The CHES Speakers’ Bureau includes Holocaust survivors and children of survivors who visit educational institutions by invitation to speak about their personal Holocaust survival experiences. Fill out the form below to request a visit. For more information on how to prepare for a visit, click here.
Prepare for a Survivor Visit
Who is a Holocaust survivor? A descendant?
A Holocaust survivor is a Jewish person who survived the Nazi persecution during World War II. A descendant is the child or grandchild of a survivor.
Connect. Email the speaker to familiarize yourself with their story and to work out the logistics of their visit, including but not limited to ensuring their smooth arrival, confirming timing details, and detailing any tech requirements, etc. Please reach out to us if you have any concerns about addressing students’ questions regarding current geo-political events; we will be glad to offer some helpful strategies.
Inform. Students must have an age-appropriate foundational knowledge of the Holocaust before the speaker’s visit. Speakers’ visits are designed to supplement and enrich teaching material by adding a human dimension to the history of the Holocaust. CHES has a variety of English and French lesson plans for elementary and high school students that have been carefully curated to align with the 2023 upgraded Ontario curriculum. We recommend the following to start:
2024, January: “The Holocaust, Grade 10 World History”, by Jaden Lairson, Woodroffe High School
Prepare. (1) Ask the class to prepare questions for the speaker ahead of the visit.
(2) If you are paired with a Holocaust survivor, remind your students that the remaining survivors are aging. Explain that they will be the last generation to hear this testimony first-hand. Present the survivor’s story and share their recorded testimony (if available) with the class. We have recorded testimonies for a number of our survivor speakers on our website found here.
Be Courteous. Encourage the students to respect the speaker by listening attentively. Encourage them to ask questions and engage in discussion. You can also prepare some questions yourself; they may help students ask their own questions and get the discussion going. Speakers will not address current events; they will be prepared to answer questions about the Holocaust and their family’s story.
Document. Take photos and keep track of comments and send them to us; we love to share them on our newsletter and socials! Email us at info@chesatottawa.ca
Write To Us. Our speakers enjoy feedback from the students they have met. Encourage your students to write to CHES to share their thoughts and reactions.
Email us at info@chesatottawa.ca and we will make sure to forward the messages to the speaker who spoke to your class.
There is no charge for a speaker to come to your class.
Our survivors do not charge for speaking about their experiences, believing that their stories should be shared as widely as possible. CHES is a charity that provides free educational resources to schools. Please consider supporting CHES. Your donation will allow us to continue providing accessible Holocaust Education programs for free.