History Is Closer Than You Think
Longview ISD Foundation, Inc. Sends Foster Middle School Sixth and Seventh Grade Students to the Holocaust and Human Rights Museum in Dallas
 
“History is closer than you think,” states the website of the Holocaust and Human Rights Museum in Dallas.  On Wednesday, May 6, Foster Middle School sixth and seventh-graders traveled on chartered buses to the museum with funding from a grant written by Holly Thomas, Foster Middle School teacher, on behalf of the sixth and seventh-grade academic teams, to learn just how close history is to them and their lives. 

Students toured the Permanent and Special Exhibitions as well as the Holocaust/Shoah Wing before ending with a tour of the Human Rights Wing.  The experience took students from a study of genocide throughout history, especially in World War II, to the creation of modern human rights movements worldwide.  This trip provided students with exposure to history, human rights, and social justice in an authentic, impactful way that cannot be replicated in the classroom.  Another goal of the trip was to connect history to current social issues and to encourage students to consider their role in creating a just society.

To discover what students learned on their trip, Kay Ray, Foundation director, interviewed ten students:  Benjamin Ayers, Amieah Barnes, Aaron Cadenas, Danniel Elmore, Will Haas, Annaliese Harrison, Zae Johnson, DeAngelo Sanchez, Lyric Simmons, and Kathrine Waid.

The students said the artifacts made an impression on them:  the striped pajama-type uniforms the Jews wore in the camps, the piles of suitcases and shoes taken from them when they arrived at the camps, barbed wire used to fortify the camps’ boundaries, and just the heads of spoons with no handles that they used as eating utensils.  As one student said, “While I have seen pictures in books, seeing the actual items, especially a striped uniform that looked like it was stained with blood, in person was far different.”  As DeAngelo Sanchez said, “The Holocaust and World War II were intense moments in history that cannot truly be experienced from a textbook.  The museum brought the textbook to life.”  Annaliese Harrison said, “The museum exhibits allowed me to dive deeper into the history of the time.”  Zae Johnson pointed out that people often think the Holocaust only happened during the years of World War II when, in fact, the concentration camps began in 1933, only a short period of time following the end of World War I.

All the students were struck by the immense number of concentration camps as illustrated by a large map with pins marking each one across German-occupied territories. Like Danniel Elmore, most students had heard of the most infamous camps, such as Auschwitz and Birkenau, but they had no idea there were 15,000 concentration and labor camps.  They said seeing the map covered in pins was a powerful image.  Zae Johnson pointed out that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, with children accounting for an estimated 1.9 million of those killed.

The railroad boxcar exhibit impacted Will Haas.  For Will, this experience made history personal. Students stepped into the boxcar to see what the Jews experienced as they traveled from their homes to the camps, often traveling for days with no toilets, perhaps one bucket of water, and little to no food.  While many died in the boxcars, the trains rolled on to their destinations, while those trapped inside tried to survive among the dead. 

Students learned how families were separated upon arrival at the camps—able-bodied men and boys in one line, women and children in another.  However, students were quick to point out that while some males survived because they were able to work, most of the women and children were quickly sent to their deaths in the gas chambers, for they served no purpose to the German war machine.  Zae Johnson said he learned how little food the Jews received, maybe some thin gruel and a crust of bread.  He was shocked to see so many pictures of survivors who looked like living skeletons with their ribs and collarbones protruding.  He also learned that some survived by receiving small amounts of food that were smuggled into the camps. 

Students engaged in a conversation about Hitler’s obsession with annihilating the Jews, a hatred derived from Germany’s defeat in World War I and his belief that somehow Jews were responsible for the economic condition in Germany following the war.  They spoke of his speaking ability and his ability to rouse a crowd into a frenzied state, but they also spoke of his propaganda machine.  Kathrine Waid mentioned that she saw an old propaganda poster proclaiming death to Jews.  Several students mentioned that the assault upon the Jews’ human rights did not come all at once; instead, slowly their rights were taken away—perhaps being forced to move to one part of a city, seeing German soldiers paint store windows with the yellow Star of David to tell others not to shop at a Jewish-owned store, or being forced to wear the yellow star on their clothing. Many Jews, they learned, did not believe that they were in danger of death simply because they either could not or would not believe the stories about the concentration camps that traveled throughout the land.  Students gave the example of Anne Frank’s family.  Her family had moved from Germany to the Netherlands, where they thought they would be safe.  However, like other Jewish families who fled Germany, they were eventually trapped in other countries that Hitler invaded and then occupied.

