Character education and the impact of a liberator

Listening to the NBC Nightly News about a Holocaust survivor reuniting with her liberator nearly 70 years later brought attention to the room.  Marsha Kreuzman, nearly 90 years old, spent five years in concentration camps.  She was forced to dig her own father’s grave after watching his killing.  Her mother and brother also perished in the Holocaust.  Weighing 68 pounds at 18, she was being led to her death outside the crematoria at Mauthausen when the liberators arrived.  Kreuzman moved to the United States, became a nurse and married a Holocaust survivor. She spent years telling her story of the Holocaust to students and organizations.  Coincidently or simultaneously, miles a way, Joseph Barbella from the 11th Armored Division shared his pictures, photographs and story of liberating the Mauthausen concentration camp. Marsha Kreuzman spent years looking for her liberator and discovered Barbella when a 65th wedding anniversary announcement appeared in the newspaper.   Meeting 93-year old Barbella last October, 2013 in Union, New Jersey, Kreuzman was able to say, “I love you.”  In return, Joseph Barbella said, “I’m so thankful we saved you.”  Marsha Kreuzman concluded the NBC interview with, “He deserves to be honored.  Now I can rest in peace knowing that I found him and go to thank the Americans that liberated me.”

With the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27th, the United Nations has designated this day as International Holocaust RemembranceDay.  Thus, in remembering our survivors and liberators, my former students and I have been thinking about Col. Keith Schmedemann who presented at our middle school three years ago.  Preparing the students for the interview, I reinforced that Schmedemann is a primary source; he is present to tell his story of liberation. However, I cautioned students that these veterans or primary sources are increasingly unable to present due to illness or death.  He, like other veterans, sacrificed their lives to save others.  Col Schmedemann passed away on February 12, 2013.  Therefore, from 2011, here is a reprint of a student’s interview with Col. Schmedemann, who liberated survivors in Buchenwald concentration camp.

 

Colonel Schmedemann

by Katie Donaldson

Hearts beating by the second these courageous heroes wait cautiously for the next gunfire. And when its shot, 1, 2, or maybe even 10 donate their life to save our country. Not only do they use their brain for strategies, they use their heart for determination. These champions are willing to sacrifice their lives for us. November is the month we honor saints and veterans. According to America, veterans are saints; saints for our country. They overcame their deepest darkest obstacles and dominated the impossible.

We recognize these advocates that may date back a while ago during the Holocaust or maybe recently in Afghanistan. Last year the fellow eighth graders witnessed an experience of a lifetime, they had the privilege to talk to a liberator in the Holocaust, Col. Keith Schmedemann. He was one of the protagonists that put his worries and selfish needs aside and focused on others. This man and several others are greatly admired for their work to our fellow brothers and sisters. God called him to offer up his life to the vulnerable. Col. Keith Schmedemann remembers every little detail in the years he fought; from the anguish he saw thrust upon the victims in the concentration camps to the arrogant feeling he sensed when he felt victory. His words traveled on a journey, and the students felt every hill he had to climb.

 He talked about how fate brought him into war. His father was in World War 1 and he happened to be born 1 year after that war; time after he would be matured enough to fight in his dad’s footsteps. Col. Keith Schmedemann started his presentation by making the statement, “We quit making automobiles, and started making tanks.” This point in history was when airplanes were modeled and new technology was being created. Soon enough he dug deeper and discussed his work in the Army. With years after years of practice and training, and with the help of K-State, he accelerated from level 1 to the highest level in the Army. This hero was an Infantry Officer; which is a branch of army that is in the action and fighting. He was also involved in liberating a concentration camp called Buchenwald. “I crawled through the mud, dodged bullets, and leaped over creaks,” this is what this idol said about the things you see in movies that he did every day. 

“I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America……” Does this sound familiar? This patriotic leader honors these words every time they are said. He believes in respecting the flag and the country because that shows your pride.  Sometimes when he says these words tears form in his eyes because it reminds him of the sacrifices his colleagues and other veterans faced to free lives.  He admires all the soldiers and their love for their country. Mr. Schmedemann declares, “I don’t think there are wars, it is simply a conflict between beliefs. There is never going to be a winner or loser, but there will be defeats and achievements, like our achievement in defeating Hitler.”

With the use of primary sources such as Joseph Barbella, Marsha Kreuzman, and Keith Schmedemann, students are able to gather, analyze and evaluate information and events.  Thus, the skill that is taught is to utilize text from websites, write an informative piece and produce a technology piece such as powerpoint or educreations.  This opportunity challenges students’ critical thinking skills:  paraphrasing, summarizing, connecting text to self, other text and drawing conclusions.  Web sites utilized were the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, the United States HolocaustMemorial Museum, Yad Vashem, and the Jewish Foundation forRighteous.  

