Responses by Allen Yee, partner, Cyril Tsiboulski, partner/creative director, Alvaro Sierra, senior web developer, Cloudred and Michael S. Glickman, trustee, Museum of Jewish Heritage

Background: A recent survey found critical gaps in awareness and knowledge of the Holocaust, showing that nearly one-third of all Americans believe that substantially fewer than six million Jews were killed. This website is a proactive approach to address this gap of awareness and knowledge. The Museum of Jewish Heritage commissioned us to work on this online resource for middle and high school educators in New York City. Educators can easily download flexible lesson plans. This resource was developed by the Museum with support from the New York City Department of Education and will be accessible by other school districts as well.

Learning about the Holocaust inspires students to resist in-group pressures toward racial and religious bigotry. It equips students with the tools to answer one of history’s darkest chapters by becoming more caring, morally aware and better citizens.

Challenges: The site not only features downloadable lesson plans, but also weaves personal stories of Holocaust survivors with major events of WWII. It was really important to show survivor stories in context of these events and timelines. History in the context of real stories can be so much more powerful. Also, finding a sweet spot between two goals: offering a great resource for educators to plan lessons and creating an engaging experience for students to integrate new knowledge into their views of the world through interactive quizzes, video interviews with Holocaust survivors and other tools. Because sometimes, we must revisit the past to make sense of our chaotic present.

Favorite details: After Charlottesville’s Unite the Right rally in August 2017, we remember being outraged and despondent about the virulent anti-Semitism and the “very fine people, on both sides” response from the President. When this opportunity to work with the Museum of Jewish Heritage came along, there was no hesitation as far as saying yes. This project was the perfect way to use our design and technology expertise in a way that aims to combat this disturbing rise in anti-Semitism.