From a teacher...

Last week at school several recent graduates came by to say hi and told me how much ahead of their peers they were in the field of the Holocaust and genocide studies. I think several just thought it was normal to have the kind of classes you and I provide.

K. (a student) came by also. She had declared her major at NYU - genocide studies!!! She wants to work at an NGO to solve local conflicts in developing nations. Ok, I almost cried when she told me that... Some days I wonder about teaching and if I make an impact at all. Many times I am simply guessing at what the teens will respond to. I do my best, but still I wonder where I could do better - it keeps me up at night. But then, just when I need it, a student will come by and tell me how much something we talked about in class meant to them. In K.'s case, it was the movie "The Courage to Care." She was truly touched by the tragic stories, but filled with hope at what one person can do - if they act.

You and I and providing the experiences that allow students to cultivate the moral responsibility to respond in the moment and not be a bystander. And today, when we both celebrate the season of miracles in our faiths, I thank our God for the blessing he has given me in the Center.

Nick Coddington

- Nick Coddington is a teacher at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma. Prior to his position as a teacher, he was a career intelligence officer for NATO where he specialized on conflict intervention and conflict resolution strategies. His work in the Balkans from 1994-2005 provided him with a first-hand account of the complexities with predicting and responding to genocide. Nick is an Alfred Lerner Fellow with the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, and has won numerous awards for his teaching including the the 2007 Robert I. Goldman Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education, the 2008 Spirit of Anne Frank Award, and the 2009 Facing History and Ourselves Margot Stern Strom Teaching Award. Nick serves on the Holocaust Center’s Education Advisory Committee and is a frequent presenter at the Holocaust Center’s teacher seminars.

Nick will be giving a presenation on rescue during the Holocaust at the upcoming teacher seminar on January 29 in Seattle. One of his former students will also be sharing an interactive website she created and used as her entry for the History Day Contest. She placed 4th in the region. More information on this seminar can be found at www.wsherc.org.

Update: Auschwitz sign found

Sign Stolen from Auschwitz is Found

Posted Monday, December 21, 2009

The sign was found cut into pieces in northern Poland. 5 men, in their 20's and 30's have been accused.

Read article in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/20/world/AP-EU-Poland-Auschwitz-Sign-Stolen.html?_r=2&hp


Theives Steal Aushwitz "Work Sets You Free Sign"
Posted Saturday, December 19, 2009


Thieves stole the notorious sign bearing the cynical Nazi slogan "Work Sets You Free" from the entrance to the former Auschwitz death camp Friday, cutting through rows of barbed wire and metal bars before escaping.









Read article - printed today in the Seattle Times
By VANESSA GERA and RYAN LUCAS
The Associated Press:


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2010544843_sign19.html?prmid=obinsite

AS #1 Loves Bob H.

Bob H., a member of our Speakers Bureau, spoke last week at AS #1. Approximately thirty 7th and 8th grade students heard his story of survival during the Holocaust. After the presentation, Bob sent us a delightful email:

This morning, I gave a presentation to the class at Northgate's AS#1...The kids were marvelous and I don't believe there is another class in the county with such diversity. It was cold in the class, thus the kids kept their hats on, it was like carnival... One had a big fur hat with ears sticking up, looked like a bear.

After the class I had to sign autographs for all kids. Never understood, what they do with those scraps of paper with my name.

During one of the previous history classes, they learned to do "timelines", and each student made one of my life. It starts with my birth and ends: "Comes to visit our class!". In a nutshell that is my life...They gave me the copies! One of the kids told me that he had decided to go to the US Naval Academy to become an officer.

Loved it.

Give thoughtfully

Stumped on what gift to give to a teacher, relative, or friend this holiday season? Make a tribute contribution to the Holocaust Center and we will send the recipient a Voices for Humanity card acknowledging your gift.

~or~

A set of colorful Writing and Art Contest Cards or captivating Artifact Cards makes the perfect gift to a friend. Great for anyone who wants to learn more about the Holocaust, local survivor memoirs are also for sale.

100% of the proceeds from tribute cards and greeting card sets goes to the Holocaust Center.

Click here to to make a tribute.

Click here to browse the Center's store.