Using their i-pads, students will complete an individual and group project.  At our school, we have monthly character traits or principles; therefore, words such as integrity, responsibility, respect, self-discipline, and tolerance.  Students will create an Educreations project or powerpoint that defines integrity, compassion, and courage, provides examples of liberators, survivors or rescuers enacting them, and narrates a story of each slide.  Students will be able to draw pictures, download photographs and music, and create own music for this project, all while remembering those who make a difference.  

Number the Stars as performed at the Coterie Theatre

Lois Lowry won her first Newbery Award for this book set in Denmark during the Holocaust. The book explores many universal themes including bravery, friendship, and human decency as well as Holocaust topics including rescuers, hiding, perpetrators, resistance, and antisemitism. While the book’s focus is on the two young friends, Annemarie and Ellen, the play is often focused on a young member of the Resistance. Peter (who would have been Annemarie’s brother-in-law had her sister not been killed in her work with the Resistance) provides important details about the history of Denmark and the work of the Resistance members there.

The play is well-acted. Actresses a bit older than their characters convincingly play the three young girls. The supporting cast is believable in their roles as either perpetrators or rescuers. The set is a simple but fascinating one. On the stage are a table, chairs, and a trunk. But the backdrop is constantly changed to show a variety of settings using wall-sized Etch-A-Sketch-like drawings. The audience of middle-school students was fully engaged in the action. The hour-length play was well-written and represented the key concepts and characters in the book very closely.

Like Laura Patton (see her January 17 post), I would prefer to use non-fiction over novels or historical fiction. But there are many effective ways to use a book like Number the Stars (a quick, engaging read for most 6-8^th grade students). Students can study the literary aspects of the book, how the author researched and incorporated the history of the Holocaust in Denmark, and then research the historical aspects themselves. Once students research events presented in the book, they become interested in knowing about other, related events and people.

MCHE, as the education partner of The Coterie Theatre for this play, provides Number the Stars Educational Materials.

There are dozens of online sites providing educational activities to use with the book. Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site provides discussion ideas, activities, and related books. This is one site that shows creative ways to incorporate a novel into historical curriculum.

Lois Lowry's Blog provides useful insights about the book and her research.

In the Afterword of the book, Lowry addresses the question “How much of Annemarie’s story is true?” This is a wonderful section to use with students to pique their interest in the history portrayed in the book. The playwright (Douglas W. Larche) uses this section to create a moving letter from Peter read at the end of the play:

            “… the dream for you all, young and old, must be to create an ideal of human decency, and not a narrow-minded and prejudiced one. That is the great gift that our country hungers for,   something every little peasant boy can look forward to, and with pleasure feel he is a part of — something he can work and fight for.”

I think there are many teachable moments and valuable concepts in this book and in the play that can easily lead to a study of the history of the Holocaust and the memoirs, poetry, and artwork of its victims.

Teaching Anne Frank – The Whole Story

Many middle school English teachers teach some version of the story of Anne Frank to their kids.  In Shawnee Mission, we teach the play version of the diary.   Most of us remember Anne as being our first introduction to the Holocaust.  She is someone that students can easily identify with, and also someone who students can admire for her strength of character and insight into the world.  However, if you teach only Anne’s diary, or some form of it like the play, students are not really getting a Holocaust story.  They are getting a wonderful story of a girl who is in hiding, during the Holocaust.  I feel it is important for teachers to teach their students what happened to Anne and her family before they went into hiding and after, in order for them to see who she really was and what was really happening to her and the millions of other victims of the Holocaust.

One excellent resource, in my opinion, is the movie Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001).  This was a miniseries which is now available in its entirety on DVD.   It was made without actually using the diary – the Anne Frank Foundation did not allow them to use her actual words.  However, it is based on several other biographies and testimony of people who knew her or shared experiences with her.  This movie is in three parts.  Part 1 tells of their life before Hitler came to power in Amsterdam, all the way through to their going into hiding.  I have found it to be an excellent way for the kids to understand how their lives changed once Hitler came into power, the family dynamics before they are forced to live in hiding, and who Anne really was, apart from her diary entries.  

Part 2 is the story of their hiding.  We watch this after we have read the play.  My advanced students read the play as well as about 5 diary entries, so they can see how the play was different than the actual diary.   While it follows the basic story line of the play, it shows in more detail the dynamics of the people living there and just how hard it was.  It also includes all four of the helpers, rather than just Miep and Mr. Kraler in the play.  I have found it to be a great supplement to reading the diary or play.  The kids can see everything a little more realistically than the play, and from more than just Anne’s perspective in the diary.

