On Friday, May 8, nearly 200 eighth grade Northport-East Northport students joined a Google Meet with Holocaust survivor Werner Reich. For many years, Mr. Reich has visited both Northport and East Northport Middle Schools to present his story to the community.

His virtual presentation was just as impactful. Mr. Reich answered students' questions and shared his story as a young man—around the students’ age—in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Mr. Reich's story is a tragic, but ultimately triumphant one, as he was able to survive his horrific experiences in numerous concentration camps for three years until he was liberated at the end of the war.

Students asked Mr. Reich many powerful questions and came away with a deeper understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust. Mr. Reich urged students to always speak out when they witness unkindness or injustice around them, saying that "good people" in the world must always speak out against the wrong that they see and should never "do nothing."