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.

Students write letters to synagogues defaced with graffiti

Students at Alternative School #1 in Seattle wrote letters to the congregants of the synagogues defaced with antisemitic graffiti.

(See entry, "Swastikas painted on Seattle synagogues.")

Josephine Cripps is one of the Holocaust Center's master teachers and frequent consultant to the Holocaust Center's educational programming and materials.

Excerpts from the students' letters:

Dear Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation,

My name is S. and I'm in the Holocaust studies class at Alternative School #1. Recently my teacher Jo gave us an article to read. I read the article and learned that two of your synagogues had been defaces by images of swastikas. I also learned that some of the nearby houses had also been vandalized. This fact outrages me...This sort of thing should not be happening in Seattle or anywhere else....


Dear Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation,

...I never really thought that antisemitism existed in Washington until now. I am so sorry. I know that if someone painted hate symbols on my home I would fee awful. Not only would I feel awful, but also scared. I wish that I could say that I know what its like, but I don't. And I can't even start thinking of how you must feel. I am outraged. It makes me so upset that people think it's okay to disrespect others, but in such a way like this...well, it's absolutely horrible. I want you to know that you are in my prayers...

Dear Bikur Cholim,

My name is D. I have recently heard about the swastika graffiti that has vandalized your synagogue and I am agitated by that, but also deeply sorry. I am studying the Holocaust in school so I know what that symbol symbolizes. I am really, really sorry. I do hope that it doesn't happen to anyone again....


Dear Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation,

Though I haven't experienced any hate crimes against me, I can only imagine how it feels having swastikas painted on your synagogue and homes. It is most likely a terrifying and infuriating experience. Keep in mind that though there may be ignorant people who do uncivil acts of hatred towards your religion, lots of people in Seattle care about this issue and re more than willing to support you, including me.


Dear Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation,

My name is J. I am writing to let you know I stand by your side. I live right in your neighborhood. I feel that you need support. So you will get it. I am studying the Holocaust at Alternative School #1. I will stop at nothing to help. I will write to see how you're doing, and if you choose you can write back. I am one of your neighbors. My twin and I will keep an eye out and report anything suspicious to the police.

In the Seattle Times - "Seattle to get Anne Frank sapling"

In today's Seattle Times!

Seattle to get Anne Frank Sapling!

Holocaust Center receives an Anne Frank Tree Sapling!

The Holocaust Center is one of 11 institutions in the country to receive an Anne Frank Tree Sapling! Read about it in today's New York Times!

For Anne Frank's Tree, 11 New Places to Bloom

The sapling, applied for by the Holocaust Center and Seattle Parks and Recreation, will be planted in Volunteer Park in Seattle. Anne Frank's tree is a symbol of tolerance.

More details coming soon!

Fan Page on Facebook!

Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center

Promote Your Page Too

Become a Fan! Please join the Holocaust Center's Fan Page on Facebook!

The Holocaust Center's Facebook group will be closing November 1, 2009. The new Fan Page will make it easier for individuals to stay in touch, connect, and stay-up-to-date on Holocaust and genocide related news and events, both locally and globally.

The Holocaust Center at the WLMA Conference, Yakima

"Everywhere I turned, people were wearing the Holocaust Center's new stickers - 'Change begins with me.' Thank you librarians for sharing this very important message!"

The Holocaust Center thanks the many librarians who stopped by the Holocaust Center's table at the WLMA (Washington Library Media Association) Conference in Yakima.

The conference was attended by 600 teacher-librarians. Over 2 days, hundreds of the participants stopped by the Holocaust Center's table to learn about the Center's programs and resources, picked up the Holocaust Center's new "Change begins with me" stickers, and spoke with Ilana Cone Kennedy, Director of Education.

We look forward to an opportunity to work with you! Thank you!

Marek Edelman, Commander in Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Dies at 90

NEW YORK TIMES
By MICHAEL T. KAUFMAN
Published: October 3, 2009

Read full article

Marek Edelman, a cardiologist who was the last surviving commander of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising against the Germans, died Friday in Warsaw. He was 90.
...

Dr. Edelman was one of a handful of young leaders who in April 1943 led a force of 220 poorly armed young Jewish men and women in a desperate and hopeless struggle against the Germans.
He was 20 when the Germans overran Poland in 1939, and in the months that followed he watched as they turned his Warsaw neighborhood into a ghetto, cutting it off from the rest of the city with brick walls, barbed wire and armed sentries. By early 1942, as many as 500,000 Jews had been herded into the area.
...