The mention of the Frank family led the discussion to another concept they experienced at the museum:  being a bystander or an upstander.  Should people ignore situations when people are denied their human rights, or should they stand up for them?  Lyric Simmons-Franklin said she tries to be an upstander and help others who need it.  All students pondered whether they would be willing to sacrifice their safety and perhaps their lives to save or protect others as Mr. Otto Frank’s employees protected the Frank family by hiding them in the attic of Mr. Frank’s business.  Several said they would have tried their best to help Jewish families escape.

The conversation then turned to survival because the students experienced the Dimensions in Testimony inside the museum’s theatre. Dimensions in Testimony from the USC Shoah Foundation allowed students to interact with Holocaust survivors in a specially designed space, where high-definition interview recordings paired with voice recognition technology enable Holocaust survivors to respond to questions from the audience, inviting one-on-one “conversations.”

Students recounted the story of Pinchas Gutter from Lodz. Born in 1932 in Lodz, Poland. Pinchas grew up in an Orthodox home with his father, mother, and twin sister Sabina. When war broke out, his family relocated to Warsaw to be with relatives, eventually moving to the Warsaw Ghetto. After a few weeks, Pinchas and his family were discovered and deported to Majdanek. Upon arrival, his parents and sister were murdered, but Pinchas was selected for slave labor. He survived four concentration camps before being sent on a death march to Theresienstadt. Pinchas was liberated by the Red Army in May 1945. Since liberation Pinchas has lived in different countries all over the world. In 1985, Pinchas immigrated to Toronto. Students said the opportunity to see and hear a survivor was the highlight of the trip.  Lydia Simmons-Franklin asked Pinchas how he survived.  His answer was by relying on his faith.  He also had a friend there, and the two supported each other.  The friend, however, did not survive.
Students wondered if they have the will to survive such an ordeal.  While most students said no as they shook their heads, they also said that no one really knows what survival instincts they might have when a situation presents itself.  All admitted that understanding the Holocaust and what it took to survive made them think about how easy their lives really are. 

The students ended the museum tour in the Human Rights exhibit, where they learned about continuing struggles around the world for human rights.  They reported that Eleanor Roosevelt was instrumental in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Students said that all people are born equal with the right to education and work, freedom from slavery and torture, equal treatment before the law, and the right to freedom of expression. 

DeAngelo Sanchez pointed out that at first these rights were for men only; however, Mrs. Roosevelt insisted that these rights be granted to women also.

Without knowing, Annaliese Harrison and Lyric Simmons-Franklin articulated the goal of the John W. Harrison, Jr. Academic Field Trip: to allow students to experience learning beyond a textbook and to dive deeper into a subject through hands-on experiences.  Will Haas noted that for him, the Human Rights connected history to today’s world, another learning goal of the grant program.

Students agreed that the trip was worthwhile, one they were glad they experienced and one they would recommend for other students, and that alone assured the Longview ISD Foundation that funding the trip was money well spent.  Mrs. Thomas received $7,000 from the Foundation to make this trip possible.

The Longview ISD Foundation, Inc. has funded thirty-one academic field trip grants for $143,467.08, supporting Longview ISD educators and students as both strive for excellence in learning.

To date, the Longview ISD Foundation, Inc. has proudly returned $1,198,747.96 to Longview ISD classrooms and campuses to enable innovative educators to provide enhanced educational opportunities for all students.  The Foundation appreciates the loyal community support and generous contributions that have made these opportunities possible.


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