Newsletter & Critical Acclaim

In 2021 – 2022, 299 schools registered over 170,000 students* to view Out of the Darkness: Janine’s Story and Out of the Darkness: Assembly Film.

In this academic year 2022 – 2023, so far, around 300,000 students* have been registered by nearly 360 schools to view Steven’s Story, Janine’s Story and the Assembly Film.

The feedback was phenomenal.

Newsletter

You can download a PDF of latest newsletter below.

here is what teachers said

The film was very powerful. The students who read out the testimonies were very engaging and it was tastefully put together. Linked together very well with our Holocaust curriculum. Congratulations to all involved in putting the film together.
Head of Y13 and RS Dept at Watford Girls Grammar School

The film was superb – very powerful and thought provoking. Janine Webber… [was] fantastic, but I was also very impressed with the young people reading the testimony of the other survivors in the film. It made clear to students that we were talking about people of their age and younger who experienced these horrific events, and that the issues raised are contemporary as well as historical.
Teacher, Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School

The film itself is excellent with powerful and compelling testimony which brings to life this terrible episode in history through first-person accounts, particularly when told by survivors themselves.
Yr 9 Teacher North London Collegiate School

Holocaust Learning UK have done a superb job on this. Thought provoking and saddening, without being harrowing and sensitive, too. It really personalises the testimonies.
Ria Searle, Curriculum Coordinator for RE and PSHCE Northwood School

I have been surprised just how gripped the vast majority of learners have been. My Year 10 form can be very chatty…but they watched with increasing attention and afterwards asked if they could watch more films like that. I was impressed.
Yr 9 Teacher Huntcliff School

the students were full of praise too:

The documentary was clear and informative but also emotional. It shared true stories from survivors giving the audience first-hand experiences, raising awareness and educating us on the issue and how we can prevent another genocide.
Year 8 St Clement Danes School

Honestly it made me cry and that’s all I can say because I barely cry.
Yr 9 Watford Girls Grammar School

Brilliant – it put into perspective the entire history leading up to its ‘Final Solution’ and has made the whole thing clearer and more personal.
Yr 11 Aldenham School

Out of the Darkness: Janine’s Story is a very well written docudrama. I thought Janine explained her story very well and unravelled the dark truth in a thoughtful and moving way. I think that the teenagers were a good input to the story and made the story seem real and quite dramatic.
Yr 9 St Margaret’s School

The testimony of Janine Webber allowed me to understand the damage caused to innocent Jewish lives and has made me realise the extent of anti-Semitism through history. Hearing Janine’s story has made me curious to find out more about this horrible event and listen to testimony from other survivors. After hearing Janine’s story, I am encouraged not to be a bystander, and to speak up when there is an unjust situation, because if everyone did this many future genocides could be prevented.
Year 11 Bishop Ramsay School

*Not all registered students viewed the film, due to challenges of the pandemic

and this is what experts in the field – from documentary film-makers to holocaust educators – said

The Whickers World Foundation are proud to be associated with ‘Out of the Darkness: Janine’s Story’… We shall be using this excellent film as part of our training sessions for documentary makers.
Valerie Kleeman, Founder, Whicker’s World Foundation

Congratulations on a terrific film. It was beautifully done – the script, the actors, the filming. Janine was wonderful (as always!), and you weaved her experiences very cleverly and to great effect with the archive footage and actors’ comments and testimony from others who were persecuted. It’s hugely impressive and I’m glad it’s going to get the audience it deserves.
Olivia Marks-Woldman OBE, Chief Executive, Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

Holocaust Learning UK’s new film is a great new resource for exploring the events of the Holocaust through the testimony of Janine Webber BEM. It deftly presents Janine’s story, and the story of other victims and survivors, through a clear and concise discussion of the events of the Holocaust and of why it is so important we continue to remember them today.
Karen Pollock CBE, Chief Executive, Holocaust Educational Trust