Christal Cooper
*This piece first appeared in the Asian American
Times http://asianamericantimes.us
in April of 2011. It has been updated
for the April 30, 2014 blog entry.
Guest Blogger: Kim
Klett,
English and Holocaust Studies
In Mesa, Arizona
BITTERSWEET
It took me fifty years
to deal with the Holocaust at all. And I did it in a literary way.
Leonard
Baskin
April
is a bittersweet month. While the
weather warms and the flowers bloom, it is also a time of reflection, for April
is Genocide Awareness month. It is a
time to remember, a time to mourn, and a time to make a pledge or take a
stand.
As a
high school teacher of a course called “Holocaust Literature,” it is sometimes
difficult to get my students interested in events occurring halfway around the
world, when their attention is directed to the senior prom and their upcoming
graduation.
Yet it is imperative that my
students learn what is happening, especially after learning of the atrocities
of the Holocaust. It is a common
reaction, especially at the beginning of the course, for students to ask, “But
why didn’t anyone do anything?” I
sometimes ask, “What are we doing today for the people of Darfur or the
Congo?” I am usually the recipient of a
blank stare at this point.
My
students spend about three months studying the Holocaust before we delve into
the topic of other genocides. They learn
about Hitler’s rise to power, a little about the history of anti-Semitism, and
read many firsthand accounts by people who experienced this horrible time in
history.
They
read about people in the United States, who saw the headlines and probably
shook their heads and then moved on with their days. They read about people who went into hiding,
including one family that hid in a sewer in Lvov, Poland, for fourteen
months. They read about the ghettos and
the atrocious conditions in which people were forced to live.
They
read about the camps—labor camps, transit camps, and the six death camps in
Poland.
They
hear a survivors speak; In 2011, my students had the privilege to hear Otto
Schimmel, who survived Auschwitz and other camps; Harold Minuskin, who was a child of
partisans; and Stephen Nasser, who survived the camps and held a secret for
many years. Three completely different
experiences, and three incredible men who lived to bear witness.
The
lessons my students learn from survivors—whether written or in person—are
priceless. They understand why people
said “Never again” after the horrors of the Holocaust were brought to the
world’s attention—horrors that had been there all the time, but that people
chose to ignore.
So I
would be remiss if I were to stop there in my class. For “Never again” did not become a
reality. Genocides continued. Cambodia.
Bosnia. Rwanda. Darfur.
The Congo. And those are just a
few. We haven’t always called them
“genocide,” but they exist, nonetheless.
I start
the unit each semester with hope, hope that maybe a few of the students will
realize that their voices do count. Hope
that they will share the information with others. Hope that maybe they will make a difference,
somehow, some day.
Luckily,
I have seen this happen. Nine years ago,
when I started following Darfur in the news, I realized this was
important. When Colin Powell called it a
genocide, I was happy—somebody finally used the word; now we would have to do
something about it.
I
attended a rally in Washington, DC, along with about ten thousand others, in
2005. It was there that I received a
green rubber bracelet reading “Not on our watch,” George Bush’s words scrawled
on a memo he received about the situation in Darfur. I vowed that I would not remove the bracelet
until this genocide ended.
My
passion carried over to my students. I
took a group of students to NAU to hear Paul Rususabagina speak. He said six words that resonated with me: “We
have been bystanders too long.”
On the
bus ride back, a plan hatched. We would
sponsor an event at our school, a concert with local bands and
entertainment. We started planning, and
had a very successful event, attracting over 500 people on a Friday night in
our school’s cafeteria. It has become an
annual event, evolving and changing each year, but one that people
anticipate.
Sometimes
we earn some money to donate to a related cause, such as the Sister Schools
program (www.sisterschools.org)
or Doctors Without Borders
(www.doctorswithoutborders.org). But more importantly, we spread
awareness. Students bring their parents
and friends. Those friends bring a
neighbor. That neighbor tells his
co-workers. Just as propaganda about the
Jews spread quickly during the Holocaust, so does information about these
atrocities, when people get involved.
