JPEF Helps Lead California’s Premier Holocaust and Genocide Education Initiative

The Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation (JPEF) is proud to be a founding organization of the California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education. This first-of-its-kind statewide network brings together California’s leading Holocaust and genocide education institutions and community partners to strengthen instruction, combat antisemitism and hate, and empower educators across the state.

This year, JPEF will once again play a major role in the Collaborative’s Summer Institute, an intensive professional development program for California middle and high school educators. The 2026 Summer Institute will take place June 21–24 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and is offered at no cost to participating teachers, with lodging provided and travel expenses reimbursed.

Three JPEF Workshops Featured at the Summer Institute

JPEF's Director of Operations, Development and Programs, Sheri Rosenblum, and educator Benjamin Ducoff will serve on the Summer Institute faculty, leading three interactive workshops that bring the history and life lessons of the Jewish partisans into today’s classrooms.

Through primary sources, survivor testimony, photographs, film clips, and standards-aligned lesson plans, participants will explore how Jewish men and women resisted Nazi oppression during the Holocaust and how their stories can help students examine themes of courage, leadership, resilience, identity, and ethical decision-making.

JPEF’s educational approach fills a critical gap in Holocaust education by highlighting the approximately 30,000 Jewish partisans who fought back against the Nazis and their collaborators. By teaching these stories of resistance, educators can help students develop a more complete understanding of Holocaust history while inspiring meaningful discussions about individual agency and standing up against injustice.

Building a Statewide Community of Educators

Since its founding, the California Teachers Collaborative has grown into a powerful statewide initiative dedicated to enhancing Holocaust and genocide education in California schools through educator training, curriculum development, and ongoing professional learning opportunities. The Collaborative’s work is supported through partnerships with leading educational institutions and the California Department of Education.

For JPEF, participation in the Collaborative reflects a longstanding commitment to ensuring that students learn not only about the horrors of the Holocaust but also about the individuals who resisted, fought back, and preserved their humanity in the face of unimaginable circumstances.

Only Ten Spots Remain

California educators interested in attending are encouraged to apply soon. The Summer Institute provides a unique opportunity to learn from nationally recognized experts, collaborate with fellow educators, and gain access to classroom-ready resources that can make an immediate impact on student learning.

Registration/Application:
California Teachers Collaborative Summer Institute 2026 Application

With only ten spots remaining, now is the time to join this transformative professional learning experience and learn alongside Sheri Rosenblum, Benjamin Ducoff, and an outstanding faculty of Holocaust and genocide education experts.

Share the Legacy of Jewish Partisan Sonya Oshman (z''l)

The eldest of four children, Sonya Oshman (z''l) was born in 1922 to a family of wealthy Novogrudok merchants. Novogrudok was a Polish town with a population in the thousands, approximately half of whom were Jewish. The Gorodinskys were well-respected, and Sonya’s father was occasionally called upon to mediate tensions between the town’s Polish and Jewish communities.

Sonya had planned to enroll in medical school in Bialystok the year that the Soviets invaded. Although the Soviets deported many Jews to Siberia, the Gorodinskys were left alone. Life changed drastically when the Nazis occupied Poland. They systematically murdered most of the town’s Jewish population, including Sonya’s youngest brother and grandparents.

By May of 1943, only 500 Jews remained in Novogrudok – mostly skilled laborers and their families. The Nazis confined them to the city's courthouse, where they lived in squalid conditions in what became a makeshift ghetto. On May 7th, the Nazis conducted another massacre, reducing the ghetto population by half. Following this massacre, the remaining 250 Jews began plotting their escape. The initial plan to storm the courthouse gates fell through when the Nazis discovered their plot. Instead, the escapees decided to dig a tunnel underneath the ghetto into the woods; a slow, stealthy escape through a hidden tunnel would allow the sick and the elderly enough time to get out.

The work was difficult and dangerous. The excess earth had to be disposed of, and the summer rains threatened to collapse the tunnel. To avoid suspicious dirt stains, those digging wore burlap sacks – or dug naked. Even in these dire conditions, Sonya found a ray of hope when she befriended and fell in love with Aaron Oshman during the time they spent digging together. They would later marry. Just a month before the escape, Sonya’s father was transferred to another ghetto, along with a handful of other skilled workers. She never saw him again.

The escape finally occurred on a rainy September night. About seventy of the escapees – including two of Sonya’s cousins and the tunnel’s mastermind – lost their lives when they accidentally ran back towards the ghetto and were shot by the guards, who mistook them for ambushing partisans. Most of the other escapees, including Sonya, eventually made it to relative safety at the Bielski partisan camp. There, she was reunited with her one surviving brother Shaul, and with Aaron.


As a member of the Bielski partisan group, Sonya performed many important duties and was instrumental in safeguarding the camp population by standing sentry.

After the war ended, Aaron and Sonya traveled across Europe, finally making it to a displaced person’s camp in Italy. Their first child was born shortly before they arrived in the United States and settled in Brooklyn.

Sonya dedicated her life to sharing her story and to teaching people about the resistance of the Jewish partisans. She traveled extensively and spoke in schools, synagogues, and community centers across the country.

Sonya and Aaron were married for 56 years, had two sons Matthew and Theodore, and four grandchildren. For more on the inspiring life of Sonya Oshman, the Novogrudok tunnel escape, and the Bieslki brigade, please watch the JPEF documentary, A Partisan Returns: The Legacy of Two Sisters. and read Gila Lyon's excellent biography in Tablet magazine.

Sonia passed away on March 2, 2012.