Briarcliff Middle School eighth graders had a meaningful trip to the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, in New York City recently.
After reading “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank in English class, and learning about world War II and the Holocaust in Social Studies class, the entire eighth grade traveled to lower Manhattan to visit the museum and get a closer look at the events of the time.
“We toured the museum for one hour in small groups with a tour guide,” said social studies teacher John Lloyd. “The exhibit started out with a display of Jewish culture and values and described the events leading up to, during and after the Holocaust.”
The exhibit, Lloyd said, described in detail the laws the Nazi regime put in place to discriminate against Germany’s Jewish population and the events leading to the Holocaust.
“We also learned about the system of concentration and labor camps during that time, the consequences, the world’s reaction and the liberation of the camps,” Lloyd said. “We learned about efforts that Jewish people made to resist, whether by trying to escape the camps, or by trying to resist the Nazis’ efforts to dehumanize them while at the camps. The exhibit also discussed the survivors and the aftermath of the Holocaust.”
L
loyd was surprised to learn about a classmate of Anne Frank, who also hid from the Nazis but survived.
“I did not know about this story, and this is something that stood out to me,” he said. “Another thing that stood out was how serious and attentive most of the students were. At school they can be very energetic and even a bit goofy, but at the museum they were focused, respectful and fully absorbed. The guides were asking them questions throughout the exhibit tour, and they were very engaged. After the museum, we toured the North and South Towers at Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial, and they were very respectful there as well.”
It was clear that the trip resonated with the students.
“We learned about the partisan resistance groups, and how some kids were hidden in churches,” Zane said. “I knew about it, but not to that extent.”
“It felt more real to hear the stories of individual people in the museum than in the classroom,” Chiara said.
“I saw a lot of artifacts that belonged to Jewish people, like the clothes and the Star of David patches that they had to wear,” Maya said. “It was interesting to see it materialize before us, and also very sad.”