The Polish title of the book Hana Krall wrote about Dr. Edelman could be translated as “To Finish Before God,” with the implicit idea being one of racing with God. But when the English translation was published by Henry Holt and Company, it was called “Shielding the Flame,” a reference to a passage in which Dr. Edelman explained his philosophy both in the ghetto and later as a doctor.

“God is trying to blow out the candle, and I’m quickly trying to shield the flame, taking advantage of his brief inattention,” he said. “To keep the flame flickering, even if only for a little while longer than he would wish.”

Read full article from the New York Times

National Archives and Footnote.com Announce New Digital Holocaust Collection

Collection includes Holocaust-related photos and records available online for first time

Washington DC and Lindon, UT –September 29, 2009

The National Archives and Records Administration and Footnote.com today announced the release of the internet’s largest Interactive Holocaust Collection. For the first time ever, over one million Holocaust-related records – including millions of names and 26,000 photos from the National Archives– will be available online. The collection can be viewed at: http://www.footnote.com/holocaust/ .

“We cannot afford to forget this period in our history,” said Dr. Michael Kurtz, Assistant Archivist of the United States and author of America and the Return of Nazi Contraband: The Recovery of Europe's Cultural Treasures. “Working with Footnote, these records will become more widely accessible, and will help people now and in the future learn more about the events and impact of the Holocaust.”

Included among the National Archives records available online at Footnote.com are:

• Concentration camp registers and documents from Dachau, Mauthausen, Auschwitz, and Flossenburg


• The “Ardelia Hall Collection” of records relating to the Nazi looting of Jewish possessions, including looted art


• Captured German records including deportation and death lists from concentration camps
  Nuremberg War Crimes Trial proceedings

Access to the collection will be available for free on Footnote.com through the month of October.
Read full article

Movie review: Into the Arms of Strangers

Although made in 2000, I just recently watched the film Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport. The Kindertransport refers to the rescue operation of 10,000 Jewish children in 1938-1939. These children that were facing Hitler's persecution were allowed to leave German-occupied territories and travel by train to Great Britain. There, they were placed in foster homes or hostels.

Into the Arms of Strangers interviews a few of these child survivors. They recount their memories of being separated from their parents and welcomed into a foreign country. Poignant moments are when the survivors recall the joy of knowing that non-Jewish peers would play with them, feeling love from their foster parents, or being reunited with their families. Of course, many of the parents who could not leave Germany perished in concentration camps and the film shows the sadness of the children who, only after years of separation, realized that they would never see their parents again.

Into the Arms of Strangers won a 2000 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and it is easy to understand why. The archival footage alone makes the film worth seeing. A free study guide to the film can be found at http://www.intothearmsofstrangers.com/studyguide. This DVD is available in the Holocaust Center's library.

-Lauren Bianchi, Office Manager & Speakers Bureau Coordinator

Teacher response to Holocaust Center's editorial in the Seattle Times

We received an overwhelming amount of support for our September 17th editorial in the Seattle Times. One of the teachers who uses our resources in her classroom wrote:

This was a very well written editorial. I shared this with my classes as it ties in well with every unit we are doing...We had Carl Wilkins here Monday, we are watching a Rosa Parks video from the teaching tolerance program and we are reading novels which have some issues of segregation and hate-crimes. The students are disappointed to hear these things happening around us but they are becoming proactive by voicing their concerns in our school as well when they see actions of bullying or hatred. Thank you for sending me the article to share and also for sending the message that Hatred is not supported or tolerated. Have a wonderful day.

-Teacher, Reardan-Edwall Junior High

Swastikas painted on Seattle synagogues highlight need for education, tolerance

Combating Hate with Knowledge
The Seattle Times
September 17, 2009

The swastikas painted on two synagogues in Seattle's Seward Park neighborhood are a stark reminder that hate and prejudice live. Guest columnists Laurie Cohen and Delila Simon say the vandalism is a reminder that people must denounce hatred when they see it.

By Laurie Warshal Cohen and Delila Simon
Special to The Seattle Times

WITH a splash of paint, in the dark of night, some youngsters in Seattle have reminded us that hate crimes, ignorance and intolerance are ever-present, even in our own backyard. Swastikas painted on two synagogues recently in Seward Park are a stark reminder that each of us has the responsibility to shine a light on prejudice and hate whenever and wherever we encounter it.

