Inspiring change one teacher at a time

"Meagan Talbot, along with two other teachers at her school, have requested the use of three of our classroom sets of books.  This is the second year the school has used all three sets at one time. We emailed her and asked her to tell us a little bit more about what she is doing.  Here is her response!" - Ilana Cone Kennedy, Director of Education

Today is the first day of school, and so far everything has gone quite well! We are all 8^th grade Language Arts teachers and we collaborate on a Holocaust unit. Our anchor text is “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” by John Boyne, which all students read.  We also have students select one novel of their choice about the Holocaust. We use your trunks to help students select a novel about people who experienced the Holocaust. Students do a number of essays, class discussions, and presentations about their findings. We also read many survivor accounts, articles, share pictures and artifacts, watch historical videos and watch videos of survivor accounts, and read poetry as supplements.  Students really love the unit and come to be quite passionate about sharing the experiences they read about in their student selected texts. It’s amazing to watch them go from knowing nothing about the Holocaust and WWII, to understanding how it slowly grew into the Holocaust, and how people were able to survive it physically and emotionally. We do this unit at the beginning of the school year, and it’s amazing how students connect to it, and refer back to all year. Your trunks are an incredible resource, and we so appreciate the opportunity to use them!

 

Thank you!

 

Meagan Talbot
6th and 8th English Language Arts
North Whidbey Middle School

New Year, New Books!

New for Middle School Trunks: Terrible Things by Eve Bunting!  Request a trunk for your class today!

        The animals in the clearing were content until the Terrible Things came, capturing all creatures with feathers. 

        Little Rabbit wondered what was wrong with feathers, but his fellow animals silenced him. "Just mind your own business, Little Rabbit. We don't want them to get mad at us."

        In this unique introduction to the Holocaust, Ms. Bunting encourages young children to stand up for what they think is right, without waiting for others to join them.

We also have a new book available to borrow: A Convenient Hatred: The History of Antisemitism by Phyllis Goldstein!  We have ten copies available! 

To request this or other books, please contact us: info@wsherc.org or 206-744-2201.

        A Convenient Hatred chronicles a very particular hatred through powerful stories that allow readers to see themselves in the tarnished mirror of history. It raises important questions about the consequences of our assumptions and beliefs and the ways we, as individuals and as members of a society, make distinctions between "us" and "them," right and wrong, good and evil. These questions are both universal and particular.

Student Projects and Thank You Notes

Occasionally, teachers send us some of their students' work inspired by the books they read in the Teaching Trunks.  In Paul Regelbrugge's class at Finch Elementary in Spokane, students created picture books and ABC books about the books they read.  Below are pages from a few of the projects.

The students also sent letters sharing how the trunks have affected them.  Below are a few excerpts.

"In the Holocaust chest that you sent to Finch Elementary, I read Faces of Courage, by Sally Rogow... Thank you for helping me get that opportunity to read such courageous stories from some amazing people.  Reading these stories helped me understand how much simply standing up for someone being bullied can change the world... If I ever have the chance I will make an impact in the world. No. Even if I have to fight to make a difference. I WILL make a change."

"The book I chose to read was Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, and let me say I am amazed how much this book and suitcase you sent has changed me. It just makes me cringe when i think about all the people in the world who have had to face death, or life-threatening injuries, just because of their skin color, religion, or for even being handicapped or gay.  And because of you one of my new favorite quotes is "change begins with me."... Lowry's bok helped me realize that I need to embrace who I am and not be ashamed of the color of my skin [I am African American]."

"The story [Number the Stars by Lois Lowry] made me realize how terrible this war was.... It makes me sad how someone could do this.... I wish to help people and teach them about this terrible event. I hate to know about this but at least it helps us be able to teach this scary event. To teach kids and other people about it and be able to learn that I don't want to be a bystander."


Thank you Paul Regelbrugge and your students for their great work!

New Additions to the Holocaust Trunks - Artifacts

Creating a replica of an artifact from the Holocaust took serious consideration. However, the requests from teachers for tangible objects to help share the stories and history of the Holocaust encouraged us to pilot the use of replica artifacts in the Holocaust teaching trunks. We added one replica passport (from Heinz Schwartz) and one replica star to each of the trunks along with corresponding teaching materials that include more information about each of these objects and how to analyze artifacts.

Reserve your trunk now!

An Open Letter from a Teacher in Reardan

Schools today are financially limited in what types of outside materials they bring into their classrooms for their students. Our school in Reardan is no exception.

