When one thinks of the Holocaust film genre, dramas such as “Schindler’s List” and “The Pianist” instantly come to mind for their harrowing portrayals of victims and survivors who suffered at the hands of Nazis. But what about the German survivors – more specifically, the children of Nazi war criminals forced to come to terms with the atrocities of their parents? This is a question posed by the exceptional new German-language film, “Lore,” Cate Shortland’s follow-up to her acclaimed 2004 feature “Somersault.”

It has been performed by the likes of Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond, and appeared everywhere from the 2012 Olympic Games to “South Park.” No longer just a musical staple of Jewish weddings and bar mitzvahs, “Hava Nagila” has become a global phenomenon that has captivated the masses with its simple message of happiness and gratitude.

VATICAN CITY — Benedict XVI always cast himself as the reluctant pope, a shy bookworm who preferred solitary walks in the Alps to the public glare and the majesty of Vatican pageantry. And on Monday, the Vatican announced that the leader of the world's billion Roman Catholics was stepping down — the first pontiff to do so since 1415.

Almost 70 years after coming face-to-face with Dr. Josef Mengele at Auschwitz, Holocaust survivor Helen Handler still remembers his “black, shiny shoes.”

When people think of Jewish film, their minds tend to jump right to two subjects: religion and the Holocaust. While the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival certainly embraces those subject matters, executive director Jerry Mittelman ensures that they make up only a slice of the wide spectrum of films the fest has to offer.

Oskar Knoblauch, the author of “A Boy’s Story — A Man’s Memory Surviving the Holocaust 1933-1945,” will recount his story of loss and survival at the Red Mountain Library on Saturday, Jan. 26.

As a dark veil began to sweep over Europe in 1939 — the pale hint of what would come from Nazi rule — a stockbroker from England took a course of action that would save the lives of nearly 700 children.

A small fire at the East Valley Jewish Community Center in Chandler risked shutting down the center for months.

An exhibit on display for a limited time at the Arizona Jewish Historical Society’s Cutler Plotkin Jewish Heritage Center is bringing visitors face-to-face with lifelike, three-dimensional renderings of real-life Holocaust survivors.

Oskar Knoblauch, author of “A Boy’s Story - A Man’s Memory Surviving the Holocaust 1933-1945,” will share his tale 11 a.m. Nov. 10 at Mesa’s Main Library.

For the last few months I, along with many others in the community have attended many wonderful events held in conjunction with Chandler’s Centennial Celebration. This past month I was fortunate to attend an event where history was revisited and a historical moment for Chandler was created.

Real-life Band of Brothers colonel Edward Shames thought he’d seen all the horrors of war — until he stepped into Dachau, Nazi Germany’s oldest concentration camp, in April 1945.

Teachers from the Ahwatukee Foothills area were honored at the 2012 Tempe Diablos Excellence in Education Awards on Monday.

If you ask Assistant Executive Director Adrian Bendick what her favorite movie at the Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival is, she probably wouldn't be able to give you a straight answer.

The Chabad of the East Valley in Chandler has opened a kosher cooking club for children. In the Kosher Culinary Club, children in grades 1 through 3 will learn how to cook, bake, and decorate kosher food.

“Anne Frank: A History for Today,” opens Sunday at the East Valley Jewish Community Center in Chandler.

“Anne Frank: A History for Today,” opens Sunday at the East Valley Jewish Community Center in Chandler.

East Valley residents can view the National Anne Frank Exhibit when it comes to Chandler in February.

To get most fundraisers going, many outgoing calls have to be made. But for Saturday’s “Get Reel with Director Bryan Singer” event, it was an incoming call that made things happen.

“The prognosticators and the media predict gas prices north of $5 a gallon and/or war with Iran by next year if the Iranians close the Strait of Hormuz. Yet our so-called government of the people drag their feet on a Canadian pipeline which would do away with our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, create a surge in employment in this country and lower the price of gas at the pump both now and in the future.”