The swastika graffiti drawn on the synagogues in one of our own Seattle neighborhoods challenges us as a community and as individuals to confront the roots of hate crimes such as this one. It is not enough to tolerate our differences; we must learn to respect our diversity. We must learn to be the ones who stand up to hate and to violence.

Sad to say, the experience of such intolerance can be found every day in almost every area of our lives. Students come up against bullying in our schools. The Muslim community has suffered a narrow-minded anger and prejudice since the tragedy of 9/11. In recent news reports, we see instances of intolerance with anger and hateful speech drowning out thoughtful and reasoned disagreement or discussion.

Whether in the blatant form of swastikas or the more subtle offensive comment, the origin is the same: intolerance. And if we do not stand up when we see it, and teach our children how unacceptable it is, we all remain in the dark.

Since the Holocaust, the swastika has become a symbol of what could happen if hatred is fostered and left unchecked. No matter who painted the swastikas — no matter what motive — they picked this symbol and they selected synagogues to display it. Symbols are powerful in our culture. This one has tragic historical meaning for humanity, but especially for Holocaust survivors who witnessed swastikas scribbled on the shops owned by their parents in Germany on Kristallacht — November 9-10, 1938.

After the recent shooting of Stephen Tyrone Johns at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., museum director Sara J. Bloomfield made the following statement: "The Holocaust did not begin with mass murder. It began with hate. The Holocaust reminds us of the dangers of indifference and unchecked hate — and that each of us has a responsibility to stand up to it."

We all know the tragic consequences of bigotry, prejudice and hatred. The Washington State Holocaust Education Center's mission of teaching and learning for humanity puts it on the front lines of educating our young people. With a multipronged approach, we help students study the Holocaust in the context of human rights and genocide.

As an outcome of our educational efforts we have witnessed students saying they will no longer accept bullying in their classes. They know the difference one person can make. A Lynnwood High School student stated, "After studying the Holocaust and hearing a Holocaust survivor speak, I feel it is my job to help others. I can't just let things happen anymore."

Teaching about the Holocaust is a springboard for connecting lessons of the past to current issues of intolerance in our classrooms. Learning about prejudice and the roots of genocide are other important lessons. Our children will inherit a more diverse world. They are depending on us to create pathways toward a more inclusive society. At the Holocaust Center, we know this can be done through education.

We know that the slogan "Never Again" has fallen short of reality as we are living in an age of modern genocide. We should have learned by now that we cannot wait as bystanders or victims, we must act. We must teach our children to stand up for what is right, for the betterment of our community, our region and our world. We must denounce hatred when we see it and embrace the diversity of our fellow human beings with whom we share this planet.

Laurie Warshal Cohen, left, and Delila Simon are co-executive directors, Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center.

Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation strives to stop genocide

The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation
AIPR's mission: The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation seeks to prevent genocide through the training and education of mid-level policy makers from around the world.

Dr. James Waller, an affiliated scholar with the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, and author of Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing, will be speaking in Seattle on October 21 and as the keynote speaker at the Holocaust Center's annual fundraiser luncheon on October 22.

The Daily Tell
Article By Alex Zucker, Guest Writer
September 15, 2009

It has been more than sixty years since the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and declared genocide a crime. But tragically, genocide continues around the world. Some believe there will never be any way to stop it. But the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, a nonprofit group committed to genocide awareness and human rights networking, believes this mass murder can be prevented.

Founded with the support of the International Auschwitz Council and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, the AIPR began its mission in May 2008 with a one-week seminar in Auschwitz, for policy makers from twelve countries and every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Eighteen scholars shared their knowledge on the history of genocide and the elements of genocide prevention. The aim was to give government officials the tools to identify conditions when genocide is likely and implement policies to avoid it, as well as to build an international network of professionals dedicated to stopping genocide. Read more...

UN agency names Cambodian genocide museum a key historical archive

UN agency names Cambodian genocide museum a key historical archive

The Canadian Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia's Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, formerly a prison and torture centre operated by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, has been declared by the U.N. to be an archive of worldwide significance for its historical documents.

The Cambodian government and U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO - opened a meeting Monday to establish a national committee to oversee the museum's operation as a newly designated "Memory of the World" site. A UNESCO meeting at the end of July in Bridgetown, Barbados, named the museum as one of 35 archives worldwide added to a list of almost 200 that are exceptional historical repositories.

