Holocaust Survivor Forum at Everett Community College

Holocaust Survivor Forum Starts April 13 at Everett Community College

Forum Schedule and Details

With Everett Community College's 12th Holocaust Survivors forums scheduled to start April 13, founder and EvCC humanities instructor Joyce Walker shared why she started the forums and what she hopes students will learn.

In Spring 2000, Walker started the Humanities 150D class, Surviving the Holocaust, and she's taught it every year since. As director of EvCC's Humanities Center, she started the Holocaust forums at the same time as part of the class and has opened the forums to the campus and local community each year.

Walker has long been interested, both professionally and personally, in the history of the Holocaust.

"Stays in Germany in both high school and college caused me to wonder how such a great culture could fall so low in the Holocaust - from the apex to nadir of human civilization," said Walker, who said her Ph.D. in comparative literature includes a major focus on German language and literature.

Walker's class attempts to answer questions like "Why did the Nazis kill?" and "How did people survive such dehumanization?"

"My hope is that by studying the Holocaust, students will resolve to stand up for others in the face of hate speech and hateful acts," she said.

The Holocaust forums start April 13 with Survivor Fred H. Taucher's story. His father was seized during Kristallnacht, and his family was hidden by a high-ranking Nazi Party member until he was arrested and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Taucher will speak from 12:20-1:50 p.m. in Baker Hall 120.

The Holocaust Center is proud to have worked with Joyce Walker and Everett Community College for many years, providing speakers and professional development opportunities.


About the photo above:
Instructor Joyce Walker, founder of EvCC's Holocaust Forums, examines notes taken Jan. 20, 1942 at the Wannsee Conference, when top German Nazi officials formally announced the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question," the decision to deport and murder the Jews of Europe. The minutes of that meeting, known as the Wannsee Protocol, are preserved in the room where the meeting took place near Berlin, now a Holocaust museum. Walker travelled to Berlin March 17-26 with study abroad students from Fullerton College, a community college in California, at the invitation of her brother, Western Civilization and German professor John Walker. Joyce Walker lectured the Fullerton students on the Holocaust during the trip.

Welcome newest Speakers Bureau members!

Ron F.

Ron is a second generation speaker who tells his father's story. His father Herbert, now 85, escaped from Vienna at age 14 aboard the Kindertransport. This event, and the ensuing years before his emigration to America, were the defining moments of his life.

"It is important to remember an event such as the Holocaust. It is a reminder to us all of the evils of bigotry and humiliation of others. Unfortunately, there are many holocausts in the world—both big and small—which have occurred since, and continue to occur. And it is left to ensuing generations to resonate the lessons of history. "

Marie-Anne H.

Marie-Anne is a second generation speaker who tells the story of her grandmother and mother - both part of the French resistance during the Holocaust. They helped refugees escape from Eastern Europe to free France via Paris.

"All my adult life my goal has been to inspire children to expand their view of their world through books and reading. Why? Because the few who resisted the Nazis and hid Jews at the risk of their lives and the lives of their loved ones had that elusive quality--empathy. And empathy is partially acquired through understanding and respect."

George E.

George's story begins in 1941, when he was 3 years old and living in the Warsaw ghetto with his mother, who worked in a factory making German uniforms. After escaping the ghetto with his mother, George survived by living with a series of Polish Catholic families till the war's end. He and his mother left Poland for France, and then to the U.S. in 1949.

"I kept a safe emotional distance from the Holocaust until October 2009, when I saw a scene in the film "Paper Clips." In the scene, teachers and school children in a small Tennessee town were crying after hearing the stories of Holocaust survivors visiting their school. It made me realize how important it is for those who lived through the Holocaust to speak and convey its personal meaning to today's children."

George recently visited Spanaway Lake High School and wrote about the experience (with photos) on his blog. George's memoir, Neither Yesterdays Nor Tomorrows is available for purchase through the Holocaust Center's store.

Learn more about the Speakers Bureau here.

Mr. Leo Hymas Is Keynote Speaker in Texas

Leo Hymas, local liberator and member of the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau was invited to Texas to be the key note speaker at Wharton County College's Spring 2011 President's Lecture Series.

Mr. Hymas, a U.S. liberator of the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald, told his personal story of being a young soldier in World War II.

"I want students to cherish what we have in this country and to stand up against the bully for what is right," Mr. Hymas shared with his audience.

