Guided by Jewish values, The House of Ruach empowers organizations and individuals to realize their highest potential — where dignity, justice, and compassion flourish across all communities.
Dr. Donald Hecht Memorial Holocaust Education Initiative
A 38-minute educational film from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, distributed for middle and high school classrooms. Free to watch, free to teach with. Choose the source that works best for you.
The film plus the historical timeline, educational article, and discussion resources.
Watch at USHMM →The UN Holocaust Outreach Programme edition — subtitled in all six official UN languages.
Watch at the UN →Stream the film in chapters — the simplest option for a classroom screen.
Watch on YouTube →Tell us where to send the educator guide, discussion resources, and updates from the Initiative.
Coming to classrooms in 2026
In partnership with Hands-on History, the Initiative is helping bring interactive Holocaust Education Kits into middle and high school classrooms — so students don’t just read history, they hold it.
Each kit contains 25 high-quality reproduction artifacts — from a Shabbat candle and a 1940s Jewish cookbook to a ghetto ration card, a Kindertransport tag, and liberation-era reunification documents. Every artifact is paired with a student profile and a guiding question, organized across five themes and aligned with California History–Social Science Standards (Grades 7, 8, 10, and 11).
The House of Ruach sponsors these kits for educators. When kits are available, we cover the cost and arrange delivery — either through the Holocaust Museum Orange County or shipped directly to your classroom. Tell us about your classroom to request one.
A limited number of Holocaust Education Kits are available at any given time. Requests are reviewed and fulfilled in the order received, while supplies last. If no kits are currently available, we will add you to our interest list and reach out when more kits are made. Submitting a request does not guarantee that a kit will be provided, and availability, quantities, and delivery method are determined at the sole discretion of The House of Ruach.
From Remembrance to Responsibility
It began with the erosion of democratic norms. With propaganda. With laws that targeted groups of people. With the normalization of persecution.
The Dr. Donald Hecht Memorial Holocaust Education Initiative transforms remembrance into responsibility — applying the lessons of history’s only fully industrialized genocide to counter xenophobia, challenge hate, and prevent the dehumanization of any human being, anywhere.
Mission & Vision
The House of Ruach is committed to empowering organizations and individuals to realize their highest potential. Our six values are the branches of our Tree of Life — and our three golden roots are dignity, justice, and compassion.
August 2026
On August 4–6, 2026, The House of Ruach carries this message to three of the world’s most iconic stages — and Holocaust education to classrooms far beyond them.