On Monday, to honor Yom HaShoah Ve-Hagevurah  (Day of [Remembrance of] the Holocaust and Heroism), grades five through eight visited the Museum of Tolerance.  Given the age of the students, they did not take the regular tour.  Instead, the students took part in two special programs.  The eighth graders participated in an immersive experience designed solely for their grade level, learning about the life and times of Anne Frank.  Anne's story was told in her own words and came to life through rare artifacts, unique documents, and mesmerizing photographs.  Also on display was the only facsimile of Anne's actual diary, the original of which is housed in the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam. Our students learned little known facts about her time in hiding and the events that led to her arrest, and heard first-hand accounts about Anne from people who knew her. The exhibit highlighted the fact that Anne had a full life of 12 years prior to her family's hiding. One of the most amazing aspects of the display was its physical changes of the surrounding wall which began as bright and colorful as Anne's life had, and changed gradually to cave in with darker, more somber colors, reflecting the changes of Anne's personal experiences and the deportation to the camps.  The final room was again bright and colorful; the message emphasized that life is meant to be lived with courage, fortitude, and happiness.     

The sixth and seventh grade students participated in a program called "Steps to Tolerance".  In this engaging session, the students acted as explorers, connecting historical events to the contemporary issues of respect and responsibility in school and the broader community.   First, there was a short video produced by Nickelodeon on the Holocaust itself.  Grandchildren of survivors talked about what happened during the Holocaust and referred to their grandparents' experiences as they spoke, with their grandparents by their side. Next, the class learned the differences between bystanders, perpetrators, targets/victims, and allies.  The discussion then moved to the more current issue of bullying using the following as the definition of bullying: "Any repeated, intentional act by a more powerful person that causes a less powerful person to feel embarrassment, pain and/or discomfort."  To further empower the students, they went on to give a formula for bullying:

"Hurtful Behavior + Unequal Power + Repetition =Bullying"

The students were keenly interested to learn that an action is considered bullying when it is done repetitiously and not just once or twice.  Being treated badly one or two times is never nice, yet bullying is an action that occurs more than once. The difference between tattling and reporting, as described below, was clarified as well.

"TATTLING or SNITCHING is telling ON someone just to get 

him/her in trouble."

"REPORTING is telling FOR someone to solve a problem."

The program concluded with the students meeting and hearing the story of Rachel Slagter, who survived the Holocaust as a young child.  She was taken in by a Christian family from age's three to five.  Her two siblings were each hidden with other Christian families.  When the war was over, her father, a Holocaust survivor himself, found and raised his children to adulthood.  After many years of trying to locate the family who saved her, she found them by chance through her brother and another man who was a hidden child as well.  Mrs. Slagter's story was truly amazing. 

This was a fascinating program for our students.  The information given was very real, yet appropriate for their age level at the same time.  Following the museum visit, the group walked to a local park to enjoy lunch together and observed a moment of silence in homage of those (Jewish and non-Jewish alike) who tragically perished in the Holocaust.