How Names Not Numbers is Operating During COVID

By Isabella Schnieder ‘22

Names Not Numbers is a Holocaust documentary project directed, filmed and edited by students. In a normal year, the students are given the opportunity to have a one on one conversation with the survivors, however, due to COVID-19, this year’s Names Not Numbers faculty had to figure out a way for the students at GOA to participate in the incredible program.
“This year, COVID presented us with some challenges for the Names Not Numbers Holocaust Documentary Film project, but thankfully we were able to find solutions to work around many of them to continue to offer this important program,” Mrs. Sternthal, a Names Not Numbers advisor, said.

One particular issue was the students’ inability to meet with the survivors or leaders of the program in person. In order to keep students as safe as possible, GOA has not allowed guests into the building. The Names Not Numbers staff did not allow this obstacle to get in the way of the program and quickly found solutions. 
“Thanks to Zoom, we are able to continue to have our speakers and the students on remote instruction join us virtually,” Mrs. Sternthal said. “For example, Names, Not Numbers founder Ms. Tova Rosenberg usually comes to our school to speak to students for our Opening Session, and we invite a journalist to come to teach interviewing techniques. This year, we were able to broadcast Ms. Rosenberg’s remarks and have our journalist, Mr. Allan Chernoff, teach the students via Zoom.”
In previous years, Names Not Numbers advisor Mr. Stern would announce the qualifiers for this program in late October or early November, and these students would start planning immediately. However, because of the complications behind the scenes, students began planning around the beginning of February, despite having the same deadline as in past years. 
The students in this program are using the setbacks to motivate them to work even harder. They are excited and optimistic about the outcome of the film.
“I think it’s always been important to get Holocaust survivors’ stories but I think this year it’s especially important because they can give an interesting perspective on the pandemic, they’ve been through terrible times and have already gotten years taken out of their lives,” junior Lily Glass said. “It’s almost like the same thing is happening to them now, but instead of getting their youth taken from them it’s this precious time in their late adulthood that they could have been spending with their families.” 
While planning for the interviews, students need to work together in person and on Zoom, which adds another new challenge to the process. Students are constantly coming in and out of school, which makes the program less structured than in previous years. Nevertheless, Mr. Stern and Mrs. Sternthal are doing their best and making the process as smooth as possible.     
In order to keep everyone involved as safe as possible, the interviews this year will be taking place outside or on Zoom. This can lead to complications such as background noise, miscommunication and technical difficulties. 
    “I think that it will be more difficult for the survivors to convey their stories due to COVID 19, but that difficulty only adds to the significance of their stories,” junior Pacey Ely said. 
    Although COVID 19  brings a lot of difficulties to the filming process, it also adds complexity to the survivors’ stories. When talking about their lives following the war, they are able to mention their experience over the past year and how the isolation in quarantine and living through a pandemic has affected them.
Junior Shir Komorovski said, “This year with COVID, Names Not Numbers is doing the best it can under the circumstances, and although the planning and creation of the documentary has changed, the end result will still maintain its desired effect of preserving the stories of the survivors.”