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Produced by our 5th Grade Leaders Club news team, these weekly student-led newscasts bring you the Joke of the Week, fun "This Week in History" facts, our Positivity Project words, and the latest happenings around GES. Episodes span 2024 to the present

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Auschwitz Survivor Werner Reich | Groton CSD | 8th Grade Student Interview (June 2022)| Groton, NY

Content warning: This video contains firsthand Holocaust testimony and discussion of Nazi concentration camps. In June 2022, our 8th-grade students had the rare opportunity to interview Mr. Werner Reich, a Holocaust survivor of Auschwitz, in a live virtual Q&A. Students prepared thoughtful questions and listened to Mr. Reich’s powerful testimony with care and respect.

Student Questioners: Tina H, Haley W, Grace S, Ross B, Joslyn S, Logan D, Adelyn C.

About Mr. Reich: Mr. Reich was born in Berlin in 1927 and later lived with his family in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. As a teenager, he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned before being deported through Theresienstadt and ultimately to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He survived selections, forced labor, and a death march, and was later liberated from Mauthausen in May 1945. After the war, he rebuilt his life—eventually immigrating to the United States, earning a degree, and becoming an engineer. For decades, he dedicated himself to Holocaust education, speaking to students and communities to share the lessons of history and the dangers of indifference. Mr. Reich often shared how an act of kindness—being taught a simple card trick by another prisoner in Auschwitz—became a lasting symbol of hope that stayed with him throughout his life. Mr. Reich passed away on July 8, 2022—about one month after this interview. We are grateful our students were able to learn directly from his words and carry his message forward. We hope this was a meaningful experience for our students and for everyone who watches.

—Mr. Doane