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University Of Denver Team Working To Make Sure Holocaust Stories Are Never Forgotten

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DENVER (CBS4) – A group at the University of Denver is working to make sure the stories of those impacted by the Holocaust are never forgotten.

A new survey has yielded "shocking and saddening" results, showing millennials and Gen Z have a "worrying lack of basic Holocaust knowledge," according to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (known as the Claims Conference).

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"The average person does not know a lot, especially young people and that education and that knowledge base is diminishing," said Adam Rovner, Director of the Center for Judaic Studies at DU.

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Last year Colorado lawmakers passed a bill requiring public schools dedicate at least one class period to Holocaust education. Adam Rovner is part of a team putting together an online resource for teachers and students called ""itness to History." It will contain Holocaust information, personal stories, and interviews with local survivors.

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"We had many hundred who came to Colorado and rebuilt, to the extent that was possible, a life for themselves. They became leading members of our community, the Jewish community, and sometimes the broader Denver community," Rovner told CBS4's Dominic Garcia.

The curriculum will also follow survivors personal stories and include their experiences before, during, and after the war.

"I think it's important to try and connect the American experience, whether their veterans, whether they're survivors who came here as refugees, to this larger historical story," said Rovner.

The resource will be free for students and teachers. Rovner said the goal is to have a beta version of the project online this summer.

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