Bearing witness after the witnesses are gone: How to bring Holocaust education home for a new generation

Students respond to history that feels local and personal. There are ways to do that even as Holocaust survivors pass away, one professor writes.

By: Chad Gibbs, College of Charleston, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: January 21, 2026

Words: 1,297

Last Updated: 1 month, 3 weeks ago

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By Chad Gibbs, College of Charleston

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 …

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