Changing Lives: How one student was affected by hearing a Holocaust survivor

Joseph J., wasn't sure what to expect when he learned that a Holocaust survivor would be coming to speak to his school in Montana.

Klaus S., a survivor of Auschwitz and member of the Holocaust Center's speakers bureau, shared his story with the Montana school back in 2001.

Last month, Klaus received a hand-written letter in the mail from Joseph:

October 4, 2009

Dear Mr. Stern,

I am writing you to say thank you. When I was a junior in high school, about 9 years ago, you came to tell us all your story of survival during the Holocaust. I just want to tell you that you became a personal hero of mine that day. You taught me that life is a precious gift from God and that love endures all and neither should be taken for granted.

Words really cannot describe how much I appreciate you sharing this part of your life with me and everyone else that day. Education is the key to preventing atrocities like this from happening again and you inspired me to dedicate a large portion of my life to studying the Holocaust and stories like yours so that someday I can share that knowledge with future minds.

Before I end this short letter I would again like to say from the bottom of my heart Thank You, Thank you for the gift of knowledge, thank you for sharing your story with so many people and touching so many lives.

Sincerely,

Joseph J.

Eva C. speaks to students at Highline High School

Last Monday I traveled with a member of our Speakers Bureau, Eva C., to Highline High School in Burien. Eva's presentation is unique in that she performs a play of her life titled, "A Staged Memory." I and the 30 high schools students were truly impressed with Eva's performance - indeed at times we felt we were with her in 1930s Germany!

Often times students ask our speakers, "Did you ever see Hitler?" Eva is the first speaker I have heard who could answer yes. As part of her play, Eva reenacted how she and her mother apprehensively stared into a store window to avoid looking at Adolf Hitler in a parade; however, they still could see his reflection.

Bravo to Eva and all the members of the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau!

-Lauren Bianchi, Office Manager and Speakers Bureau Coordinator

Choose-Your-Own-Adventure: Student creates interactive biography of Oskar Schinder

Katie W. from Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, knew little about Oskar Schindler.

"Everyone has seen the movie, 'Schindler's List'," she explains, "but few people actually know much about this person. I wanted to create something that would get people involved and would show them that he had many options open to him. He had to make decisions each step of the way."

Katie's teacher at Charles Wright Academy, Nick Coddington, is credited with giving her the time and inspiration to create this project, which was entered in the National History Day Contest. Katie won the regional competition and placed 4th in the state.

Katie recently presented her work to teachers at the Holocaust Center's teacher training workshop in Tacoma last week. Her outstanding work, her dedication to this project, and her creativity greatly impressed everyone.

Katie created and designed the entire website herself by writing the html code. All of her facts have been checked and double-checked. She provides links to definitions and biographies and even includes short video clips to enhance the story and experience.

http://www.hemispheredm.com/~oskar/

Help Us Receive $25,000!

Have Facebook? Want to support the Holocaust Center?
The top-100 vote getters will receive $25,000!

Do you know the definition of the Holocaust?

Look in textbooks, in the dictionary, and you will find a myriad of different definitions - most of which are incomplete, and some are just plain inaccurate.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, generally regarded as one of the authorities on the Holocaust, officially defines the Holocaust as:

The Holocaust was the state-sponsored, systematic persecution and destruction of European Jewish people by the Nazis and their collaborators between the years 1933-1945. While Jews were the primary target of Nazi hatred, the Nazis also persecuted and murdered Roma and Sinti (Gypsies), homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Poles and people with disabilities. Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Of these 6 million, 1.5 million were children.

How do textbooks define the Holocaust? We'd love to know the definitions you find (and the sources in which you find them). Please considering sharing them here!

Website resources used nationwide

Just yesterday we received two requests – one from Alabama and one from Kentucky – for resources created by two of our Master Teachers - Jo C. and Julie S.

To view the resources from these outstanding educators and others, visit http://www.wsherc.org/teaching/handouts.aspx (You will see Jo’s lessons here if you scroll down a little bit).

These are only two of the many requests we have received for these materials from around the country. Other places include NJ, TN, AK, and others. It’s wonderful to know that when teachers are looking for materials on Holocaust education, they are finding our site and using the materials we are providing!

If you look at our new facebook fanpage, you will also see that people from around the country are becoming fans.

