Tour leader Michael Rubell gives thumbs up to students from Washington Middle School in Harrison as they finish their Jan. 23 tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Photos by Robert Wiener
January 31, 2008
For 46 eighth-grade students and four teachers from the Washington Middle School in Harrison, it was a chance to bring to life the classroom lessons they had learned about the Nazi Holocaust.
For three veteran educators aboard a chartered bus traveling from New Jersey to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, it was an opportunity to connect a younger generation with a bitter history they hope will never be repeated.
On Jan. 23, they joined together in a trip led by Michael Rubell, a Morristown man determined to keep alive the story of his father, Morris, who as a teenager survived four concentration camps. He died in 1995.
Once a month during the school year, Michael Rubell serves as guide and tour director for busloads of eighth-graders, most of whom have studied the Shoa in stated-mandated lessons on the Holocaust and genocide.
The Morris Rubell Holocaust Remembrance Journeys take place under the auspices of the Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest NJ, in collaboration with the Holocaust Council of MetroWest.
As with many of the student groups who make the trip, the Harrison teens were an ethnic mix of Latino, Asian, white, and African-American heritage. Many, but not all of them, had studied about the Nazi era.
Impressed with the students’ ability to connect what they were seeing with what they had learned in the classroom, teacher Mary Anne Dunphy, whose language arts curriculum includes lessons about the Holocaust, said, “I am so glad they had this opportunity.”
Two hours before the bus arrived at its destination, Rubell stood in the aisle, addressing his audience, armed with a microphone and hand-held amplifier.
“One of the things my father felt very strongly about was sharing his story with others. He believed the future is really in your hands. It was very important to him to teach the lessons of the Holocaust about tolerance, and about not being a bystander.”
Joining Rubell was Paul Winkler, executive director of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, who told the students, “I want you to feel something about the victims.
“When you walk away from the museum, I want you to do something,” he said. “I don’t know what you would do or I would do, to step in front of a bullet to save someone’s life. But the day you stand up for someone else — you will never feel as good as on that day.”
The first stop at the museum was a multimedia exhibit, “Daniel’s Story,” a narrative of a young German Jew who survived the Holocaust, even as his sister and mother perished.
On the way out, the students wrote “letters to Daniel” on index cards and placed them in a “mailbox” and gave their reactions to the exhibit.
“I wrote about how bad it was and I felt really sad for what happened and I hope nothing like that ever happens again,” said student Ashley Reed.
“Daniel was very sad and a lot of bad things happened,” Jonathan Pinto said.
“It was a bad time in history,” said John Gillespie, who made a personal connection with young victims of the Nazis. “I feel very sad because my dad died when I was little.”
The students and teachers were herded into a boxy and dimly lit elevator. As the door opened at the museum’s fourth floor, they faced a giant photograph taken by an American soldier at Ohrdruf, a section of the Buchenwald concentration camp in central Germany that the Americans liberated in April 1945. At first glimpse, the picture appeared to be of a giant barbecue pit.
“Look, it’s a body,” said one student to another. “No it’s not,” said his friend. “It’s burned wood.”
“It’s a pile of bodies cremated in a ditch,” explained an adult who overheard their conversation.
Also accompanying the students was Fred Heyman of Morristown. Born in Berlin, Heyman survived during the war by going into hiding.
As he stood in front of another large photograph — this one a full-color shot of young teenagers in uniform, arms extended in Nazi salutes — Heyman recalled his youth in Berlin and a child’s reactions to the initial rise of the Nazis.
“These were the Hitler Youth,” he said. “It was very exciting. You would really want to be part of it.”
“Hitler could have tricked us,” said eighth-grader Carlos Perez. “We would be young and didn’t know what we were doing.”
“I would not join it,” insisted his friend, Eduardo Velarde. “If every other kid in school was in it, it’s their problem, not mine.”
Eternal flame
Holocaust survivor Fred Heyman shares a teaching moment with eighth-grader Kimberly Castro.
As the tour ended, the visitors gathered before an eternal flame in the Hall of Remembrance. Winkler addressed the students, saying he was proud of them.
“As I walked around, I listened to many of the questions you asked, and I have hope,” he said. “I can feel there are people in this room who will not allow their neighbors to be hurt.”
From the museum, the group took a short bus ride to the Lincoln Memorial and gathered beneath the marble statue of the president to share observations of what they had seen.
Student Stephanie Cruch said, “We’re like the last generation to meet a survivor. Someday I will encourage my kids to come see [the Holocaust museum] and learn about it more so they can pass it on to their children.
“I was in shock as to how many people actually died,” said Amanda Cacirro. “I think in today’s world it could happen again.”
“I thought the Hall of Remembrance, with the candles and the torch, was really beautiful,” said Matt Williams.
“They are there for history, and no one is going to forget the Holocaust.”