The museum, formerly a high school in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, was turned into S-21 prison after the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. Of the estimated 16,000 men, women and children who passed through its gates, only a handful survived. An estimated 1.7 million people died as a result of the communist Khmer Rouge's radical policies from 1975 to 1979.

The museum's archive includes 4,186 confessions - often falsely given by prisoners under torture - 6,226 biographies of prisoners, 6,147 photographic prints and negatives of prisoners and other items. Read more...

President Obama's Speech to Students

http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama - Back to School Event
Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning....keep reading...

Madonna Booed in Bucharest for Defending Gypsies

August 27, 2009
By ALINA WOLFE MURRAY, Associated Press Writer Alina Wolfe Murray, Associated Press Writer

BUCHAREST, Romania – At first, fans politely applauded the Roma performers sharing a stage with Madonna. Then the pop star condemned widespread discrimination against Roma, or Gypsies — and the cheers gave way to jeers.

The sharp mood change that swept the crowd of 60,000, who had packed a park for Wednesday night's concert, underscores how prejudice against Gypsies remains deeply entrenched across Eastern Europe.

Despite long-standing efforts to stamp out rampant bias, read more...

Holocaust Center meets Superintendent Randy Dorn

Laurie Warshal Cohen and Dee Simon, the Holocaust Center's Co-executive Directors, and Ilana Cone Kennedy, Director of Education, had the opportunity to meet today with Superintendent Randy Dorn.

The drive from Seattle to OSPI in Olympia was a quick one. Robert Harkins, Deputy Superintendent, joined the meeting.

Dee, Laurie and Ilana stressed the importance of Holocaust education and the increasing demand by teachers for resources, programs, and professional development.

Superintendent Dorn appeared impressed and supportive.

The Holocaust Center's Education Advisory Committee meets tonight.

International Day of Remembrance for Roma Sinti

The International Romani Union (Representing Roma and Sinti) have called Sunday 2 August 2009 as International Day of Remembrance for the Roma/Sinti who suffered "the devouring", and who suffer throughout Europe today. Read more...

Creating Master Teachers

Three teachers from Washington State, selected by the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center, attended the prestigious Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (JFR)Summer Institute this year in New York. These three teachers will join the more than 25 JFR alumni in our state.

The Holocaust Center is one of the JFR's 13 "Centers of Excellence." These Centers from across the country are invited to select teachers to attend the Summer Institute. Each year the Holocaust Center selects two or three teachers to attend this program. After an intensive week of Holocaust study and teacher training with leading scholars and educators, teachers return to their schools to share what they have learned with students and colleagues. JFR Alumni lead sessions at the Holocaust Center's local teacher seminars, serve as advisors for new teachers, and are the backbone of the Holocaust Center's Education Advisory Committee.

Attending the JFR this year (2009):

Kirsten Jensen, Nooksack Valley High School, Everson
Kelly Wheeler, Spanaway Lake High School, Spanaway
Debbie Dempsey, Principal, Kent Mountain View Academy, Des Moines

I learned that in my own small way, I am involved in a resistance organization, one that fights discrimination, one that fights prejudice, one that fights racism, and one that fights hatred of any kind and at any level. That is what being an Alfred Lerner Fellow (JFR Alumnus) means to me. And trust me, I do not take this charge lightly. - Kelly Wheeler

Every year I teach reading and writing skills through a Tolerance unit and after attending this seminar I have many more ideas and a much thorough understanding of this period of time and the social, cultural and historical background. The week was organized with lectures by scholars and professors and followed by small group breakout sessions to discuss how we might integrate or teach these ideas in our classrooms. Both were very beneficial.

I learned a lot from the week and have decided to embark on a year of Thematic Units in my reading and writing workshop classroom. Instead of focusing on just one unit on Holocaust education, I will thread these ideas and lessons of the Holocaust throughout the entire year. For example, some of my units will include: Reading for Life Experiences, Cultural Perspectives, The Individual and Society, Historical Perspectives, The Writer’s Point of View, Outsiders and the “Other”, and Overcoming Obstacles. Thank you so much to all the donors that made this trip possible. I look forward to sharing what I learned with other English as well as Social Studies teachers. - Kirsten Jensen

