
I never know what I am going to do when I wake up each day.
Aside from emergency situations that pop up here and there, I am largely at my
leisure. When I read this morning’s paper I saw that the Community School of
Davidson was having a Holocaust Memorial Exhibit for the next few days. It
sounded intriguing so I figured I’d check it out.
To begin with, I was kind of surprised that the Community
School of Davidson would be having this event. No real reason for my surprise,
I just thought of them as an elite school and accordingly, and incorrectly as
it turns out, to place no real emphasis on social issues. I love it when I’m
wrong. Lesson learned.
These kids spent two weeks, or more, preparing the exhibit.
Upon first entering you are given a guide, a 6th grade student at the school. These
kids are animated and well informed in their presentations. The diagram shows
the route and nature of the exhibits. The journey begins with Propaganda and
moves onto Kristalnacht, the November 1938 “Night of Glass”, considered by many
to be the beginning of the Holocaust.
From there the exhibit moves on to the Warsaw Ghetto, where
in October of 1940 the Jews of Warsaw were restricted to a small area of the
city and basically allowed to starve. The exhibit was done by creating a small
alcove into a replica of a typical ghetto apartment. Remember, these kids were
working with construction paper and magic markers, and yet the effect was
claustrophobic. It was very effective work.
The Railcar was a particularly useful tool for realizing the
cramped conditions and sheer inhumanity of the deportations. First there is a
square foot marked off in the hall outside the exhibit into which you are asked
to stand with 5 other people. That’s what the Jews experienced on their way to
the concentration camps. It was unnerving for 5 minutes, think of the reality
of it for an average of 2 days, without food or water. No sanitary facilities;
stripped of all belongings except for the clothes on your back.
There was a small exhibit about Oskar Schindler and Rabbi
Gerber’s Red Shoes, as well as a section of children’s art depicting replicas
of the art work done by the children interred at the Terezin Concentration
Camp.
This exhibit was important in many ways, but chiefly it was
comforting to know that the Holocaust will not be forgotten, it cannot be
ignored. And these kids prove it. Many thanks to Davidson Community School for
their efforts on behalf of tolerance. And thanks to the students who took their
time to help create such an insightful tour. It was a job well done.
No comments:
Post a Comment