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Rachel Epstein |
Gloria A. Glantz |
Ethel Katz |
Ruth Meador |
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Irving Roth |
Ron Unger |
Gisele Warshawsky |
Shalom Yoran |
In a murder trial, the most valuable evidence is a credible eyewitness to the crime. Unfortunately, in less than 4 decades there will no longer be any living eyewitness to the harrowing, mechanized murder known as the Holocaust. There is a tremendous amount of documentary proof that tells the story of the systematic murder of 6 million Jews. Museums, textbooks, artifacts, and forensic evidence abound. No human evil has been researched and documented as thoroughly. Still, even with the tons of evidence, the true history of the Holocaust remains incomplete without the individual memory and testimony of the Holocaust survivor. A program was developed to secure a continuity of memory so that the personal horrors of the Holocaust will never be forgotten.
The “Adopt a Survivor” program by Irving Roth, Director, Holocaust Resource Center, instituted in 1998 is an attempt to capture and preserve the survivor’s experience. Students interact with survivors individually. Starting with his childhood, the survivor describes his parents, siblings, friends and teachers in prewar Europe. The journey continues through the war years and goes beyond liberation. The student learns of the survivor’s attitudes and feelings towards these events to understand precisely what the survivor experienced. Seeing and hearing an eyewitness makes history come alive. The events of the holocaust are no longer abstractions; rather they are the very real experiences of a very real human being. The successful student absorbs the survivor’s life, spirit and soul. He is able to retell the survivor’s story accurately and will do so for generations beyond the survivor’s life.
The Nita Lee Memorial Art project is part of a multifaceted program that resulted from the convergence of needs, desires and experiences in Holocaust education. It provides a concrete qualitative measure of the effectiveness of the “Adopt a Survivor Program”. The student’s artistic expression through graphic art, poetry and prose represent the student’s interpretation of the survivor’s experience. The creative process flows from the empathy and compassion the student nurtured from the special relationship he developed with the survivor. So far the program has met with great success and we hope that other Holocaust educational institutions will avail themselves of this powerful resource.