How is it possible to actively engage teenagers from across the world to study the Holocaust? How can we encourage our youth to explore a historical event and be inspired by its stories of courage? And how do we provide a platform for students to showcase their own creativity?
The Overseas Education and Training Department at Yad Vashem managed to check all these boxes in one fell swoop with an exciting new project that was launched in the spring of 2023. Titled 'Who Is Your Hero? Stories from the Holocaust' this project was designed for the students of our seminar graduates, creating an international buzz combined with an exciting competitive element. We wanted to inspire future historians.
The rationale behind the project was as follows: The Holocaust was one of the most defining events of the 20th century. The cost and ramifications of this genocide were far-reaching, crossing the entire continent of Europe and beyond. Millions of people lost their lives, communities and cities were completely destroyed, and humanity was lost almost in its entirety. But amid the death and destruction there existed profound elements of human decency and it is these that we wish to explore here. This project aims to illuminate the stories of those who dared to defend humanity when, all around them, evil prevailed. By focusing on this element of the Holocaust we invite our students to be inspired by the best of human character.
The students were required to:
'{r}esearch people who acted heroically both during the Holocaust and in the years leading up to it. Select one whose story stands out to you. Your hero may be Jewish or non-Jewish and come from any background, from any country.
Showcase their story through one of the following forms of expression: a piece of writing, photography, artwork, music, videography (no longer than 10 minutes duration), graphic novel/cartoon (no more than ten pages), poetry or any other medium.'
In the summer, the brief was broadcast to hundreds of our department's seminar graduates (who are all teachers at middle and high school level) with a deadline of mid-December 2023 for all submissions to be received. And then we waited.
Today's teenager is often stigmatized by a number of different (and rather negative!) stereotypes: unmotivated, self-centered, lazy, overly reliant on technology, and addicted to social media. Who are the heroes of the youth of 2024? Sporting legends? People with material achievements or celebrity status? Those most visible on TikTok? So, who would the students choose as their heroes from the people who acted 80 years ago in Nazi-occupied Europe? It was hard to know what to expect.
But what poured into our Inboxes was nothing short of amazing! We received 120 submissions from 15 different countries in eight different languages. The diversity and creativity of the projects was astounding. The pieces included, among others, exquisite artwork, heartfelt poetry, carefully choreographed videography, creative writing pieces, textile projects, and song. The heroes ranged from Righteous Among the Nations, Jewish rescuers, resistance fighters and survivors. They were Christian, Muslim and Jewish who hailed from all types of socio-economic backgrounds: educated, uneducated, wealthy, poor, professionals, laymen, individuals, groups, religious, atheists, traditionalists. And that was the sheer beauty of the project. The students had clearly researched the subject as they chose a wide range of different 'good guys' from this era.
As a taste of some of the talent we received, here are some examples for your pleasure. A stunning digital comic was designed by Andrea and Mariafe, from Peru, portraying the heroism of Miep Gies who was part of the group that helped hide Anne Frank and seven others in an attic in Amsterdam. The 30-panelled comic was beautifully executed providing a colourful representation of this well-known story. Andrea’s inspiration was taken from her own grandmother who, like Miep, '… gave everything to help people …'
Ciara from Bayside Christian College in Victoria, Australia created a diorama depicting the story of a Lithuanian Jew who led a Jewish partisan unit and went on to survive the Holocaust. Her rationale behind the project was this: 'I was moved by Abba Kovner’s story. It was very inspiring and interesting to learn how he fought for his community. I wanted to display the overwhelming despair within the Vilna Ghetto and that underneath all of it there was also hope and people still fighting for freedom and the right to live, so I displayed this through a diorama of the Vilnius Ghetto depicting Abba Kovner and his supporters escaping the ghetto.'
A group of students from the Escuela Integral Hebreo in Uruguay composed a poem about Chil Rajchman, who was one of approximately 70 Jewish prisoners who survived the Holocaust after participating in the August 1943, revolt at Treblinka. Although the original was written in Spanish, the students translated it into English as per the rules of the competition:
Lights in the darkness
'In the camp of death, where pain is incarnated,
Subdued under the clutches of burning hell,
Where filth and scabies rule,
In the gloom of history, rises a shining hero,
Cutting hairs, veils of torture,
Extracting cursed gold, from mouths that breath no longer held,
With tears and anguish, he sealed the grave,
His soul was broken, but his light had not extinguished,
Nameless numbers, identity lost,
Terror and tragedy, carved on their skins,
Anonymous beings, in the sunken darkness,
The dread of hearing the creaking of the rails,
But in the abysses of such bleak history,
Where horror weaves its macabre plots,
Under the weight of the mire, the struggling spirit persisted,
Lights emerged in the darkness, sparks among the flames,
Seventy souls, like caged birds,
They rose up before the butcher,
A defiant and daring flock,
Towards freedom, their longed-for whereabouts,
The barbed wire, thorns of condemnation,
From that farm of torment and agony,
Torn asunder by full hope,
In search of a dawn in the distance,
The night covered his escape with audacious stealth,
Like a protective cloak in the blackness,
Each step, a relentless and biting challenge,
And fear, his constant and terrifying score,
The uncertainty of his next drama,
With a clock without hands and eternal time,
Behind a barn or under a bed,
Secret in his mouth but revelation in his notebook,
A testament to human strength,
His testimony resounds, in the wind of freedom,
So that his ordeal may not have been in vain,
And may the memory prevail, for all eternity.'
And as a final example, Anna, a 12th grade student at the Riga State Classical Gymnasium in Latvia produced a 6-minute, thoroughly researched documentary about Latvian Righteous Among the nations, Žanis Lipke. Her research caused her to reflect on her own nation’s part in the genocide against the Jews noting that, 'The Holocaust is the biggest crime against a civilian population in the history of Latvia.' In her rationale, explaining her choice, she notes that 'In today's world, marked by ongoing conflicts, prejudice, and humanitarian crises, the story of Žanis Lipke resonates with a timeless relevance. In a world where it can be easy to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, Lipke's example serves as a powerful reminder that everyone can become a hero.'
What a profound and astute message.
Our department most certainly has its work cut out for them in deciding which of the submissions deserves to win. The three winning entries will be announced during an online closing ceremony on January 25th in honour of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The students who created the pieces will be given a platform to speak about the processes they went through in designing their projects and the lessons they learned from the experience. Choosing won’t be easy. These teenagers have surpassed all our expectations and have left a remarkable and heartwarming impression.
