Every year on Yom HaShoah (Israel’s) Holocaust Remembrance Day, I find myself asking the same question: How do we talk about the Holocaust with today’s children?
These are children who grow up in a world where everything is fast, easily digestible, short, and superficial. It’s an era of TikTok, Netflix, gaming, and reels. How can we explain the inconceivable to them? How do we convey not only the horrors of the Holocaust but also its meaning, so that it remains in their hearts and not just in their minds?
This year, the question took on a particularly personal significance for me. When I stand at the State of Israel’s Yom HaShoah ceremony at Yad Vashem and lay The Jewish Agency for Israel’s wreath, I’ll think about my grandmother, Shoshana Michaelis née Gastern (of blessed memory). As a 9-year-old girl, she survived the atrocities of the Holocaust along with her younger sister, Leila.
At the time, they were alone in the world. During the war, they were hidden in an orphanage in Poland, forced to erase any sign of their Jewish identity, pretending to be Christians. They went to church but in their hearts preserved what they had grown up with at home.
That was until one day, when they overheard a surprising conversation in the orphanage – people from The Jewish Agency talking amongst themselves about Shabbat candles. They were hinting to any Jewish descendants present that they had come to save them. And it worked. Savta Shoshana found the courage to admit to them for the first time: “We are Jewish.”
Their journey to Israel wasn’t simple. My grandmother, at age 12, together with her sister Leila, endured hardships and suffering until they finally immigrated to Israel in an operation called “Tehran Children,” initiated by The Jewish Agency, with hundreds of children rescued. Over the years, she became an inspiring figure.
She volunteered, was a foster parent to children, and dedicated her life to helping others. She kept her painful memories, but transformed into a woman of warmth, giving, and resourcefulness, who helped build a future for many others.
I often reflect on how life has come full circle. How the generation that survived the Holocaust became the generation that continued to build. How from a child’s pain, a grandson’s commitment was born.
There is something symbolic in the fact that I, the grandson of a child survivor, stand at the head of the same organization that saw the rescued children not just as survivors but as the future. Not just as witnesses to atrocities, but as nation builders. Savta Shoshana’s story teaches us not only to remember what we lost. It teaches us to build while preserving our identity, with a deep commitment to maintaining the unity of our people.
My grandmother didn’t talk about what she went through. Like many of her generation, she carried the memories that scarred her soul. But she didn’t share them. We, members of the third and fourth generations, can no longer afford to be silent. We cannot stop at telling the story—we must also act. This means confronting antisemitism and hatred head-on, safeguarding Holocaust memory from becoming simplified and detached in our fast-paced digital world.
Today’s children, in the TikTok era, know how to identify fakery. They don’t need to just memorize facts, but also to understand the meaning behind them. They know when you’re lecturing them, and when you’re genuinely moved. They don’t need sensationalized content; they need an adult who looks them in the eye and says: “I’m with you, and I believe we can be different.” The Holocaust doesn't belong only to the past. It is a moral test for the present—for us as parents, teachers, and leaders.
Children need to understand why and how history changed things, and why it still matters. The answer lies not only in stories about death, but also in education for life. Not only through images of ghettos, but also through conversations about belonging, meaning, and identity.
Children need to feel they are part of something bigger than themselves. More important than themselves, ancient and yet—alive. To understand what hatred is, what happens when people stand by, but also the significance of standing together.
They also need to hear about courage, hope, and revival—like in the story of Savta Shoshana and her sister Leila, two little girls who survived the horrors and built a home, a family, a future here. They built a state here and passed on to us the responsibility to protect it.
Knowledge about the Holocaust must be more than just facts and ceremonies. It should remind us of the importance of Jewish, Israeli, and human identity. Because what’s preserved not only in memory but in identity, will never be forgotten.
It’s this Jewish identity that provides the foundation for raising a generation that’s both connected to its roots and committed to its community. And this is what will preserve our people, long after the sound of the memorial siren has faded.
Yehuda Setton is CEO and Director General at The Jewish Agency for Israel.