JFR Alumni in Washington State:
Kari Averill, Cascade High School, Everett; Steve Bernard, Central Valley High School, Veradale; Dr. Larry Blades, recently retired from Highline Community College, currently teaching overseas; Nick Coddington, Charles Wright Academy, Tacoma; Ilana Cone Kennedy, Holocaust Center, Seattle; Rosemary Conroy, St. Luke School, Shoreline; Jo Cripps, Alternative School 1 (AS1), Seattle; Lois Fein, Seattle; Paula Fraser, Stevenson Elementary, Bellevue; Pat Gallagher, Kent Mountain View Academy, Des Moines; Ann Gilbert, Forest Ridge, Bellevue; Mark Johnson, formerly of Seattle Prep, currently teaching overseas; Ruth Ann Johnson, St. George’s School, Spokane; Kathy Jones, Whitman Middle School, Seattle; Larry Kolano, Longview; Stephen Pagaard, North Kitsap High School, Poulsbo; Susan Redd, Mount Vernon High School, Mount Vernon; Julie Scott, East Valley Middle School, Spokane; Freddie Yudin, Ingraham High School, Seattle

Dina Babbitt, Artist at Auschwitz, Is Dead at 86

New York Times
By Bruce Weber

Dina Babbitt, who as a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp bartered her services as a portrait painter for her life and her mother’s life, and spent the past several decades trying to retrieve her paintings from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and State Museum, died on Wednesday in Felton, Calif. She was 86. Read article...

U.S. Backs Implementing U.N. Doctrine Against Genocide

The Wall Street Journal
July 30, 2009. By JOE LAURIA

UNITED NATIONS -- The Obama administration is supporting moves to implement a U.N. doctrine calling for collective military action to halt genocide.

The next step is to see if the countries in favor of implementing the policy will act when a new genocide is brewing if all other diplomatic actions fail. The doctrine is political, not legal: Although these countries have expressed the political will to act, they aren't legally bound to. Read article...

World is Witness

World is Witness - A geoblog that shares stories, photos, and maps from the field to document genocide and related crimes against humanity.

Photo: A Bangladeshi UN transport helicopter takes off from Duru village in Northeastern Congo while a Moroccan soldier secures the field. Michael Graham/USHMM. April, 2009.

Empty Desks in Duru
Duru, Democratic Republic of the Congo
June 24, 2009
Our MI-17 transport helicopter rumbles to life and lifts up from the UN base outside of Dungu, above American-made Humvees parked next to piles of supplies and prefabricated offices squatting alongside the dirt runway. UN staff in blue Kevlar and helmets buckled in next to me put on a jovial air, but there is an undercurrent of tension. We are flying into the heart of Lord’s Resistance Army ’s territory, just a few miles from their former base in Garamba National Park. Read more...


World is Witness, a project of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, bears witness to genocide and related crimes against humanity around the world. Our staff and guest contributors bring you updates from the field, eyewitness testimony, photographs, interactive maps and more. Includes interactive maps with Google Earth.


If you haven't seen this yet, you need to check it out. These stories and entries clearly remind us how important this education is and how much work needs to be done.

Broadening Awareness about Darfur

A critical part of studying the Holocaust is making the connection to current issues such as prejudice, hatred, and contemporary genocide. We received an email last week from an organization in Maine created by survivors from Darfur. From their website:

The Fur Cultural Revival is a non-government, non-profit organization committed to broadening the public’s awareness of genocide in Darfur; serving the needs of the Darfur community residing in the greater Portland area and preserving the Fur tribal culture.

To learn more about the crisis in Darfur and the important work of The Fur Cultural Revival, visit http://sites.google.com/site/furculturalrevivalme/ .

On hate groups: 'You never, never decrease the problem by ignoring it'

KOMO News

SEATTLE -- An organization that tracks hate groups says records show there are more such groups now than ever before.

In an effort to help determine why, KOMO News got an exclusive interview with a member of the Aryan Nations and with those determined to stop the hate....

Hate groups up 50 percent
The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks racial hatred. In the last eight years, the center reports the number of hate groups has gone up 50 percent. They count 962 -- the most ever on record.

Read article

Note - the comments that follow the article are equally interesting...

Al-Bashir prosecutor pushes for genocide charge

(CNN) -- The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court says he has evidence to prove Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is guilty of genocide, even though he is not charged with the crime.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo spoke to CNN on Wednesday, two days after he appealed to the court to add genocide to the existing arrest warrant for al-Bashir.

The court issued the warrant in March on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to his five-year campaign of violence in western Sudan's Darfur region.

"The evidence shows it is genocide," Moreno-Ocampo said.

The warrant was the first one ever issued for a sitting head of state by the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal, based at The Hague in the Netherlands.... read article.

