“We are at a turning point in the entire field of Holocaust Education and Remembrance as we are moving all too quickly from living history to historical memory. Each day survivors, and the moral authority they represent, leave this earth and with them the richness of memory. Theater production and related Holocaust educational programs utilizing theater exercises have an immediacy that can make these events and their recollection come alive again.”

– Dr. Michael Berenbaum, NJTF HTII Founding Advisory Board member and
former Project Director of USC Shoah Foundation and the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Since 2007, the National Jewish Theater Foundation (NJTF) has created and presented theatrical works that celebrate Jewish artistic heritage and educate diverse audiences about Jewish history and cultural identity. As one of the foremost organizations dedicated exclusively to Jewish theater, NJTF advances the understanding of Jewish experiences through performance, scholarship, and education.

In 2010, NJTF leaders launched the National Jewish Theater Foundation – Holocaust Theater International Initiative (NJTF-HTII). Its mission is to preserve Holocaust memory, combat antisemitism and promote awareness through theater-based education, research, and production. Led by Arnold Mittelman, drawing on more than 50 years of theater leadership, NJTF-HTII brings together an exemplary team of scholars, artists, and staff, including members of its distinguished Advisory Board (complete adv. board list),and strategic partners such as; Holocaust Educational Trust-UK, Fondation pour la Memoire de la Shoah in Paris, National Fund of the Republic of Austria, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre-Canada, Theatre Communications Group, and Association Holocaust Organizations-USA, who work to ensure that the history and lessons of the Holocaust remain vivid and relevant for future generations. 

NJTF-HTII comprises three interrelated programs: research, education, and production.

(1) Research: The Holocaust Theater Catalog —launched in 2010 with an inaugural grant from  John S. and James L. Knight Foundation—is the first and only  online catalog containing the names of plays from 1933 to the present with informative entries for a wide range of users. Designed for students, scholars, educators, artists, and the public, it features over 1,000 curated titles in multiple languages, with detailed entries, translations, and scholarly resources. The Catalog is overseen by lead scholar Dr. Alvin Goldfarb of the NJTF-HTII Advisory Board and is publicly accessible through the University of Miami’s Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies  (htc.miami.edu).

 (2) Education: Enacting Holocaust History develops theater-based curricula, study guides, and exercises for primary, secondary, and higher education. A core program, Enacting History: What I’ve Scene, was created in partnership with the USC Shoah Foundation and is the only theatrically based activity on its IWitness platform, reaching thousands of educators worldwide. The program uses survivor testimony as a classroom theatrical exercise and has expanded internationally through NJTF-HTII’s collaboration with the Holocaust Education Trust to train teachers and students in the UK

(3) Production: NJTF-HTII’s annual Remembrance Readings presents public readings and performances of Holocaust plays from the Holocaust Theater Catalog in commemoration of Kristallnacht, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Yom HaShoah. The program engages professional and amateur theater companies and artists, educators, and museums nationwide; in 2016–17, participants from eleven cities—including Washington, DC, New York, San Diego, and Chicago—joined the national observance. It has since expanded through ongoing nationwide collaborations with theater companies, museums, and universities. 

Integrating research, education, and production and supported by its Advisory Board, staff, and partners NJTF-HTII fills a critical gap at the intersection of Holocaust scholarship and theater arts, using both technology and live performance to provide meaningful access to Holocaust history as survivor voices diminish.