New York Classroom Creates Quilt to Memorialize Holocaust
This story describes the innovative approach two veteran Facing History teachers used to explore historical legacies and memorials. This part of the Facing History journey raises questions about how individuals and societies respond to and remember trauma, collective violence, and war. In this exploration, students gain a deeper understanding of how the past impacts the future.
The Facing History and Ourselves class at Satellite Academy had an extraordinary learning experience thanks to a creative approach developed by veteran teachers, Alice Braziller and Shirley Wu, who have been teaching the Facing History and Ourselves class at this small alternative New York City public school for years. The course follows the scope and sequence of the Holocaust and Human Behavior case study-identity; membership; history; judgment, legacy and memory; and choosing to participate. Last year, Braziller and Wu embarked on enhancing the course by combining the use of online technology, art, a classroom speaker and a trip to Washington D.C.
The unit on memory and legacy began with a series of classroom lessons in which students explored the purpose of memorials, their own past experiences with memorials, and what makes them effective. They also viewed the Facing History video, Maya Lin: A Strong, Clear Vision, which is aboutthe Vietnam and Civil Rights Memorials.
Students also explored memorials on the Facing History online module, Memory, History, Memorials.With the help of Facing History staff, Alice and Shirley created an online path for students to explore traditional, spontaneous, and Holocaust Memorials as they grappled with the question, "What happens when individuals, communities and nations choose to create memorials and monuments in response to a personal or collective tragedy?" As students worked with the online module they viewed memorials to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, World War II and Vietnam War.
Then it was time for the class to visit monuments in Washington D.C. The group viewed the new World War II Memorial the day before its official opening, spoke with some WWII veterans at the site, and felt proud to be part of a historic debut. Students also visited the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Washington Monument. The majority of the group's time was spent at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and this experience deeply affected many students. For one student, Israel, "the pain of seeing the truth" was so intense, he returned to D.C. a week later with a group of friends and proved to be an excellent historian and tour guide.
Another highlight of the course was a visit from Frances Irwin, who shared her personal story of surviving the Holocaust. "To meet Ms. Irwin is to fall in love with her. Our students succumbed to the magic of her generous spirit," explained Braziller.
Students used their experience during the entire course-including Frances Irwin's visit, work on the online module, and the trip-to create a work of art that expressed their emotions and united them as a community. The students created a class quilt, with each square telling the story of one person murdered in the Holocaust. Each student made a square, using a passport with a name, photo, and biography of a Holocaust victim that they received from the USHMM. The individual squares included photos, poems, and personal information about the victim as well as dedications written by the students. Wrote one student, Joel, "They [the victims] deserve to be remembered and honored as individuals." The students also made squares in the quilt for Chava and Moshe Oksenhendler, the parents of Frances Irwin.
The last day of the class was an emotional one. Students hauled the sewing machine into the classroom and were busy putting the finishing touches on the last row of the quilt when Ms. Irwin walked in. She cried when she saw the quilt and read what Jonathan wrote about her father, "Because of you, Frances teaches thousands today." While each square was unique, put together they tell the sad story of the victims and how a community of students are poignantly honoring their memory and legacies.
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