Eighth grader Jabreil Johnson has a contemplative moment in the rock garden of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, a tribute to those who perished during the Holocaust.
As part of the eighth grade humanities curriculum, students respond to the essential question, How do individuals’ decisions affect their lives, their communities, and their world? To explore this question for their unit on the Holocaust, the eighth grade journeyed to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York to learn about the atrocities of the Holocaust and the strength of those who survived.
The unit included a first-hand narrative by Holocaust survivor Alice Eichenbaum, who told of her experiences in Bulgaria during World War II and those of her late husband, who was held in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. She also recounted what it was like for her sons to grow up as children of Holocaust survivors.
Humanities teacher Tom Chen concluded, “When studying horrific tragedies like the Holocaust, it is important to remember the people, extraordinary and ordinary, young and old, poor and rich, who made a difference in the face of evil.”