Elan Kawesch, at The Blogs

Elan Kawesch

Jun 16, 2020, 6:26 PM

The following was written by Together, Restoring their Names Fellow and Brandeis Univeristy master's student Cheyenne Paris: Why do we learn about the Holocaust? For some, that question is easily answered. “I’m Jewish.” “My grandmother was a survivor.” “My father was a survivor.” “Half of...

Dec 27, 2019, 9:13 PM

The Power of the Little Man

As I lit Hanukkah candles last night, I thought back to the story of the mighty Maccabees. It’s a story of resilience and strength in adversity. Antiochus, ruler of the Kingdom of Syria, made it his mission to quash...

Oct 2, 2019, 10:20 PM

How We Fight Anti-Semitism on Campus

Anti-Semitism is running rampant in the United States. Synagogues are being attacked and Jews are being attacked in the streets. Earlier this week, a swastika was affixed to the dorm room door of a Jewish student at Tufts University,...

Nov 12, 2018, 8:43 PM

All They Know: Auschwitz and Anne Frank

Recently, a colleague of mine expressed dismay when a Jewish student at a top tier university admitted that all they knew about the Holocaust was “Auschwitz and Anne Frank.” Unfortunately, this is a theme that is all too present...

Oct 10, 2018, 7:43 PM

Birth in Belzec: Finding My Family

Walking near the entrance to the Belzec memorial.

The colorful facades in the town square of Zamosc hide the horrors of the region’s past. If the buildings could talk they would speak of the deafening cries of those who perished in Belzec, just a short drive away....

Oct 2, 2018, 8:53 PM

Elements of Education: Designing a Holocaust Trip

TRTN Fellows hold photographs of Holocaust victims at the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp in Germany.

On a brisk night in Krakow, I found myself reflecting on my first visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, unsure if the bone chilling feeling I held came from sharp winds or from witnessing a harrowing site of genocide. I was 19...

Jul 17, 2018, 9:34 PM

The Importance of Visiting Survivors

TRTN Fellows Goretty Chavez and Laurel Stickney, who both are students at Wellesley College, attended a concert with a Boston-area survivor in the fall.

In his profound book Man’s Search for Meaning, Holocaust survivor and famed psychiatrist Viktor Frankl encourages readers to apply his lessons from the Holocaust to their own lives. At one point in the narrative, Frankl shared an inspiring lesson...

May 7, 2018, 6:49 AM

Preventing the Next Holocaust

Slipping on cobblestones in a downpour, I toured the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp with basketball Hall-of-Famer Ray Allen last year. It was the athlete's first trip to Poland; he was there to learn about the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust. In touring Auschwitz and other sites...

About Me

Elan Kawesch is the director of Together, Restoring their Names, a Holocaust memory service-learning initiative for students in the Boston area, and a student at Brandeis University.