 7, 2014

He was killed at Pearl Harbor. She found his body.

I wrote this narrative. It begins and ends with Randy. Jessie found his body.

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December 4, 2014

“If you’re strong and fair, it doesn’t make any difference what you teach.”

A timely email… I'm reprising some words of wisdom, on teaching, on what would have been my late father's 83rd...

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November 26, 2014

“Boys-we are free-the Americans are here!”

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving day. Today I stumbled across a holiday greeting I received from Holocaust survivor Ernest Kan a while...

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November 25, 2014

The American Soldiers Who Saved My Father From a Death Train

This originally appeared at the Huffington Post website for Veterans Day. Maybe it is appropriate to share for Thanksgiving. The...

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November 15, 2014

"Umm, thank you for your service, too."

Veterans' Day is here. My state teachers union, one of the largest in the nation, spotlighted me and I think...

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November 11, 2014

"We can use the power of history to get kids involved, engaged and more empowered themselves."

Veterans Day: Hudson Falls teacher's stories unite veterans with survivors Author: Liza Frenette Source: NYSUT Communications Caption: Photo of Matt...

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November 10, 2014

What are we going to do with all these people?

[caption id="attachment_3616" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Carrol S Walsh Jr. At rest in Johnstown, NY. Photo by Elizabeth Connolly.[/caption] Thirteen summers ago,...

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October 31, 2014

the story behind the photograph.

~the real story behind the iconic photograph~ A high school history teacher sits down with a World War II veteran...

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October 23, 2014

"New branches on the Tree of Life."

NBC Video about liberator Frank Towers, based on our project here at this website, and what has driven Frank since...

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October 13, 2014

“I’ve spent a long time chasing you around the world.”

Meet my friend Frank. He's 97. The story continues.... from the Boston Globe. WW2 liberator reunites with Holocaust survivors By...

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August 7, 2014

NBC Learn video lesson in our classroom now online.

NBC Learn came to town and filmed in my classroom in late April. We were learning about some pretty heavy...

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