Yellow badge made mandatory by the Vichy regime in France
On Monday, three colleagues and I took two classes to Paris. We went to two Jewish museums: The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme and the Mémorial de la Shoah as part of a Holocaust project.
Last May we had started this project with a view to take the students to Auschwitz but finally this won’t be possible as it would be too expensive and we are not sure we can get outside fundings. Nevertheless we went on with the project as we deemed it necessary that our students should learn about the Holocaust.
Some students work on the following topics:
- Fleeing Europe: Nazism and Exile
- The United States and the Holocaust
- From Reality to Fiction: the Holocaust in the movies (based on Schindler’s List).
- Being a child in Nazi Europe: Testifying through Literature.
The same class also worked on the Jewish community of Lithuania, starting from a post written by Leora.
The other class is trying to follow the destinies of the adults and children who made up our local community before WW2 so as to find out what happened to them during the war.
I hope to have time later today or tomorrow to explain what we did in Paris on Monday but first I wish to congratulate my students for their behavior and attitude. They remained very quiet and never showed any sign of impatience or indifference. They listened, looked at what they were shown and answered questions. Their knowledge often surprised me as I hadn’t realized they had already learnt so much.
7 Comments
December 3, 2008 at 11:26 am
I have a friend in Israel who’s father (I believe) lived in France during the Holocaust. My friend said his father’s older sister was killed because she wanted to go out with her friends (what teenager doesn’t), and his sister didn’t listen to her parents and got caught.
>Their knowledge often surprised me
Of course (to us)! You are a very good teacher.
December 3, 2008 at 1:43 pm
What a wonderful experience you’re giving your students. I’m glad that they were respectful and attentive; it’s a testament to your teaching skills!
December 4, 2008 at 11:28 am
I wish you had been my teacher at school. I would have appreciated the opportunities and guidance you are providing so much.
December 4, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Thanks to the three of you; you make me blush.
December 5, 2008 at 8:27 am
[...] Workshop: As mentioned in my previous post, I spent monday morning at The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme with some [...]
December 8, 2008 at 4:57 pm
It’s so important for young people to know about the holocaust as well as other genocides that are taking place in the world. Kudos to you for being part of an education that includes awareness of historic (and present) atrocities. It’s easy to deny what we have no knowledge of.
The badge is terrifying.
December 28, 2008 at 7:11 pm
You are invited to visit:
http://star-of-david.blogspot.com/search/label/Yellow%20Badge