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The New Road School, Parlin held its third annual Holocaust Remembrance Program April 21. For the program, the students created identities for otherwise nameless victims of the Holocaust, for whom they had pictures but no other personal information.

"The main thrust of the program is to give an identity back to the Jewish people," Pollak said.

Phyllis Pollak, the social skills coordinator at the school, created a program called "We Remember the Polish Jews" to teach the students about the Holocaust, to honor the Polish Jews who perished, and to assist the dying Jewish community in Bialystok, Poland. It is in conjunction with Szkola Podstawowa NR 14, a school in Bialystok. The partners for the project Dorothea Andraka, the president of the Polish Supplementary School Council of America; Beata Kajewski and Alina Karpowicz of Szkola Podstawowa NR 14; Tomek Wisniewski, a historian of Jewish cemeteries on Bialystok; and Margaret Serrafin of New Brunswick, a translator.

The New Road School is a special needs school for children from the ages of 6-21, which opened in Highland Park in 1986 and moved to its current location, in the Parlin section of Sayreville, in 2004.

Each of the 16 classes selected a picture from the book, "Before They Perished: Photographs found in Auschwitz." The photos are of families, men, women, and children, who have no identification, but were murdered in Poland for being Jewish. Each class then took their photo and created a skit of what life would have been like for that family in a certain country.

The program also assists in repairing a cemetery near Bialystok. In August and September 2008, Pollak researched photographs of Polish Jews who died during the Holocaust. She then went to Bialystok and met with the teacher to discuss the project and speak about the photographs. Pollak and the teachers then obtained permission from the proper organizations to restore the cemetery.

After writing and submitting a proposal in September 2008, the students and teachers began to work on the project on February. The teachers explained the purpose of the project and chose a photograph with their students to create stories for unidentified victims. They also continued to collaborate with teachers in Poland, while doing this as well.

The students performed a variety of skits with their stories they created -- such as a wedding, a restaurant scene, a cafe, students going to school, finding a bride for a daughter, and a silly girl who liked to never wear shoes. All of the students were able to participate in some way or another whether they spoke, sang, read, or just dressed up.

Eileen Stivala, a reading teacher at the school, said it made her feel real good to see her students performing and learning about the Holocaust. She said she was very proud of her students.

"It was fun, I helped a lot with the wedding scene," she said.

School Executive Director Annette Hockenjos said she really enjoys seeing her students learn about and commemorate Yom Hashoah each year, and said the work Pollak does with the kids is "amazing."

Shamaad, a 13-year-old 7th grader, sang the song, "With Shalom and Love in our Hearts" by Hank Fellows. John Grabowski, who assisted with the project, then sang the song in Polish, which was followed by a duet by both of them.

"I learned a lot today," Shamaad said. "I've been singing since I was like 6 or 7."

Shamaad said he sings in church and in school where he usually makes his family and teachers cry. He said he learned a great deal about the Holocaust, and it was a lot fun performing.

The program was a success, Pollak said, because every child had fun, brought a smile to the teachers' faces, and learned a lot. The Holocaust needs to be understood and remembered by everyone -- not just Jews -- she said.

Pollak said she started the Yom Hashoah program at the school three years ago because it is part of social skills, which she teaches. Teaching social skills involves teaching tolerance, empathy, compassion, and forgiveness, which are all part of the lessons of the Holocaust, she said.

"The lessons that we learn from the Holocaust are throughout social skills programs," she said.