See photos

Holocaust Survivor Stresses Tolerance at North Mason High

Belfair - More than a dozen community members as well as a packed room of students at North Mason High listened quietly recently as Peter Metzelaar told his story of being hidden in The Netherlands, where he grew up, during World War II. Metzelaar was a Jewish boy who, as one of "the hidden," was protected by non-Jews and avoided being sent to a concentration camp.

Read More

Seattle Channel features the Holocaust Center

A Channel 21 reporter interviewed some of our speakers/survivors and highlighted our Center as a Seattle resource. The interview was featured on City Stream, a program on the Seattle Channel.

check out the episode with survivors and members of the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau, Pete, Frieda, Henry, and Steve. Teacher Debbie and footage of the August teacher seminar also included. The Holocaust Center's story is at the beginning of the show, and again towards the end of the show.

Watch City Stream Segment

Eva Lassman, Holocuast Survivor and Speakers Bureau Member, dies

We are very sorry to share that Eva Lassman, Holocaust survivor and member of the Holocaust Center's speakers bureau, died on February 9. Eva was the only survivor living in the Spokane area who frequently shared her incredible story with students. Eva inspired so many - she will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.

Article in the Spokesman Review

Holocaust Survivor Meets with Kent Students

Holocaust survivor Magda Schaloum meets with Kent students, shares her experiences

By LAURA PIERCE
Kent Reporter Editor
Feb 02 2011

To those who have ever doubted there was a Holocaust, Magda Schaloum has news for them.

It happened.

Every terror, every faded photograph, every recollection whispered in a tear-roughened voice.
“Unfortunately, even today there are people who say the Holocaust never happened,” said Schaloum, now in her 80s, but buoyant with life.

To describe those years of dehumanizing treatment and fear is her way to countering the lies that the Holocaust never was.

“I think it is my obligation,” she told the gymnasium of students and staff at Meridian Middle School.

Schaloum, who survived the Nazis and went on to marry and raise a family with a fellow death-camp survivor, is a speaker with the Washington State Holocaust Resource Center, a Seattle-based organization dedicated to assisting educators in teaching about the holocaust, and in connecting local survivors to speak publicly about their experiences.

Schaloum was present at the request of Meridian teacher Debbie Carlson. She spoke Jan. 27, which is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Her presentation that day also was a key part of studies for Meridian’s eighth-graders, who are learning about the Holocaust in class. Read full article.

Magda S., Holocaust Survivor, at Meridian Middle School

Meridian Middle School Honors International Holocaust Remembrance Day

In education, studying primary source documents is often a valuable tool. Meridian’s eighth-graders had an opportunity to hear from the ultimate primary source, a living witness to the Holocaust, as part of their language arts literature study. Mrs. Magda Schaloum, an eighty-eight year old Hungarian survivor of the Holocaust spoke to students sharing her story of deportation from her Hungarian village, life in Auschwitz and the Plaszow work camp in Poland, a weapons factory in Germany, and finally liberation from Muhldorf, another concentration camp in Germany at the end of World War II.

January 27th marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, in 1945. Listening to Mrs. Schaloum share her survival story was a powerful way for the students to honor the memories of the more than 6,000,000 Jewish people, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the mentally and physically handicapped, and homosexuals who lost their lives under the Nazi regime from 1933-1945.

Students honored Mrs. Schaloum with flowers and their undivided attention as she told of her moving experiences losing her father, mother, and brother. She told of her personal humiliation, brutal beatings, starvation diet, deprivation, and fear under the horrors of the Nazis. On the tender and sweet side, she shared about the meeting of her husband, a Greek Holocaust survivor, in a displaced persons camp shortly after the end of the war. Mrs. Schaloum began telling her survival story about twenty years ago when many were denying the Holocaust altogether. She knew she had to speak out and make sure the world never forgets.

At the closing of her visit to Meridian Middle School, Mrs. Schaloum was in tears as she said good-bye to the students and shared how much she had been blessed by them as an audience with their gifts of flowers and honor of her. She told the students she had never been treated so well and felt so loved in all of her years of visiting schools. She closed telling them she loved them all and challenged them to never let anyone put them down or allow them to believe they were not valuable and important.

Meridian eighth-graders in Miss Do’s and Mrs. Carlson’s classes have been doing a literature study of the Holocaust in preparation for reading The Diary of Anne Frank, a piece of literature commonly read by eighth-graders nationally. They have been reading about the survivors, rescuers, and resistors involved in life in the Jewish ghettos, concentration camps, and how many were hidden and protected from the Nazi atrocities. Both teachers share a passion for encouraging students to become contributing citizens of the world, honoring and valuing all human life. Studying the Holocaust is a way to learn from the past, honor those whose lives were stolen from them, and look to the future with eyes of tolerance and acceptance. Students are challenged to consider and make personal commitments to change patterns of bullying, harassment, and hatred of other human beings.

The Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center provides teaching trunks, with many primary source materials, literature units, posters, and other resources for teaching the Holocaust and making the link to the present with anti-bullying campaigns and the prevention of future genocides. Meridian Middle School has adopted their theme of “Change Begins with Me” with a huge, beautiful new wall hanging in the eighth grade pod, created by Mr. Bogle. The WSHERC also maintains a list of local Holocaust survivors who are willing to visit schools and other groups to share their own personal stories. Magda Schaloum is part of this local speakers bureau.

From A Student

Hi, I am a student at Hoquiam Middle School and Peter [a Holocaust survivor] came to my school and spoke about the Holocaust. I thought that was just awesome. His story made me think about how lucky I am that I was not in the Holocaust and that I got a family to give me a home and food. So I know if that ever happend to me I would just die. So thank you Peter.

Veterans' Day - Holocaust Survivor & US Soldier on KIRO

Holocaust survivor and US soldier remember liberation

To commemorate Veteran's Day, KIRO radio interviewed Holocaust survivor and speaker Magda Schaloum and WWII Veteran and liberator Ralph Dicecco:

"It's Veteran's Day, a day we remember what members of our armed services have done to make us free. Two Seattle area residents can never forget..."

Click here to listen to or read this short, moving interview, which aired this morning.

George Elbaum - New Member of the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau

George Elbaum is a new member of the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau. He lives in San Francisco and travels to Seattle frequently. His memoir, Neither Yesterdays Nor Tomorrows, can be found on Amazon or borrowed from the Holocaust Center. The book can also be read at http://www.scribd.com/.

(See previous blog post "New Books" for information on George Elbaum's memoir.)

'Paper Clips’ helps S.F. man recall his Holocaust ‘Yesterdays’
Thursday, September 16, 2010 by marinell james
JWeekly.com

Warsaw, 1942: A 4-year-old Jewish boy is hiding under a table in a factory where his mother sews uniforms for the Nazi army. Soon, this arrangement becomes unsafe. The mother dyes her hair blonde, obtains the papers of a deceased Polish woman and changes her name. She smuggles her son out of the ghetto into the countryside, where she pays a Polish family to keep him safe in their home.

George ElbaumThe boy’s mother tells him that his name will now be Jerzy Kochanowski. It’s the first of several Polish names he’ll have during the war as he passes from one hiding place to another. For his protection, he will be raised as a Catholic, unaware that he is a Jew. His mother will visit when she can, sometimes not for a month at a time. San Francisco, 2010: The boy is now a 72-year-old man. Long ago, he moved to the United States and reclaimed his original Jewish name, George Elbaum. He has made a successful life for himself in business, been married 36 years, is a father and a grandfather. For six decades, he kept memories of his wartime childhood at a “safe emotional distance.”

But last year something happened that led Elbaum to finally close that chasm of time and memory.

While he and his wife were watching “Paper Clips,” a movie about schoolchildren in Tennessee who created a Holocaust remembrance project, he had “an epiphany.”

“The scenes where the children and the teachers were crying as they listened to the stories of survivors really hit me,” Elbaum said.

His wife sensed it and asked him, as she had in the past, if he’d write down his own memories. “I was surprised to hear myself say, ‘I’ll do it,’ ” he said. Read complete article.

Teachers in the News

A Summer of Learning
“The whole point is to activate kids,” to get them past the horror and “to understand that they are global citizens and can make a difference.” Jo Cripps is a Seattle Public Schools teacher who was a Memorial Library summer fellow at New York’s Holocaust Education Network in July.

http://www.jtnews.net/index.php?/columnists/item/7860/C7


Teaching the Teachers
Teachers Tammy Grubb and Debbie Carlson describe their experiences and impressions from the Holocaust Center's trip to Budapest and Prague in the JT News.

http://www.jtnews.net/index.php?/news/item/teaching_the_teachers/

Between the Two Rivers: A Story of the Armenian Genocide - BLOG!

Aida Kouyoumjian, author of Between the Two Rivers: A Story of the Armenian Genocide, a book describing her mother's experience during and after the Armenian genocide, has a blog!

http://armenianstory.coffeetownpress.com/

Learn about the book, read reviews, and more...

Between the Two Rivers is available to borrow from the Holocaust Center's library or you can find it on the Amazon.com - it is on the best seller list!