Frieda S. at PLU

Yesterday Co-Executive Director Delila Simon and I had the pleasure of accompanying Frieda S. to a speaking engagement at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. Frieda shared her story of survival during the Holocaust with 30 students who are taking a Holocaust course at the college.

Frieda told of her experiences as a "Mischling" (mixed-race) who was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt camp. The students and myself were amazed by Frieda's descriptions of how she and other prisoners were forced to portray the camp as a comfortable and desirable place when the International Red Cross visited, and the true conditions under which Frieda was forced to live.

To read more about Frieda's incredible experiences, view her short biography here.

"Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing" - What teachers are saying...

Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing
by Dr. James Waller

Over 50 educators turned out last week to hear Dr. James Waller speak on the topic of his book at Seattle University. The program was organized by the Holocaust Center in partnership with Seattle University. Here's what a few of the participants had to say:

Everyone should give some attention to James Waller’s work on “the ordinariness of extraordinary evil” and his investigation into how it is possible for ordinary people to commit horrible crimes. It has been common in the past half century to explain events such as the Holocaust by locating them outside of time and history and simply saying that such things are an evil beyond human comprehension. Although that approach may offer a means of coping with such atrocities, it does not help us to understand how they can occur. Waller approaches the problem from a different angle and argues that genocide is not simply the work of monsters but rather the monstrous work of ordinary people. Specifically, he argues that we, as humans, are all capable of such actions, depending on the way we are socialized to understand the world, “the Other,” and the concept of cruelty. Given the reality of ongoing violence against ethnic, religious, and cultural groups that exists in our world today, Waller’s work is critical to gaining an understanding of how such events can literally take place.

- Steve R., Seattle Academy

I read Dr. Waller’s article and here is my response. (I hope I am correct in sending it to you rather than going directly to the blog). I was fascinated by the provocative angle he is approaching the Holocaust from. The notion that it takes ordinary individuals to do horrible things is what can make the topic so engaging for my students. As soon as we see ourselves capable of evil we are no longer capable of dismissing the topic as “something from the past.” I would be interested in developing lessons that help students see how collectivist values, a societies authority orientation and its approach to social dominance relate to their everyday lives. In other words, how the beginnings of “perpetrators” are around us every day.
- Travis F., Kent Meridian

I'm just going to reflect back on a quote offered that evening, by Winston Churhill, I believe. It was, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." Before I went to the class that night, I noted on Facebook that I was going. I thought to myself that some people may think, "Why in the world is she going to a class about the perpetrators of genocide and mass killing?" Why indeed? There are other workshops through which to earn clock hours. But it's Churhill's quote that gives me an answer, or at least one possible answer, along with others. It's that we all must be interested in "war", because it IS interested in us. Its ripples and crashing waves are all around us and we are so affected, whether we know it or not, spiritually, psychologically, economically, physically. We can not be bystanders, especially in the ever shrinking world, or we are really no different than those who look on in the photographs from the Holocaust. Our starting point is awareness, then building from there.
- Rikke C., Seattle

The lecture was fascinating! I had never thought much about the idea of how or what specifically constituted genocide or the concept the human profile of those who readily participate. Dr. Waller's talk was so interesting and certainly gave me much to ponder. Great inspiration for deeper thinking! More importantly, it provides an interesting topic for secondary-level discussion related to World affairs and conflicts. Thank you for setting this up!
~Judy C., Kent Mountain View Academy

I found James Waller’s lecture on genocide particularly pertinent to my teaching about social justice issues. This year, I’ll be teaching books such as Maus and Cry, the Beloved Country. The fact that, as he quoted Churchill, “the story of the human race is war,” is evident in the books we teach. This event helped me reflect on how I can help students engage in dialogue around issues of violence, all the ways in which humans participate in it, and how that shapes our society in lasting ways.

- Carolyn H., Roosevelt High School, Seattle

Memorializing Victims of T-4 Program: Wenatchee teacher in Germany writes about her students' experiences

By Kathleen Ralf, a teacher at the International School in Stuttgart, Germany. Prior to teaching in Germany, Kathleen taught at Easmont High School in East Wenatchee, WA. Photos by Jens Knickmeier.

