Facing History's LA Office Commemorates Yom HaShoah
May 5, 2009
by Julie Gruenbaum
Culminating a yearlong project involving art, history, personal connection and social responsibility, students at Heschel West unveiled a memorial wall where painted ceramic butterflies commemorate Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Students, parents, grandparents, faculty and supporters painted the 800 butterflies now perched amid words of affirmation on the "Wings of Hope" wall, part of a global project to memorialize the 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust.
Following the dedication of the wall, eighth-grade students presented filmed interviews they conducted with Holocaust survivors. With the help of Facing History and Ourselves, the students worked in groups of six with each survivor, asking them sensitive and probing questions about how one rebuilds a life in the aftermath of tragedy and what life lessons the survivors could share. The event honored the survivors, who were present to share their stories with the students.
"Adolescence is a time when students begin to think about the world and their relationship to it. By exploring history and the stories of individuals who were personally affected by the consequences of hatred and violence as well as by acts of courage and compassion, students see how personal choices make a difference," said Marti Tippens Murphy, Associate Director of Facing History and Ourselves.
Read the article in the Jewish Jewish Journal