Confronting Violence with Knowledge

Holocaust Museum shooting shows need for continued education about the Holocaust

JT News
By Dee Simon and Laurie Warshal Cohen, Co-Executive Directors, Holocaust Center

The recent fatal shooting at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. is a stark reminder that each of us has the responsibility to stand up to prejudice and hate whenever and wherever we encounter it.

Sara J. Bloomfield, Director of the USHMM in Washington, sent out the following statement: “This incident underscores why the Museum is so important. The Holocaust did not begin with mass murder. It began with hate. The Holocaust reminds us of the dangers of indifference and unchecked hate — and that each of us has a responsibility to stand up to it.”

As individuals and as a community, we search again for answers and solutions to this kind of needless violence.

The Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center is working in our region to reach students, teachers and communities with educational programs that focus on the tragic consequences of bigotry, prejudice and hatreds. The center’s mission of teaching and learning for humanity puts it on the front lines of educating our young people. With a multi-pronged approach to Holocaust education, students who study the Holocaust in the context of human rights and genocide learn that hatred and prejudice have tragic consequences. They tell their teachers they will no longer accept bullying in their classes, and that they know the difference one person can make:

“After studying the Holocaust and hearing a speaker, I feel it is my job to help others to be tolerant towards different races and cultures. I can’t just let things happen anymore,” says one Lynnwood High School student.

As a small non-profit, the center dedicates its resources to programs that include: Holocaust teaching trunks, survivor presentations to classes, teacher training, traveling exhibits, classroom book sets, community programs, and an extensive multi-media library of artifacts, testimonies and other Holocaust materials. With these programs, we reached 40,000 students, teachers and community members this year.

These acts of violence, especially toward Jewish institutions, are a challenge to all of us. We grieve Stephen Tyrone Johns, who lost his life in Washington D.C. At the Holocaust Center, we confront this challenge through education. This is what the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has stood for since it opened its doors, and this is the mission of our local center in Seattle.

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

Saint George’s Students Finish Study of Holocaust with Visit to U.S. Holocaust Museum on Same Day as Shooting

SPOKANE, WA – Thirty Saint George’s middle schoolers who studied the Holocaust in class have just returned from a five-day tour of Washington DC landmarks that included the disconcerting experience of visiting the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum the same day it was attacked by a neo-Nazi gunman.

The students and two Saint George’s teachers toured the museum from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 10, and were on the opposite side of the museum building just over an hour later when the shooting occurred at 12:50 p.m. They were not in any immediate danger and didn’t learn what happened until later that day.

“It was a lesson we weren’t counting on, but it certainly reinforced what they had learned about hate crimes,” says Ruth Ann Johnson, SGS Middle School English teacher who was on the tour. Her 7th grade class reads Anne Frank’s diary, leading to student research projects on topics such as the Kristallnacht persecutions of the Jews and Nazi concentration camps.

The 7th and 8th grade students on the tour took both their visit to the museum and the news of the shooting very seriously. “We had an excellent discussion about the reality of violence that specifically targets certain people,” says Johnson. “This is why I teach the Holocaust, because this still happens today.”

The students’ tours that day had a broader theme of remembering acts of violence. They had begun with a tour of Ford’s Theater where President Lincoln was shot, before viewing the Holocaust Museum and ending their day at the Pentagon memorial to the victims of the September 11th attack. Now they have something else to remember from that day that will keep the lessons they learned in class very real for a long time to come.

Johnson serves on the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center’s advisory board. The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous has named her an Alfred Lerner Fellow at its Summer Institute for Teachers, and she has toured Holocaust sites in Amsterdam and Berlin on educational trip sponsored by the Holocaust Center and Museum Without Walls.

To arrange an interview with Ruth Ann Johnson about the school’s Holocaust curriculum and the students’ experiences in Washington DC, contact John Carter at 466-1636 x397 or at john.carter@sgs.org.

Shooting at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)

All of us at the Holocaust Center send our colleagues at the USHMM and the family of Officer Johns our condolences, thoughts, and prayers for safety and healing in this difficult time.

Such acts of violence and hatred reiterate the need for the work we are doing.

Holocaust museum closed in tribute to slain guard (CNN)

The President and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar offer condolences.
From the White House Briefing Room Blog:

President Obama:
I am shocked and saddened by today’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world.

Today, we have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time.

