Joe Engel was and remains an icon in Charleston, South Carolina. Born in Zakroczym, poland, he survived Auschwitz and several other concentration camps and fought with the resistance before landing on American shores as a refugee in 1949.
After retirement from his dry-cleaning business, Engel focused his later years on Holocaust education. As part of these efforts,he took to sitting on downtown park benches wearing a name tag that read “Joe Engel,Holocaust Survivor: Ask me questions” – becoming the city’s frist public memorial to the victims of Nazi genocide. Knowing he would not be here to impart his message forever, Engel and his friend and fellow survivor Pincus Kolender led a drive to install the permanent memorial that now stands in Charleston’s Marion Square park.
In 2021, I moved to the city to take up my role as a professor and director of Holocaust studies at the College of Charleston.I arrived just in time to meet Engel and to teach many local students who had met him.He died the following year, at age 95.
For years, historians, educators and Jewish groups have been considering how to teach about the Holocaust after the survivors have passed on. Few of today’s college students have ever met a Holocaust survivor. Those who have likely met a child survivor, with few personal memories before 1945. American veterans of the war are almost entirely unknown to our present students; many know nothing of their own family connections to World War II.
Time marches on, distance grows, and what we call “common knowledge” changes. One alarming study from 2018 revealed that 45% of American adults could not identify a single one of the over 40,000 Nazi camps and ghettos, while 41% of younger Americans believe that Nazi Germany killed substantially less than 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.
According to a 2025 study by the Claims Conference, there are somewhat more than 200,000 survivors still alive, tho their median age is 87. It is sadly expected that 7 in 10 will pass away within the next decade. With their absence near, how can educators and community members bring this history home, decreasing the perceived distance between the students of today and the lessons of the Holocaust?
Bringing history home
Table of Contents
One method that shows promise is helping students realize the connections of their own home and their own time to a genocide that might seem far away – both on the map and in the mind.
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Pablo Castagnola, Anzenberger Agency. courtesy of the Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies
I take these short visits a step further in a class where students train as oral history interviewers, then conduct recorded conversations with a descendant of survivors. These meetings encourage discussion of family Holocaust history, but only after the student asks the descendant about how they learned about what happened to their parent, grandparent
Okay, I will analyze the provided text and follow the three-phase process as instructed, focusing on factual verification, adversarial research, and semantic structuring.
PHASE 1: ADVERSARIAL RESEARCH, FRESHNESS & BREAKING-NEWS CHECK
The text discusses the work of Chad Gibbs, a professor using letters from Holocaust survivors, the Landsmann family, Stolpersteine memorials, and the legacy of Joe Engel. I will verify the claims made.
* Chad Gibbs & Zucker/Goldberg Center: chad Gibbs is indeed a professor at the College of charleston, and the Zucker/Goldberg center for Holocaust Studies is a real center at the college. College of Charleston Holocaust Studies.
* Leah Davenport & Stolpersteine: Leah Davenport,a student of Chad Gibbs,did indeed work to install Stolpersteine memorials for the Landsmann family in Berlin. B’nai B’rith International reports on her work.
* Landsmann Family: The Landsmann family’s story is documented, and their persecution during the Holocaust is a matter of record. South Carolina Holocaust Council provides information about the family.
* Stolpersteine (Stumbling Stones): Stolpersteine are real memorial stones laid in the ground to commemorate victims of Nazi persecution. Stolpersteine website provides detailed information.
* Joe Engel: Joe Engel was a Charleston resident who documented Holocaust survivor stories. Information about his work is available through the College of Charleston. College of Charleston Joe Engel Papers
* Breaking news Check (2026/01/21 20:35:10): As of this date, there are no breaking news developments related to the individuals or events mentioned in the text. The information remains consistent with reports from 2023/2024.
PHASE 2: ENTITY-BASED GEO (GENERATIVE ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)
Primary Entity: Holocaust Remembrance & Education
Related Entities:
* Chad Gibbs (Professor, College of Charleston)
* Zucker/Goldberg center for Holocaust Studies (College of charleston)
* Landsmann Family (Holocaust Victims)
* Leah davenport (Student, College of Charleston)
* Stolpersteine (Memorial Project)
* Joe Engel (Charleston Historian)
* South carolina Holocaust Council
* B’nai B’rith International
* Berlin, Germany (Location of Stolpersteine)
* Charleston, South Carolina (Location of Engel’s work and Gibbs’ teaching)
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Holocaust Remembrance & Education at the College of Charleston
Holocaust remembrance and education are actively pursued through initiatives like those at the Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies at the College of Charleston, where professors like Chad Gibbs utilize primary source materials to connect students with the personal stories of those impacted by the holocaust. The Zucker/Goldberg center focuses on research, teaching, and community outreach related to the Holocaust.
Chad Gibbs and the Power of Personal Narratives
Chad gibbs, a professor at the college of Charleston, emphasizes the importance of local connections in teaching the Holocaust. He uses letters from survivors to engage students and foster a deeper understanding of the human cost of the tragedy. This approach aims to move beyond abstract historical facts and create a personal connection to the past.
The Landsmann family and the Pursuit of Remembrance
The Landsmann family, victims of Nazi persecution, are at the center of a remembrance project spearheaded by students at the College of Charleston. Their story, documented by the South Carolina Holocaust council, highlights the importance of preserving the memory of individual experiences during the Holocaust. Details about the Landsmann family’s history are available on the Council’s website.
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