Study grows into project

The eighth-graders used a classroom to create their own Holocaust Museum.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — In the center of the Projects Room at P. Ross Berry Middle School rests a table, set as though awaiting the arrival of a small group of diners.

But no one will ever eat at that table.

It was set up a solemn reminder of the effort of a World War II-era Jewish family trying to retain some of its religious traditions in a world seemingly gone mad.

The table replicates one used to celebrate Hanukkah by the family of Anne Frank, which spent nearly three years in hiding in an unsuccessful effort to avoid capture and incarceration by German Nazis.

It’s part of a temporary Holocaust Museum created by about 90 eighth-graders at P. Ross Berry, said teacher Lisa Perry.

Above the room’s doorway hangs a sign written in German — “Arbeit Macht Frei” — which in English means “work makes one free.” That’s also a replica of the sign that hung over the entrance to the concentration camp at Auschwitz.

Hanging from the ceiling are dozens of handmade butterflies, a representation of the artwork created by Jewish children in the Terezin concentration camp.

When the temporary museum closes, the butterflies will be sent to the Houston Holocaust Museum in Texas, which seeks to collect 1.5 million of them, one for each child killed in the Holocaust.

Perry said it was student teacher Abby Aebischer who suggested the eighth-graders spend time studying the Holocaust, which claimed the lives of an estimated 6 million European Jews.

The Youngstown State University secondary education major said the teaching staff was looking for a unit to study, and when the Holocaust was brought up, she learned that many of the pupils knew nothing about it.

The students were given a two-week study on the Holocaust, did some reading related to the subject, wrote essays and then read and performed in a play based on “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which detailed the Frank family’s years of hiding in an office building in Amsterdam before they were betrayed and arrested.

“The kids loved it. They got to play the parts,” Aebischer said.

The creation of their own Holocaust Museum was an offshoot of their studies, she said.

“We did the museum so the kids could see that they could be teachers themselves,” she said, explaining that many of them served as tour guides for other classes and parents who visited the museum.

The pupils, alone or in teams, researched various aspects of the Holocaust, and their work is on display in the form of posters and photos that line the room.

They got to pick their own topics.

Drew Brown said she and partner Breauna Chaney chose to research the Yellow Star of David, the insignia the Nazis forced Jews to war on their clothing so they could be easily identified.

“I thought it was going to be interesting,” Brown said, explaining why she chose that topic.

“It was,” she added.

Shawn McPherson chose “The Secret Annex,” the place where the Frank family and four friends hid.

There’s a lot of history there, he said, adding that he learned the family didn’t have much space and had to be real quiet all of the time to avoid detection.

McPherson said he finds it hard to understand how one group of people could treat another group so badly.

Glen Gabriel picked an individual to look at, selecting Oskar Schindler, whose efforts to save Jews was re-created in the movie “Schindler’s List.”

Gabriel said he learned that Schindler was initially a supporter of German leader Adolf Hitler but later became sympathetic to the Jewish plight and was able to save hundreds of them by getting them transferred to work in his factory.

“At least he saved some of them,” Gabriel said.

“I learned a lot,” he said, adding that one of the most important lessons was that, if you treat other people badly, bad will happen to you.

“Karma,” he said.

gwin@vindy.com