We recently
had the roadies from Invisible Children (www.invisiblechildren.com)
do a presentation at our school. I
watched one segment, as 1,100 students and teachers watched intently, and was
so proud afterwards to see them brushing paint on their hands and leaving their
handprint on our pledge wall, promising to make a difference.
I’m
still wearing that green bracelet. I
never thought I would have it this long—I really believed that once the U.S.
knew what was occurring, it would be over in a matter of months. I was wrong.
But I am still hopeful. I send
e-mails to my congressman and make visits to his office. I write letters to other political leaders,
and ask my students to do the same. And
I continue to teach.
Photo
Description and Copyright Information
Photo
1
Florida
Holocaust museum logo for genocide awareness
month
Photo
2
Jacket
cover of Holocaust Literature Set- Magill’s Choice
Photo
3
Children
in a Internally Displaced Person’s Camp in Darfur.
Public
Domain.
Photo
4
Rape
victims who have been successfully reintegrated into
their communities assemble
in a “peace hut” near Walungu,
South Kivu in DRC.
Attributed
to Lea Werchick
Public
Domain
Photo
5
Hitler
stamp
Photo
6
Warsaw
Ghetto wall
May
24, 1941
Attribution:
Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-134-0791-29A /
Knobloch, Ludwig / CC-BY-SA
Ghetto
Photo
7
A
group of prisoners of Hitler’s Labor Camp Mauthausen-
Gusen are forced to play
“leap frog”; one of many grueling
physical exercises Nazis utilized as a way of
“wearing
inmates down”.
CCASA
Germany
Photo
8
Jews
arrival at the Mechelen Transit Camp.
Summer of 1942
Fair
Use Under the United States Copyright Law.
Photo
9
The
main gate at the former German Nazi death camp of
Auschwitz II (Birkenau). Note
that this is inside the camp
looking back from the loading ramp to the
"Gate of Death".
August
of 2006
Attributed
to Angelo Celedon AKA Lito Sheppard
Creative
Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5
Photo
11
Jacket
cover of “My Children, My Heroes Memoires of A
Holocaust Mother” by Sonia
Minuskin
Translated
by Harold Minuskin
Photo
12
Jacket
cover of my brother’s voice
Photo
13
Skulls
of Khmer Rouge victims
February
2005
Public
Domain
Photo
14
Martyrs'
memorial cemetery Kovači in Sarajevo.
March
13, 2009
Attributed to Michael Buker
CCASA
3.0 Unported License.
Photo
15
Photographs
of Genocide Victims - Genocide Memorial
Center - Kigali – Rwanda
July 25, 2012
Attributed to Adam Jones PhD
CCASA
3.0 Unported License
Photo
16
"Children
in the refugee camps are being encouraged to
confront their psychological
scars. Above, clay figures depict
an attack by Janjaweed." In Darfur,
Sudan.
June
27-29 2004 Attributed to Sean Woo, general counsel to Sen. Brownback,
or John Scandling,
chief of staff to Rep. Wolf.
Public
Domain
Photo
17
"Dem.
Rep. Congo: Meeting for Rape Victims Rape victims
who have been successfully
reintegrated into their
communities assemble in a "peace hut" near
Walungu, South
Kivu in DRC. USAID-supported health programs have
assisted rape
victims with counseling, training, employment,
and safe living environments."
Attributed
to L. Werchick / USAID
Public
Domain
Photo
18
Colin
Powell on a visit to Google on March 16, 2005.
Attributed
to Charles Haynes
CCASA 2.0 Generic License.
CCASA 2.0 Generic License.
Photo
19
Genocide
Awareness Month green bracelet.
Photo
20
Paul
Rusesabagina
June
21, 2006
Public
Domain
Photo
21a and 21b
Sister Schools banner and logo
Sister Schools banner and logo
Photo
22a and 22b
Doctors
Without Borders banner and logo
Photo
23
Invisible
Children logo
Photo 24
Kim
Klett
Copyright
granted by Kim Klett
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