Please Note - if you link to Amazon through the Holocaust Center's homepage - use the Amazon search box - Amazon will donate a small percentage of your purchase to the Holocaust Center!

New Museum on Vashon Honors Romani Culture

Morgan Ahern, a long-time supporter of the Holocaust Center and recent addition to the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau, is an outspoken voice for Romani culture and rights around the world. Check out her blog at http://lolodiklo.blogspot.com/.

Mobile museum on Vashon honors Romani culture
By ELIZABETH SHEPHERD
Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber Arts Editor
Jul 08 2010, 4:12 PM · UPDATED

Vashon has a new museum, but it doesn’t look like most other museums. For one thing, it’s on wheels.

The Romani Traveling Museum and Education Center is tucked inside a 14-foot, wood-paneled 1967 travel trailer parked in Burton. Inside is a treasure trove of items that speaks to the rich culture of the Romani people, an ethnic group commonly referred to as Gypsies.
Colorful scarves are draped across the ceiling, and vibrant fabrics cover the sofas.Captivating photographs of Romani people from all over the world cover almost every inch of wall space. A small library of books, DVDs and music CDs detailing Gypsy life fill the remaining nooks and crannies.

But the museum is not only a celebration of a lively and exotic culture. It also aims to tell a complex and often heartbreaking story that began almost 1,000 years ago, when the Romani people began to migrate to Europe from India, facing discrimination and persecution wherever they moved.

Orchestrating this remarkable display is Morgan Ahern, an Islander who has devoted much of her life to working as an advocate and documentarian for the Romani people. A tall, striking woman, she bears the distinctive look of her heritage — a warm olive complexion and huge brown eyes characteristic of many Romani people...Read Article

East Valley Middle School Hosts Survivors

Julie Scott, a teacher at East Valley Middle School in Spokane, arranges for a Holocaust survivor to speak to her students each year. This is no small task since she must arrange for survivors to fly to Spokane from Western Washington.

Recently, Holocaust survivors Noemi B. and Peter M. spoke at East Valley Middle School.

Julie describes the photos shown here and the experience:

"Eighth grade students at East Valley Middle School listen to Holocaust survivor, Noemi Ban, sharing her experiences during the Nazi occupation of Hungary and in Auschwitz/Birkenau. Students were touched by her story and felt a special connection to her. Several described her as having a warm aura and being like a grandma that they just wanted to hug. She kept them on the edge of their seats, and students said they felt like they were there with her, because she was so descriptive in telling her story."

Students create quilts to honor Holocaust survivor Susie S.

Students from Lisa Kreiger's class at Kalles Junior High School in Puyallup, designed two Holocaust quilts, which they recently donated to the Holocaust Center. These quilts were inspired by the class's Holocaust unit and were created to honor Susie S., the Holocaust survivor who spoke to their class in April.

Says Kreiger of the unit, "We examined the unit from the perspective of the theme of justice and injustice and the role of the bystander in helping, as well as the role of discrimination and propaganda in genocide."

Students were moved by what they learned in the unit and from Susie, a member of the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau.

Both quilts are on display at the Holocaust Center. Thank you for all of your hard work Kalles Junior High!

Can't get to DC but want to attend one of the USHMM's teacher seminars?

On August 24, 2010, the Holocaust Center is partnering with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Seattle University to bring to Seattle

Perspectives on the Holocaust: A Seminar for Educators.

Register Now! (Space is limited.)

This one-day, information packed seminar will provide educators with a solid foundation for teaching about the Holocaust in their classrooms.

We are proud to welcome as our keynote speaker Carl Wilkens, former head of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International in Rwanda, and one of only a handful of Americans who chose to stay in the country after the genocide began. Wilkens is currently the director and founder of World Outside My Shoes.

Sessions are lead by the Holocaust Center's master teachers and USHMM teacher fellows - teachers who have had extensive training and experience in the subject of the Holocaust and genocide.

If you've been teaching the Holocaust for years, or if you have never taught the subject before - all teachers will find the day challenging, thought-provoking, and insightful. No one will leave without having gained new resources and new ideas.

Sessions include:

Nazi Ideology and the Holocaust: An Historical Overview
Guidelines for Teaching the Holocaust
Breakout sessions (Social Studies, Language Arts, and others)

Nazi Propaganda

Local Resources
Antisemitism and the Holocaust
Understanding Contemporary Genocide: The Case of Rwanda (Carl Wilkens)

Stories from a Survivor (Evening program - open to the public)

This incredible professional development opportunity is FREE. Lunch, snacks, and all materials are provided. Clock hours available. Regsitration is now open and space is limited.

