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The need to preserve individual stories of the Holocaust comes at a time when younger generations of people are meeting fewer and fewer World War II veterans and Holocaust survivors than prior generations.
I have been fortunate to meet one of each: Pat Walor2, an American World War II veteran in my hometown who fought in Europe, and Kati Preston, a Holocaust survivor who lived in Nazi-occupied Hungary3. While it is important to study overarching themes and statistics in World War II, it is equally important to remember the individuals for who they are and the experiences they carried with them. Therefore, in my first year of teaching history, I was inspired to emulate the work of Dr. Eliach and the Auschwitz Memorial, effectively to honor each victim’s story in my classroom. This article examines the ten-week project
I conducted with my ninth grade students (14-15-year olds) at Dracut High School in Massachusetts, including their reactions, conversations, and the impact on their learning.
The ten-week project took place during learning units related to the Interwar Period and World War II. The plan was to utilize the Auschwitz Memorial's X posts by sharing individual photos at the beginning of each class. I had five classes, and my daily schedule consisted of four consecutive 45-minute periods, followed by an extended lunch period. I was going to share one individual post each period, and three posts during the extended lunch period, totaling six posts a day. I planned on showing the posts on the class projector. I was to read the brief biographies of victims to each class, including their birth dates and places, any family members, and their death dates and causes, if known. I then printed the posts and hung them on the classroom walls.
Students were intrigued by the individuals presented to them, which often sparked lively discussions. We talked about the general patterns of death in Auschwitz: children and older individuals, as well as most females, were murdered in the gas chambers, while middle-aged males perished due to mistreatment and overwork in the camp after selection. Students were shocked at how many Jews died in late 1944 because Hitler insisted on carrying out the Final Solution despite Germany’s hopeless military situation. Hard conversations were had regarding collaboration from local populations in France, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium, concluding with the fact that antisemitism was not just a uniquely German phenomenon. We also discussed the pictures of each individual; some depicted individuals in their prisoner uniforms, with expressions of fear or hopelessness on their faces. Other pictures showed entire families smiling in civilian clothing, illustrating peaceful lives before the war.
I often found the students looking around the room when they finished their work, going to retrieve something from across the class, or at the end of the period when the lesson of the day was over. When all 300 victims’ images were on the walls, many students remarked, “Mr. Haradji, that is many people!” I typically responded with “Yes, you are right, but there are so many more people who died in the Holocaust. If you want to know how many people died in Auschwitz, think of this classroom 3,667 times. If you want to know how many people died in the Holocaust, think of this classroom 20,000 times.” By the end of the ten weeks, many had come to understand the importance of this project: far too often, tragedy and atrocity are measured by statistics, but in the process, it can strip the humanity and dignity of the very individuals who are counted. The United States Holocaust Memorial and the Auschwitz Memorial aim to commemorate those who were dehumanized by hate. I hope to continue this project every year to remind students of their moral duty never to forget.