Mr. Michael Soffer, a new face in the Social Studies department, spent 17 years teaching at Oak Park River Forest High School where he created his own Holocaust Studies course and wrote a book that will be published this fall. 

His history book, Our Nazi: An American Suburb’s Encounter With Evil, will be released Oct. 2.  It explores the life of a Nazi camp guard who settled in a Chicago suburb and how the community and others responded to discovering Nazis in their midst.

“It turned out that there had been books about Nazis getting into the country and there had been books written about how they got caught, but there hadn’t been a lot of scholarship about what happened among their friends,” Soffer said. 

This prompted Soffer to dive deeper into the topic. 

“I thought the interesting thing was, how do you process when someone you think you know turns out to be something different than you thought? I started researching it, but the impetus was really my students demanding to know how their town responded when a Nazi was caught,” he said. 

Soffer said he was encouraged to take action after a “slew of anti-semitism hate crimes” at OPRF.

Writing a history book was not his initial plan. His initial course of action was to create a Holocaust studies course at the high school.

“As a teacher I think the natural response is that every problem can be fixed with education and curriculum. I also just think it’s a uniquely interesting historical topic, and I love when students get the chance to dive deep,” he said.

The course was in response to something negative happening in the community, but the opportunity to create a new curriculum and collaborate with his colleagues excited Soffer nonetheless. After researching curriculum and the best teaching practices, Soffer created the course and taught the Holocaust Studies class for four years. 

“Teaching the course was great as it’s a unique thing to teach. There was something very exciting teaching about something that I was passionate about and I created,” he said.

While teaching Holocaust studies, Soffer discovered the story of a young man who worked as a respected janitor at OPRF in the 1980’s. The janitor was revealed to be a former Nazi. 

After much research on the topic, initially for the Holocaust Studies students, Soffer said, “I came to the conclusion that this was a story worth being told, and so I reached out to some folks who I knew were historians [who] had published books and asked for guidance.”

Longtime friend and colleague Dean Mr. Silver said Soffer is “definitely a big gift for Lake Forest.”

“I’m proud of how far he has come. He went from being your standard teacher to creating courses, publishing a book, and setting up his AP students to get tremendous scores,” Silver said.

Silver and Soffer taught at OPRF together for 16 years before becoming colleagues again this year. Mr. Silver has “loved getting used to having him here.”

“We argue a lot because he always has to be the smartest guy in the room, but he’s a great teacher and like a little brother to me,” Silver said. 

Although Social Studies Instructional Director Mr. Dunn hasn’t known Mr. Soffer for as long, he said Soffer is a great fit for LFHS because “he loves teaching, he’s smart, he’s innovative, he cares about kids, and he is a really good collaborator.”

Even though Soffer said he had unfortunate experiences with anti-semitism at OPRF, he was able to create some things that he is proud of. His Holocaust Studies course in response to the situation allows students to further understand the importance of the historical event and how to stay present with history in today’s society. 

His history book provides an exciting opportunity for readers to understand the depths of how impactful the event of the Holocaust was even after it was over. 

“He’s very passionate and he works really hard to make class fun with activities. Every class is interesting and I’m excited for the rest of the year,” senior Gianna Lagunas said. 

Though Soffer is no longer teaching his Holocaust Studies course, he is excited to teach freshmen World History and Geography as well as AP Psychology at LFHS moving forward. 

“The adjustment to this new school has been wonderful. It has been a smooth transition, the kids are so engaged and my colleagues are brilliant,” he said.