This past month, school children from around Stuttgart memorialized the thousands that were gassed at Schloss Grafeneck as part of Germany's T-4 Program. The T-4 program advocated "euthenasia" for people who were physically or mentally disabled.

Kathleen and her 7th grade students participated in the memorial. The students painted a purple line on the pavement, following the route the busses took from Stuttgart to the Schloss.

“From here, all it looked like was a line. A solid, flat, purple line. I didn’t realize how significant it was.” Gabrielle M. (California)

We are all familiar with what happened during the Holocaust, but we often forget that it was not just the Jews who were deported to camps. Much work is being done here in Germany to recognize those forgotten ones of the Final Solution: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Gays and Lesbians, Gypsies, Handicapped and the Mentally Disabled. Today part of our 7th grade class at the International School of Stuttgart got to take part in a memorial project called “Spur der Erinnerung” which means in German “Trace of Memory”.

Between the October of 1939 and December of 1940 over 10,000 physically and mentally disabled were gassed at Schloss Grafeneck as a part of Hitler’s euthanasia program.

Disabled residents in Stuttgart were picked up by bus and then taken through the countryside, 75 kilometers away, to Grafeneck near Tübingen. There they were asked to go into the showers and were then gassed. These citizens served as a test group for a system that would later be adopted by the Reich for use in other camps. Grafeneck was used for only one year and was later closed due to public pressure.

Over the last two days, our students, along with other students from the region, memorialized this act of intolerance by painting a purple line along the pavement from Schloss Grafeneck to Stuttgart Center.

It was cold and looking like rain, but our students were dressed warm and ready to go. They were handed their orange safety vests, paint-brushes, and stencils. They were full of energy and excitement as they coated themselves and the street with purple paint. Nikita Prasad, a student from India remarked “I felt very amazed that we got to paint part of the line but I also felt very sad thinking about these people that suffered and died.”

This was the reaction most students had; they had fun doing this act of memory together but at the same time were struck by the meaning of what they were doing.

“We all hope that when you see that line that we painted you too will also remember.” Claudia O. (Texas).

One of our first year students, Keita S. from Japan, felt this way “The mark of the line has two meanings: One is a hope that we never repeat the Nazi’s dictatorship and the other is the mark which is engraved on people’s hearts.”

For other students painting the line was much more personal, “My grandpa’s sister was handicapped, but her family hid her to when Hitler and the Nazi’s came, so she was saved.” Judith Z. (Germany)

“It is very special to me because my family is from Poland and the Nazi’s killed many Polish people” For Alex M. (Germany) this was special in two ways: a way to remember those in his family that were lost in Poland but also a way to be proud of his home town, Tübingen, for commemorating this tragedy.

“When we washed the paint off our hands and we were obsessed with our wet painted clothes. We didn’t remember. Only when I glanced out the window and saw the line did I remember.” Gabrielle M. (California)

If you would like more information on the Spur der Erinnerung the official website is located at http://www.spur-der-erinnerung.de/.

Obama Set To Sign Bill Widening Hate Crime Laws

NPR
By Ari Shapiro

Click here to see a map of hate crime laws by state

At a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden Wednesday afternoon, President Obama plans to sign a bill into law that was more than a decade in the making. It is an update to the federal hate crimes statute that Congress initially passed in 1968.

For the first time, the law that had previously protected people from attacks motivated by race, religion or ethnicity will include gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people.

Read full story

Darfur: Debate Over Obama's Sudan Policy - TIME

Darfur Activists Frustrated with Obama's Sudan Policy

TIME
By Daniel Pepper

Photo: Sudanese fighters of the Justice and Equality Movement on the Sudan-Chad border in northwest Darfur Stuart Price / AFP / Getty

.....(excerpt) - On Oct. 19 the White House released its much delayed Sudan policy. It proposes a series of "incentives and pressures" designed to encourage the government of Sudan to end the slaughter of civilians in Darfur and credibly implement the 2005 peace agreement between the Arab north and the animist and Christian south. While the exact carrots and sticks remain classified, advocacy groups have responded to the overall approach with cautious optimism. The Save Darfur Coalition released a statement saying it cautiously welcomes the new policy but that "its success will depend on implementation backed by sustained presidential leadership." ...

Read article

Article includes links to related articles on the topic, photos of Darfur and Sudan, and a video.