Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center

What Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center does

The Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center (HERC) is a nonprofit Holocaust education organization headquartered at 1360 N Prospect Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It operates as a program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation with a 10-person team and serves Wisconsin K-12 educators, students in grades 5-12, and the broader community. HERC's leadership was instrumental in advocating for Wisconsin Act 30 (April 2021), which mandates Holocaust and genocide education in public and many private schools, positioning HERC as the state's primary default resource provider for compliance.

HERC delivers education through a portfolio of more than 14 distinct program lines spanning digital platforms and in-person delivery. Core technology assets include the Holocaust Education Map at teachholocaust.org (over 120 standards-aligned lesson plans), the J-Hub K-12 resource portal, a YouTube video testimony archive of Wisconsin Holocaust survivors, and a library management system supporting a 1,500+ volume lending library. In-person offerings include the Speakers Bureau (survivors and descendants), Student Workshops, the Be a Historian trunk program with replica primary sources, the Holocaust Writing & Art Contest, field trips to Jewish Museum Milwaukee and the Illinois Holocaust Museum, and the annual Navigating the Holocaust two-day professional development conference at Bader Philanthropies. Professional development is reinforced through the HERC Fellowship Program and Echoes & Reflections training delivered in partnership with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Community of Holocaust Education Centers.

Revenue derives primarily from individual donations and corporate sponsorships, supplemented by minimal program fees (e.g., $5 per student field trip admission, $25 workshop registration) and grants from the Claims Conference and Wisconsin Jewish Community Foundation. Most programs, including Speakers Bureau visits and professional development workshops, are free. Distribution is regional (Wisconsin-centric) through direct staff delivery, CESAs (1, 3, 5, 9, 11), and the Milwaukee Jewish Federation infrastructure.

Name

Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center

Legal name

The Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center

Website

https://holocaustcentermilwaukee.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center (HERC) is a Milwaukee-based nonprofit and program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation that delivers Holocaust and genocide education to Wisconsin K-12 educators, students, and communities through lesson plans, survivor testimony, professional development, and field trips.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Holocaust Education Services

NAICS

Educational Services (611), Other Schools and Instruction (6116)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGAHAF

Libraries, Archives & Special Collections

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Arts, Culture & Heritage Nonprofits

Keywords

• Holocaust education
• Professional development workshops
• Curriculum development services
• Survivor testimony programs
• Educational resource library

Headquarters

HQ city

Milwaukee

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: HERC relies on individual donations from supporters to fund educational programs, resources, and survivor testimony preservation
2. Corporate Sponsorships: Corporate partnerships and sponsorships providing financial support for programs and operations
3. Program Fees: Minimal fees for certain programs: $25 group registration fee for field trips to Jewish Museum Milwaukee, $5 admission per student, $25 for Navigating the Holocaust workshop. Many programs are free including Speakers Bureau visits and professional development workshops.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

HERC provides Holocaust education programs and resources to educators, students, and communities across Wisconsin. Its offerings include free lesson plans via an interactive online platform, in-person and virtual student workshops, a Speakers Bureau featuring Holocaust survivors and descendants, a lending library with 1,500+ volumes, professional development workshops for teachers, and the Be a Historian trunk program with replica primary-source artifacts. The organization operates as a program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.

Product overview

The Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center (HERC) is a nonprofit education organization offering a comprehensive suite of Holocaust education products and programs. The core offerings include the Holocaust Education Map (TeachHolocaust.org) — an interactive platform with over 120 free lesson plans — paired with in-person programming such as the Speakers Bureau (survivor testimonies), Student Workshops, and the Be a Historian trunk program. HERC provides professional development through the Navigating the Holocaust annual conference, Echoes & Reflections Training, and the HERC Fellowship Program for educator ambassadors. Additional products include a Holocaust Writing & Art Contest, Field Trips to museums, a lending library with 1,500+ volumes, the J-Hub K-12 Jewish identity resource platform, a video testimony archive, and Pinat Hatikvah outdoor memorial. All programs support Wisconsin Act 30 requirements for Holocaust education in schools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Holocaust Education Map (TeachHolocaust.org) Interactive online platform hosting over 120 free lesson plans and educational resources for Wisconsin educators, sortable by Wisconsin social studies standards. Provides classroom-ready Holocaust education content at no charge.
• HERC Library Free lending library with over 1,500 volumes on the Holocaust, genocide, antisemitism, and diversity, available for public checkout. Provides educators, students, and community members with access to comprehensive Holocaust literature.
• Speakers Bureau Volunteer network of Holocaust survivors and descendants who share personal testimonies at schools, churches, synagogues, and community groups. Available entirely free of charge to Wisconsin audiences.
• Student Workshops In-person and virtual classroom workshops led by expert educators covering four domains: Intolerance, Nazi Germany, The Holocaust, and Responsibility, plus specialized programs on Nazi propaganda and Rwanda genocide. Designed for K-12 students in Wisconsin schools.
• Be a Historian (Survivor Trunks Program) Hands-on educational program featuring curated trunks containing replica photographs and documents from Holocaust survivors' experiences. Available for classroom loan throughout Wisconsin to provide tactile primary-source learning.
• Holocaust Writing & Art Contest Annual contest encouraging middle and high school Wisconsin students to create written or artistic pieces drawing lessons from the Holocaust. Grand prize winners receive a trip to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.
• Field Trips Educational visits to synagogues, memorial sites, and museums including Jewish Museum Milwaukee and Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. Free or low-cost to schools, with travel subsidies available.
• Navigating the Holocaust Annual two-day in-person professional development conference for educators teaching Holocaust and genocide education. Features world-renowned speakers and expert-led sessions at Bader Philanthropies in Milwaukee. $25 registration fee with scholarships available.
• Echoes & Reflections Training Professional development program delivering comprehensive, classroom-ready curriculum with primary sources and survivor testimony. Includes Foundations of Holocaust Education and Antisemitism: Understanding and Countering this Hatred Today modules.
• HERC Fellowship Program Professional development program training current classroom educators as ambassadors for Holocaust education across Wisconsin. Fellows provide virtual or in-person presentations and curriculum assistance to other educators, supported through CESAs (CESA 1, 3, 5, 9, 11).
• J-Hub One-stop K-12 resource platform for Jewish identity, Jewish-American history, antisemitism, and antibias education. Features field trips, presentations, and peer-led experiences for students and educators.
• Holocaust Survivor Video Testimony Archive Recorded testimonies from Wisconsin Holocaust survivors preserved for current and future generations. Available via website and YouTube (@HERCMilwaukee), covering topics including concentration camps, ghettos, escape, hiding, and post-war experiences.
• Pinat Hatikvah (Corner of Hope) Outdoor Holocaust memorial dedicated to life after the Holocaust, located at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center campus in Whitefish Bay. Available for educational visits and community programming.

