Our goal is to inspire kindness, decency, and the courage to be an upstander. We draw upon Esther Raab’s story of resistance to educate future generations.

Esther Terner Raab (z"l) was born to a middle-class Jewish family in Chelm, Poland. She was a Holocaust survivor who participated in the successful revolt of the Sobibor death camp. After the Shoah, she took the responsibility to tell the world, testifying at numerous war crime trials.

Esther spoke to tens of thousands of students across the world, many of whom wrote her letters describing how they were inspired. Those letters are featured throughout this website and formed the basis for Richard Rashke's play Dear Esther, which is regularly performed today in community productions.

Like millions of European Jews, members of Esther's family were murdered by the Nazis during the war, as they were forced through a system of ghettos and camps. In December 1942, Esther was deported from a work camp to the Sobibor killing center in occupied Poland, where she was selected to sort the clothing and possessions of the people killed. Esther joined a group who planned an uprising and escape on October 14, 1943. About 300 escaped, of whom some 50 ultimately survived the war.

Esther reunited with and married hometown friend Irving Raab after the war, later immigrating to the United States in 1950. Today, their son Marvin Raab carries forward their legacy through the Esther Raab Resistance Center for Holocaust Education, leadership as vice chair of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, and philanthropic support for other Holocaust education centers and programs. Read more...