NEWS | Farkas Center

Developing Empathy: O’Dowd Students Engage the Holocaust

Many people don’t realize how connected Judaism, Christianity and Islam are, but they are. “As a Catholic teaching Judaism, Islam,...

Holocaust-era violins visit S.F. Catholic School

All were silent in the gymnasium at San Francisco’s all-girls Mercy High School while renowned violinist Hannah Tarley tuned her...

Courage against injustice: Holocaust survivor, refugees tell their stories…

San Francisco's Mercy High School, in partnership with The Helen and Joe Farkas Center for the Study of the Holocaust in Catholic...

Helen Farkas – A day in the life

...Today, I must pick up Helen Farkas to take her to Mercy High School in San Francisco, where she will talk about her experiences in the...

Helen Farkas dies at 97 — survivor who brought Holocaust education to local schools

Helen Farkas, an Auschwitz survivor who spent more than four decades serving as a living witness to the traumas of the Holocaust by...

Holocaust survivor adds to legacy at early 100th birthday in S.F.

As a young woman struggling to survive the horrors of Auschwitz, Helen Farkas made a vow: If she lived, she would tell her story to the...

Catholic educator makes survivors’ stories his life mission

Jim McGarry remembers the first time he heard a Holocaust survivor speak. It was in 1992 at a training session for local educators...

Survivor, 93, tells her story at Catholic school

Lenci Farkas didn’t sleep well the night before she was to be honored at San Francisco’s Mercy High School. When the 93-year-old faced...

Catholic students get firsthand lesson in never again

Gloria Lyon, 84, faced her audience and held up her arm, revealing a faded numeric tattoo. Showing that somber marking from Auschwitz...

S.F. Catholic school honors courage and spirit of survivors

A hush fell over the auditorium as Holocaust survivor Zdena Berger took the stage. As the diminutive 86-year-old read aloud from two...