Secretary Salazar:
Today, we witnessed an act of violence and hatred in one of our world's most sacred sites of remembrance. This horrible crime took the life of Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns, whose courage in the line of duty saved lives and protected the hallowed halls of the Holocaust Museum. Americans' thoughts and prayers tonight are with Officer Johns’ family.

We are also reminded of the great sacrifices our law enforcement officials, including security guards and the Park Police who protect the National Mall, make every day on our behalf. This tragic act of violence only reaffirms the lessons of peace and human dignity that the Holocaust Museum teaches.

President Obama visits Buchenwald

At a Holocaust Site, Obama Calls Denial ‘Hateful’

New York Times. Published: June 5, 2009
By Jeff Zeleney and Nicholas Kulish

DRESDEN, Germany — President Obama on Friday intensified his pledge to unlock the Middle East stalemate, sending an envoy next week to pursue his call for a two-state solution, as he toured a former concentration camp that he said served as a lesson to “be ever-vigilant about the spread of evil in our own time.”
Read article.

Students Create Birthday Cards in Honor of Anne Frank's Birthday

On June 12, 2009 Anne Frank would have been 80 years old. Jollie Evan's class at Tonasket Elementary School in Tonasket, wanted to make birthday cards for Anne as a special remembrance of her life.

http://mail.tonasket.wednet.edu/~jevans/?OpenItemURL=S005B6E9C

Thank you Ms. Evans for sending us this link and for letting us know about your class project!

Teachers Travel to Berlin

On March 26, 15 teachers left for one week to travel to Berlin to learn about the history of the city and to study the Holocaust. The trip was sponsored and organized by Museum Without Walls and the Holocaust Center.

Kim Spradlin, a teacher from Eastmont High School in East Wenatchee, traveled on the trip and shared her experiences.

Ghosts of Berlin
By Kim Spradlin
Teacher, Eastmont High School, East Wenatchee
May 2009

From the moment I decided to travel to Berlin with the Museum Without Walls & the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center, the anticipation of seeing this particular city overwhelmed me. I could barely control my curiosity as I contemplated what it would mean to travel to a place that held such a long and proud, yet tragically bitter history. I honestly didn’t know what to expect; I had no preconceived notions of what the city would feel like or look like, but I knew that visiting Berlin would affect me in an indescribable way.

It wasn’t long after arriving on March 26, 2009 before I took the first glance back over my shoulder. I don’t know why I chose just then to look back, but I did. I was not near Checkpoint Charlie or the cobble stone demarcation line of The Wall or the old Gestapo headquarters or anywhere remotely connected to Berlin’s history. I was just on a street near the hotel, thinking about where to go for dinner. This was the first of countless furtive glances that I caught myself making. It was as if I could just catch, out of the corner of my eye, ghosts of all I’d been taught.
While I was growing up, Berlin, East Germany was the symbol of the Cold War, a deadly no-man’s land divided by The Berlin Wall; and later, as I learned about WWII, it came to represent the epicenter of Hitler’s odious Nazi policies. But now I was walking there, in the place that had always represented evil and inspired fear in me. The Berlin I found myself wandering through and learning about was obviously more than the events of WWII and the Cold War, but nonetheless I caught myself often, suddenly looking around, wondering who was there, who might be watching or listening, and as I toured the city, seeing sights and meeting courageous individuals, I felt those echoes and ghosts all around me.

One such echo was the Geisterbahnhofs. Roughly, this translates to Ghost Stations. After the Berlin Wall was erected, some U-bahn (subway) stops were closed. Trains would pass through them, but because they were in East Berlin, the West Berlin trains couldn’t stop. The trains would slow and passengers could see armed guards on the platforms, but during the Cold War there was no stopping. The stations at Potzdamer Platz, Oranienburgstrasse, Nord Bahnhof, & Unter Den Linden were there, but not there. Ghosts. After reunification, the Geisterbahnhof stations were opened again and now they are perfect time capsules of design from the 1930’s through the 1960’s. While waiting at the Nord Bahnhof station, a lingering coldness to the air made me pause and look around, as if that, too, is a reminder of what once defined this city. The beautiful tile work, station name signs, and obsolete ticketing areas are all from that other time, all echoing remnants of the past.

