Students in Mrs. Fuentes, Mr. Liow, Mr. Hintermaier and Mrs. Collier's classes spent Monday, Nov. 13, at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Ga., to coincide with their study of Jan Gross' book, "Neighbors." While at the museum, the students divided into groups and were able to listen to either a Holocaust survivor share their story, or the daughter of a survivor give their testimony of what happened during life between 1933-1945 and the effects it had on them and their families. Not only did students get to bear witness to these living testimonies, they were also able to see pictures and artifacts from this time period that were donated by survivors and their families. Students were asked to share what they thought about their experience at the museum and here is what they thought:
"I really enjoyed the field trip since I had the chance to know more about the Holocaust and being able to understand and know the live speakers life living and surviving through it. I had felt it more sad and serious of this situation after the field trip since before we never really spoke about the Holocaust and how devastating it was to see the pictures and the stories of each and every single one of those 6 million people. The people that have welcomed us to this museum did an outstanding job on teaching us more in detail to what really happened and why. I would recommend doing this field trip since there was a lot of information and it was a different type of experience." - Zoe Oszoy, sophomore
"I really enjoyed the field trip because we got firsthand stories from a person who survived the Holocaust in very good detail. He told us every detail he could possibly muster of both the situation before he was born and the situation after he was born. I do want to go sometime again, just to see the exhibits for myself and witness the horrors that were the Holocaust; it is a very good story to be reminded of because it helps us to make sure that we are doing the right thing. I feel like the Holocaust itself is a story of an oppressed class being broken because the wrong man got into power, and I feel like there is quite a bit that we can learn from that situation and use that information today." - Nathan Rast, sophomore
"I believe the field trip to the Breman Museum gave me a new perspective on the Holocaust. Listening to a person who was willing to share his story about surviving the Holocaust helped me learn more and realize how hard living through those times was for him. Walking through the museum and learning new facts about the persecution and murder of the Jews was a very eye-opening experience for me." - Clara York, sophomore
'"The field trip to the Breman Museum was really interesting and informative. The most exciting part was the story from a survivor since it's not something you hear about in everyday conversation, while compared to our exposure as kids which would be books. It can be hard to rationalize words on paper being written and even to imagine the tragedy of the Holocaust. Yet, hearing someone who's been through it speak on it feels more natural and not like something that is not about a time when we were not around." - Mary Hanson Borders, sophomore