Register Now!

Perspectives on the Holocaust: A Seminar for Educators
August 24, 2010
At Seattle University, Seattle
Sponsored by the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Seattle University.

Questions or want more information? Please email Ilana Cone Kennedy, Director of Education, Holocaust Center at ilanak@wsherc.org.

A Late Thank You

"A Late Thank You"

A letter from a student to a Holocaust survivor.*

Hi Al,

My name is xxxxx xxxxx, and I don't think you will remember me. But I met you four years ago when you came to xxxx High School and spoke in our auditorium. I am a senior now and I am taking a Holocaust and Genocide class, and for that class we had to read a book about a genocide and I chose to read your book.

Hearing your story once and reading it has made a huge difference in my life, because of hearing you my freshman year for my senior project I held an event called Camp Darfur in order to raise the awareness of the genocide going on in Sudan. Not only did I design postcards to be sent to President Obama but I also designed t-shirts and sold them to raise money for the millions of refugees. Overall I raised about $500 and sent it to an activist I worked with throughout my project, and she made sure that it got to a refugee camp and they used it for educational purposes.

And I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am that you were able to share your story at my high school, without hearing your story I think I wouldn't be the same person I am today.

For I went through a lot of troubles throughout my four years of high school but in every rough moment I had it just made me think of you and how I couldn't give up, I couldn't forget and I needed to stay strong so I can tell people of what happened during the Holocaust and all of the other genocides I am learning about. I also got your signature and the number that they tattooed on you written on a piece of paper, and that paper has never left my room.

I have met three survivors of genocides in my life so far and I have all of their signatures (yours included) and I wouldn't really like to get them tattooed on my body so I will never be able to forget about the stories I've heard and the horrendous crimes that people have been committing for such a long time now.

I don't think I can tell you thank you enough, you've really made a deep impression on my heart and there will always be a place for you as well as all of the other victims from the Holocaust in there.

One of my stories that I want to share with you is how I was close to committing suicide my junior year and I was about to swallow a bunch of pills when I looked over and saw your signature on my bulletin board and I felt extremely ridiculous for even thinking about committing suicide. Because I realized that if you can make it through the Holocaust and all those camps and the hardships that you went through then it means that I too can overcome the hardships in my life. You gave me hope, inspiration, and a new outlook on life. So I just wanted to send an email to you, wanting you to know how much gratitude and appreciation that I have for you. Thank you so incredibly much.

With love,

xxxxx xxxxxx

*Recently, Alter Wiener, a Holocaust survivor and member of both the Holocaust Center's Speakers Bureau and the Speakers Bureau of the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center, received this letter from a student. Alter Wiener is the author of From A Name To A Number.

Liberator Dee E. travels to Germany

A member of our Speakers Bureau, Dee E., recently traveled to Germany for the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Dachau. During the war, Dee was a soldier in the 42nd Rainbow Division that liberated the concentration camp.

Dee wrote us:

We returned from Dachau yesterday. After a long travel day (May 4, which seemed never ending) I am finally beginning to feel more or less normal.

Our time there from April 28 until May 4 included one ceremony after another, with survivors and their extended families from many countries.

We were invited guests of the Dutch Oud Dachauers, the International Dachau Committee, and the Dachau Memorial Museum. Our daughter from Alaska accompanied my wife and me and helped to keep me headed in the right directions for the multiple events and appearances.

Thank you to Katie E. for sending us pictures of their travels. For more information about the ceremony (and to see another pictures of Dee--he's on the left), read this article from the World Jewish Congress here...

Holocaust Survivor, Magda S., Speaks at Seattle University

Holocaust survivor recounts her life during WWII
Magda Shaloum endured Auschwitz and Muhldorf, meeting her husband shortly after

Seattle University Spectator By Richard Kaiser
Published: Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Photo: Candace Shankel The Spectator

Magda Shaloum was joined by her son Jack to speak in Pigott auditorium. Shaloum is a member of the Speaker’s Bureau of the Washington State Holocaust Resource Center.

With support from her son and cane, Magda Shaloum makes her way up the stage and the spotlight settles on her. She settles into her seat, she adjusts her sleeve buttons and pulls her skirt closer to her feet. She looks down, then forward to an eager au- dience as she begins to tell her story.

Shaloum is a Holocaust survivor who came to Seattle University on behalf of the university’s Jewish Student Union (JSU) April 21 in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day earlier this month. Magda shared her experiences from life in the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Muhldorf, a slave labor camp in Bavaria, Germany... Read full article