Part 3 tells the story of what happened to them after they were caught.  To me, this is the most important part of the story that we don’t talk about.  So many people think of Anne’s life only in hiding.  They don’t know (and probably don’t want to know) what happened to her in the camps.  I think it is important to understand how terribly difficult the remainder of her life was, and how strong she did stay despite the conditions.  I also think it’s important to put the diary and play into perspective.  I have my students think about her most famous line, “I still believe people are good at heart,” and analyze whether that is an accurate statement of Anne’s whole life, or just how she was feeling at the time.  Would she have said that in Bergen Belsen?  

The film is long; there definitely is merit in showing portions of it rather than the whole thing.  However, if time allows, I have found that the students get so much more from seeing the whole film in conjunction with reading the diary and/or play, and there is so much that you can teach while watching the film.

Why Anne Frank shouldn't be taught

At the last Midwest Center for Holocaust Education cadre meeting I attended, one of our members mentioned that she had heard a Holocaust scholar say The Diary of Anne Frank should not be taught anymore.  At first, I was as surprised as anyone might be.  But, as I was thinking about what I could write for this month, I was perusing Teaching Holocaust Literature, edited by Samuel Totten, and there was an entire chapter devoted to this same topic.  So, I felt compelled to re-read the chapter and weigh the reasons behind the rationale to stop teaching Anne Frank.

In the chapter by Elaine Culbertson, she explains that Anne Frank’s story is not the usual story of a victim of the Holocaust.  Most victims were not in hiding, nor were there rescuers helping them as there are in Anne Frank’s story.  In fact, less than one percent of non-Jewish Europeans rescued anyone during the Holocaust, and some of the people who did rescue did so for monetary gain rather than out of the goodness of his/her heart. 

While I definitely understand that it may be difficult to go through the process of finding a replacement and having it approved in the curriculum, there are many resources that could replace Anne Frank if a teacher was willing to use smaller pieces, which would perhaps be even better because smaller pieces fit the common core requirements.  A teacher could implement several excerpts from memoirs, poetry and other Holocaust literature, such as diaries, letters, and more.  A great resource for this would be the Echoes and Reflections curriculum that is packed with excerpts.  Another resource might be web sites such as www.mchekc.org or www.ushmm.org and the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education’s resource library.  Culbertson also has several recommendations in Teaching Holocaust Literature.  Whatever resource a teacher chooses, hopefully he/she will reconsider teaching The Diary of Anne Frank.

Totten, Samuel.  Teaching Holocaust Literature.  Boston:  Allyn and Bacon, 2001.  Print.

JFR European Study Trip

Every summer I look to participate in some enrichment activity/course related to what I teach. This past July I had the opportunity to be part of a group of educators traveling to Germany and Poland for two weeks thanks to the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (JFR). Our arrival in Munich launched us into an almost non-stop tour of the Holocaust that took us to Nuremberg, Weimar, Berlin, Warsaw, Tykocin, Krakow, and Oswiecim. Along the way some of the stops we made included Dachau, Buchenwald, Grunewald Station (Berlin), the House of the Wannsee Conference, Treblinka, Majdanek, Auschwitz, and Birkenau. In addition we had the opportunity to meet some of the Righteous Gentiles living in Warsaw at a luncheon sponsored by the JFR.

There were several aspects of this trip, in no particular order, that make it one the best enrichment opportunities I have participated in. First, Robert Jan Van Pelt traveled with us. Having an expert, not just a tour guide (no offense to tour guides of the world), meant we got a more thorough and thought-provoking insight into the history of the various places we visited. Second, meeting the Righteous Gentiles at the luncheon was a humbling and inspiring experience. These are people who risked everything, including their lives, to help Jews under the most difficult of circumstances. It made me wonder about how I would have reacted and what can/should I do today for those facing persecution throughout the world.

The first two aspects alone make this trip incredible but there are two others that contributed most to making this trip extraordinary. While I have taught the Holocaust in some form for 18 years there is always more I want to know. This trip afforded me the opportunity to expand on what I know. Most importantly I got to see some of the places themselves. Visiting the various camps and other locations helped provide an understanding that cannot be found in a book. For example, spending 8-9 hours walking the grounds at Birkenau enabled me to better comprehend the layout of the camp. Now when I teach about Birkenau I can provide a better sense of the space it occupies within the camp itself and externally within the surrounding area.

Finally, traveling with other dedicated Holocaust educators proved invaluable in many ways. Practically speaking we had two weeks to share ideas on lessons we teach as well as to offer recommendations on books and other resources. I came back with extensive lists of recommended resources that will keep me busy learning about the Holocaust for quite sometime. I also found it useful while visiting the various locations to have a group of people with whom I could discuss what we just saw. While other people may not understand why I spend so much time and effort on studying the Holocaust it was nice to be part of a group that understood.