I wanted to do something with the Holocaust in my English classroom and the Holocaust Center provided the perfect opportunity for me to propose the unit to my school principal. The Writing contest and various articles and series found in the Seattle Times were enough to convince the principal that this program would benefit students in academic content and personal growth and development.

Over the past 4 years, I have utilized Ms. Kennedy and the Holocaust Center to help fill the holes in my Holocaust curriculum and to find ways to stimulate students. From the trunks, the Everyday Objects collections and lesson plans and the speakers bureau students are going beyond learning. So many of my students ask "how" and "why". When they have a chance to make use of the support from the Holocaust Center they gain a larger picture of the world in which they live.

We owe a thank you to the many donors who make the teaching trunks possible. That first year I reserved the teaching trunks and watched my students' interest magnify substantially as they were able to find history beyond the text book.

My students are influenced beyond measure when the speakers and Holocaust survivors have come into our school. Watching them connect and realize that they have a responsibility to share what they know both verbally and through action is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a teacher.

I have had the privilege to take a group of students to Washington DC these last 3 years and because of the Holocaust Center a must stop for my students is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This year, I had 6 girls, hold hands and pray in the Hall of Remembrance for those taken unjustly, for those who fought to free them, and for those left remembering. They lit a candle under the Auschwitz camp and when I asked them why there...they replied that one of our Speakers, Noemi Ban had loved ones who were taken from her at Auschwitz and they thought about them and Noemi as they progressed through the museum.

Upon leaving the museum, one student from another school said the Holocaust was too depressing to think about. My student replied that it was important to learn from the past and that the museum's purpose was not to make us feel bad but rather remind us that our actions, from little to large can impact the future significantly.

For students looking into the eyes of strong individuals who share their stories, the horror of the Holocaust is not only an event happening across the globe before their lifetime, these atrocities become real and the students a vessel for change. Students become our future and with the help and support of the Holocaust Center they will speak out, they will have a chance to make the right choice and they will never forget. Thank you.

Kristy Koch, Teacher, Reardan Middle School, Reardan

Thomas Blatt, Holocaust Survivor, Speaks to Students in Coeur d'Alene

Holocaust Survivor Shares His Story
By David Cole/Coeur d'Alene Press


COEUR d'ALENE -An 82-year-old Holocaust survivor who escaped the grip of a Nazi German extermination camp in 1943 told students Friday at Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy he speaks out about his experiences to tell the world what happened.

"When you come face to face with a survivor, history comes alive," Thomas "Toivi" Blatt told students. The school has 550 students in grades six through 12.

"Having been born into the wrong religion was a deadly sin," Blatt said.

Blatt participated in the revolt at the extermination camp Sobibor, which was located near the present-day eastern border of Poland. The camp had gas chambers and was sited near a railway line in a wooded, and thinly populated area, he said.

He broke out of Sobibor during the prisoner revolt in October 1943, when there were about 600 prisoners in the camp. Approximately 300 prisoners escaped during the revolt, as they killed guards, cut through barbed wire, and ran through the minefield surrounding the camp, he said.

Many were killed by guards, gunmen perched in towers on the compound, and land mines.
Blatt, as he sought freedom, was betrayed by a farmer who had hid him for a time, shooting the boy in the face. The bullet remains lodged in Blatt's jaw to this day, he said.

Blatt was 15 years old when he arrived at the camp, and was there for six months, he said. Today, Blatt lives in Santa Barbara, Calif.

He told the students to "accept, understand other groups," regardless of their religion, race or other differences.

In difficult times, he said, "Don't look on someone else to blame." ...Read complete article



From the Ashes of Sobibor - Thomas Blatt's Memoir
(available to borrow from the Holocaust Center's library and included in the High School Teaching Trunks)

Hester K., Holocaust Survivor, Speaks to Students at Lake Washington Girls Middle School

My girlfriend was my first rescuer. She was all of 15 years old. I will always remember her courage.

- Hester K. was 13 years old when her hometown in Holland was occupied by the Nazis in 1942.

(Photo: Hester, back row in the middle in a blue sweater, at Lake Washington Girls Middle School)

Yesterday Hester spoke to Lindsey Mutschler's students at Lake Washington Girls Middle School in Seattle.

Ms. Mutschler arranges for a survivor from the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau to come and speak to her students each year. This year they also used a Holocaust teaching trunk and plan to (again) participate in the Holocaust Center's Writing and Art Contest. (Each year LWGMS has seen an overwhelming number of winning entries.)

