A life-long learner's education continues in Budapest and Prague

By Larry Kolano

Larry Kolano is a retired middle school social studies/U.S. History teacher from Longview's Cascade Middle School. For over 40 years he has read and studied books and viewed films covering different aspects of the Holocaust. His formal Holocaust education training includes classes and seminars sponsored by the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center, B'nai Brith, Facing History, and the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. In 2005 JFR awarded him an Alfred Lerner Fellowship. In addition to attending presentations in classroom settings, he participated in the JFR's summer Holocaust trip to Germany and Poland in 2008. For three years he served on the Holocaust Center's education advisory committee. Even in retirement, he conducts Holocaust presentations to civic groups and elementary/secondary classes. Larry currently resides in California.

[Photo by Larry Kolano: Memorial on the Danube. Cast iron shoes.]

For most of my 30 year teaching career I taught my students the basics of the Holocaust. Both teenaged and adult students were amazed by the inhumanity displayed by Nazi Germany and its allies between 1933 and 1945. As a life-long learner, I continue to explore different aspects of the Holocaust.

In 2008 I journeyed to Dachau, Buchenwald, and Auschwitz with other Holocaust scholars. In 2010 I travelled to Budapest and Prague to learn about the treatment of Jews in Hungary and the Czech Republic. Experiences of the Jewish people differed from those who lived in the German Reich, Poland, the Ukraine, and other occupied territories. Until 1944 Hungary's leaders allied themselves with Germany and successfully refused to comply with Nazi requests for Jewish "special actions" and "relocation." When faced with Hungary's defection, after the Red Army crossed its border, German troops invaded and Nazi racial laws implemented. With the assistance of Hungary's anti-semitic Arrow Cross, hundreds of thousands of Jews were rounded up and sent off to Auschwitz or they were simply killed where they were housed awaiting transport. Others were herded to the banks of the Danube, shot, and their bodies thrown into the river. A memorial comprised of bronzed shoes now exists at one of the execution spots along the Danube.

The Holocaust in Hungary was new to me. I had heard of Raoul Wallenberg's efforts to save Jewish lives, but I had never read about or heard about the collection of horrors inflicted on the Jewish population living in and around Budapest. After preparing for the trip by reading The Siege of Budapest, Kasztner's Train, and Hunting Eichmann and experiencing the European tour associated with the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center and Museum Without Walls, I have a much greater understanding of the Holocaust as it developed in another occupied country.

New Afghan Leaks: School Reform Could “Turn Around” Failing War

July 26, 2010 (GBN News): While controversy continues to swirl around recently revealed leaks calling into question the effectiveness of the war effort in Afghanistan, new documents leaked to GBN News could prove to be an even bigger bombshell. A secret US plan reportedly aims to undermine the public education system in areas controlled by the Taliban through a new “turnaround” program, thus ultimately depriving the Taliban of capable recruits. But unlike the previous reports, this new plan paints a more encouraging picture in which success seems far more likely.

According to sources, a CIA operative has already been able to infiltrate the Taliban and gain control of their education ministry. This agent quickly acted to introduce a system called NJLB (No Jihadist Left Behind), which entails strict accountability based on test scores, as well as serious consequences for teachers and schools whose students do not measure up. Turnaround options for schools can range from kidnapping the principal and shooting 50% of the staff, to replacing entire schools with charter schools secretly funded by the Gates, Broad or Walton Foundations and run by private, for profit local warlords.

The potential of this new Afghan educational policy was not lost on at least one prominent education leader in this country. When told that the Taliban will shoot the lowest performing teachers, Washington DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s eyes widened. “You can do that?” she asked, and then turned to an aide and whispered, “Get me Randi on the phone. I’m sure she’ll agree to a little change in the contract.”

But one noted expert, J. Fredrick Runson, Professor of International Law at Manhattan University, has a word of caution. “Targeting civilian populations is considered a war crime under international law. If I were someone like Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, or Arne Duncan, I’d tread carefully. Destroying a public education system could bring about some serious legal consequences.”

Al Roth

Forbes profiles my Harvard colleague.