Quantifiable outcome

• Wisconsin ranks #1 in the country for Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Gen Z
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Jewish Museum MilwaukeecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 October 2025Co-curated Violins of Hope exhibition and partnership for field trip programs for students grades 5-12. HERC serves as education partner.
• Milwaukee Youth Symphony OrchestraminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Partnership for Violins of Hope residency featuring restored instruments that survived the Holocaust.
• Milwaukee Jewish FederationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHERC is a program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. The Federation provides organizational infrastructure, administrative support, and connection to the broader Jewish community.
• Wisconsin Department of Public InstructioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with DPI for the Navigating the Holocaust workshop. DPI provides official professional development hours documentation for attending educators.
• Bader PhilanthropiesminorOthersProvides venue for HERC's annual Navigating the Holocaust professional development workshop in Milwaukee.
• Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHERC organizes field trips to the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie, Illinois for Wisconsin students and educators.
• United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHERC is part of USHMM's Community of Holocaust Education Centers (CHEC). Speaker Rebecca Erbelding from USHMM serves as keynote speaker for HERC workshops.
• Echoes & ReflectionscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to deliver Echoes & Reflections' comprehensive, classroom-ready curriculum to educators across Wisconsin. HERC staff trained to deliver this program.
• Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-sponsor of the Holocaust Writing & Art Contest. Home to Pinat Hatikvah (Corner of Hope), HERC's outdoor Holocaust memorial.
• J-Hub (Jewish Identity Hub)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHERC integrated into J-Hub, a K-12 educational resource platform featuring Jewish identity, Jewish-American history, antisemitism, and antibias resources.
• CESA (Cooperative Educational Service Agencies)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHERC Fellows operate through CESAs across Wisconsin (CESA 1, 3, 5, 9, 11) to provide regional educator support and professional development.
• Association of Holocaust OrganizationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHERC maintains world-class partnership with AHO and other organizations for Holocaust education best practices.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Echoes & Reflections: Leader in Holocaust education curriculum jointly operated by ADL, USC Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem. HERC is a delivery partner for Echoes & Reflections training in Wisconsin, indicating tight programmatic alignment.
• Jewish Museum Milwaukee: Milwaukee-based Jewish museum that co-curates exhibition partnerships with HERC (e.g., Violins of Hope) and serves as a destination for HERC's field trip programs. Operates in the same local ecosystem with overlapping educational programming.
• Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust: New York-based Holocaust museum offering survivor testimony, educational programming, and exhibits. Directly comparable heritage-education mission; HERC's Community Engagement Manager Michael Morris previously worked there.
• Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center: Regional Holocaust education center and museum in Skokie, Illinois. HERC partners with it for field trips and offers a near-identical educational mission of survivor testimony, classroom workshops, and teacher training in a single U.S. state.
• Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education: Cincinnati-based Holocaust education center offering teacher training, survivor testimony, and curriculum aligned with state mandates. A regional peer with a similar model of free programming, professional development, and educator fellowships.
• Holocaust Documentation and Education Center: Florida-based Holocaust education organization maintaining a survivor testimony archive, providing teacher training, and supporting state-level Holocaust education mandates. Directly comparable regional model with testimony preservation and standards-aligned curriculum.

Broad incumbents

• Facing History and Ourselves: National nonprofit providing Holocaust and genocide education resources, professional development, and classroom curricula to schools. Operates at a much larger scale than HERC but shares a similar mission of educator empowerment and standards-aligned resources.
• Anti-Defamation League (ADL): National organization combating antisemitism and hate, with significant Holocaust education programming. Co-owns Echoes & Reflections and operates education initiatives that overlap with HERC's mission of fighting antisemitism through classroom instruction.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: National Holocaust museum and education authority. HERC is a member of its Community of Holocaust Education Centers and benefits from USHMM's content, speakers, and curriculum standards. USHMM is the broad incumbent that anchors the national education ecosystem.

Regional players

• JFCS Holocaust Center (San Francisco): Bay Area-based Holocaust education center operated by Jewish Family and Children's Services. Provides teacher training, survivor testimony, and curriculum similar to HERC, but serves a different U.S. region with overlapping state-level mandates.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@HERCMilwaukee
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hercmilwaukee

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center