The Holocaust Center thanks Ms. Lindsey Mutschler and the LWGMS for their incredible work and commitment to Holocaust and genocide education.

Thomas Blatt, Survivor of Sobibor, Testifies Today

Thomas Blatt, one of only 53 survivors of the death camp Sobibor, lived for many years in Seattle and participated in the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau. He is testifying today against a former guard at Sobibor.

Read article in the Boston Globe

More on Thomas Blatt:

Blatt, Thomas Toivi. From the Ashes of Sobibor: A Story of Survival. Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1997.

This book is a glimpse of Jewish life through the eyes of a twelve year old boy. The events of his separation from his family, six months in the Sobibor death camp, taking part in a successful uprising and finally the five years eluding Nazis and anti-Semitic nationalists.

Blatt, Thomas. Sobibor: The Forgotten Revolt - A Survivor's Report. H.E.P.; 1 edition, 1997.

"Escape from Sobibor" (DVD)
1999. Starring Rutger Hauer and Alan Arkin. Based in part on Thomas Blatt's story.

The above items are available to borrow from the Holocaust Center's library. Copies of From the Ashes of Sobibor can also be found in the Holocaust Center's high school teaching trunks.

Thomas Blatt's story and artifacts have been included in several of the Holocaust Center's materials, including the "Everyday Objects: Artifacts from Washington State Holocaust Survivors" poster series and the "Studying the Holocaust: Resistance, Rescue & Survival" Seattle Times Newspapers In Education series.

Holocaust Center Struts Its Stuff at the AWSP/WASA Conference in Spokane

The Holocaust Center's booth was a busy one at the AWSP/WASA Conference this past Sunday and Monday at the Spokane Convention Center. The conference attracted 600 superintendents, principals, and administrators from all over the state.

Lauren (the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau Coordinator and Office Manager) and I packed the car full of an impressive collection of the Center's displays, resources, and program information. We then drove out to Spokane for a whirlwind two days of meeting new people and re-connecting with others.

Thank you to everyone who visited our booth. We look forward to working with you.

-Ilana Cone Kennedy, Director of Education

Nooksack Valley High School hosts Holocaust Survivor

On Wednesday, June 3, over 300 students at Nooksack Valley High School had the opportunity to listen to Noemi B., a Holocaust survivor, share her story.

Teacher Kirsten Jensen has done extensive Holocaust studies with her students. Kirsten has used the Holocaust Center's teaching trunks for the past two years and organized this program for her school. The Holocaust Center has selected Kirsten as one of two teachers to attend the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (JFR) Summer Insitute in New York at the end of June.

A special thank you to Kirsten for showing me her classroom (and letting me take a photo of her) and telling me more about how and what she teaches.

-Ilana Cone Kennedy, Director of Education

Bellevue Sunrise Rotary

In 2006, the Bellevue Sunrise Rotary Club underwrote a Holocaust Teaching Trunk. Since that time, their trunk, a middle school trunk, has been used by over 2000 students!

Today, I had the opporutunity to tell the Bellevue Sunrise Rotarians about the difference their contribution has made.

Thank you Bellevue Sunrise Rotary for your support!

-Ilana Cone Kennedy, Director of Education

Picture: Bellevue Sunrise Rotarians (and Ilana Cone Kennedy, Director of Education) with a Holocaust Teaching Trunk.

7000 Students Use Holocaust Teaching Trunks & Classroom Sets of Books

[The students] learned life lessons about bullying, hope, love, survival, war, good vs evil and caring.
- Teacher, Ridgeline Middle School, Yelm

7000 students used the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center's Holocaust Teaching Trunks and classroom sets of books in the 2008-2009 school year!

This was the first year the classroom sets of books have been available - they were met with enthusiasm. A classroom set of books includes 30 copies of a title, a related dvd, a teacher guide, and related activities for the classroom. Titles available are All But My Life, Diary of Anne Frank, Hana's Suitcase, Night, and Number the Stars.

16 Holocaust teaching trunks criss-cross the state of Washington throughout the year. 81 schools used the trunks and classroom sets this year!

Reservations for the 2009-10 school year now being accepted for trunks and classroom sets! Reserve your materials now!

Thank you for sending the Holocaust teaching trunk. Thank you for letting us never forget. A million thank yous!

- Student, Meridian Middle School, Kent