Another poignant reminder for me was the collection of Stolpersteine or ‘stumbling blocks’ located around Berlin. Over 13,000 of these small stones have been placed all around Europe and mark the last known residence of Jews who were deported and killed by the Nazis. The small brass stones are engraved with the name, year of birth and the fate: mostly the date of deportation and of death. In Berlin, there are over 1,400 to stumble upon and there was always a clutch in my heart as I read the names and saw the dates and destinations for deportation. Auschwitz. Plaszow. Dachau. Sachsenhausen. It wasn’t until the last day of our trip that I noticed two such stones outside our hotel door, right under my feet everyday. Stopped in my tracks, my heart sank for these unexpected ghosts, these terrible and somber reminders of a tragic Berlin and I quickly looked around to be sure I was still there and it was still 2009.
Our group visited many powerful sights of historic Berlin, all of which touched me in different ways. Wannsee, where the meeting to orchestrate the Final Solution was held in a beautiful villa overlooking a glassy lake. The Resistance Memorial at the Bendler Block where the leaders of an unsuccesful assassination attempt on Hitler’s life were executed. A walking tour of the old Jewish neighborhood where we saw the remnants of a once active and purposeful community. The Berlin Wall Documentation Center where we were lucky enough to listen to Mr. Neumann narrate his experience of fleeing East Berlin and then helping to rescue over 80 more people.

The New Synagogue, Checkpoint Charlie, the concentration camps of Ravensbruck and Sachenhausen, the Topography of Terror, the Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden; all of these sights, as well as many others, caused me to catch my breath. Some made me seethe with anger, others caused my heart to ache with sadness, while still others caused tears to run down my face as I took in their beauty. But no matter what my personal reaction was, all the sights caused me to re-examine everything I’d previously learned, to look at these historical places with new eyes.

Although there were many moments where I felt myself looking back to the ghosts of Berlin’s past, what I also remember seeing is a city full of life and hope for the future. Numerous green parks dot the metropolis as children from all different races play in the grass. Artists have decorated the remaining segments of the Berlin Wall as a way to show that creativity and individual expression can never be completely oppressed. My fellow teachers and I walked safely through lively, multi-cultural neighborhoods every night on our way back to our hotel. And every day as we traveled to numerous sights and museums we saw different phases of major construction efforts across the skyline. Berlin is a city that is growing, and changing; a city struggling to come to grips with its past as it moves bravely forward into the bright future of the 21st century. I can’t say that I fell in love with Berlin, but it sparked my interest and garnered my respect. It’s a city that is moving forward, creating a unique tapestry out of the rubble of its past.

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.

A Student's Poem Dedicated to Those Who Survived the Camps and Those Who Did Not

This is the worker's of the camps song.

The sky is blue
This is new
"Work will make you free" is a lie
Nazis here
Nazis there
Gunshots ring our ears, horrid screams
We work for our lives
The sky is gray
This is scary
The food is bad
Diseases spreading faster

Nazis no where
Nazis not here
This is our chance
Run on the count of three
We will be free!
Freedom is no dream
We made it through
This is the worker's of the camps song
We made it through
The barb wired fence
No longer am I here
No longer are we Workers
Here is our freedom song

This poem is to the people who survived the work and death camps. And to those who didn't This poem came from my heart.

by: Cheyan K. 4th grade student, Tonasket Elementary School, Tonasket, Wa. Teacher: Jollie Evans

Everyday Objects Used Nationwide

Today a request came in from Maplewood, Minnesota for a set of our Everday Objects poster series. Everyday Objects ($20/set) consists of a set of twelve 8.5 x 11" double-sided posters. Each poster features an artifact and the story of either the object or the person who obtained the object. The set is ideal for use in classrooms as an activity or display. It is an invaluable resource as students learn about the Holocaust using primary sources.

This poster set is used not only in classrooms, but in community centers, churches, synagogues, and libraries. It is always exciting to know that our resources and the Everyday Objects posters are being used and sought-after in all regions of the United States--including in Alaska, Georgia, New Jersey, and now Minnesota!

Students at St. Anne School Hear A Survivor's Story

"Your name is part of who you are," explained Steve A. "Imagine if a law was passed forcing you to change your middle name. That's what happened to me. You'll see my middle name on my passport is 'Israel.' All males had to change their middle names to Israel. All females had to change their middle names to Sarah."

Steve A., a Holocaust survivor and member of the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau, grew up in Berlin, and was one of the 10,000 children who became part of the kindertransport.

Today he shared his experiences with Teacher Pam Sturgeon's 8th grade students at St. Anne school on Queen Anne in Seattle. His message was one of respect. He encouraged kids to accept each other's differences, and to stand up and speak out when they see unjustice in their own lives and in the world around them.

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