Holocaust center trip leaves lasting impact
”How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
This quote, credited to a well-known victim of the Holocaust, Anne Frank, seems especially relevant in light of the recent acts of violence toward the Jewish community in Southwestern Pennsylvania. A group of Trinity students recently attended a field trip that taught them a powerful lesson in the necessity of heeding Anne Frank’s words.
On Nov. 13, 41 students and three teachers took a trip to the Pittsburgh Holocaust Center in Squirrel Hill. This was followed by a visit to a the Community Elementary School that houses a memorial to the 6 million Jewish people killed in the Holocaust, and finally a drive past the Tree of Life Synagogue, the sight of a recent mass shooting that left 11 dead in late October.
While at the Holocaust Center, students were given the opportunity to tour the exhibits, including one that showcased the fashion of the 1940s as designed by Jewish dressmaker Hedy Strnad, as well as many other Jewish artifacts dating back to the 1800s.
The students also were able to listen to a guest speaker, Lynne Ravis, discuss her father’s immigration to the United States at the age of six, and how it almost did not happen because of the violence of Kristallnacht.
Students look at fabric samples from Jewish seamstress Hedy Strnad.
Kristallnacht or “the night of broken glass” is when members of the Nazi party paraded around Germany wreaking havoc upon Jewish neighborhoods and shops; this Nov. 9 marked 80 years since its occurrence.
Ravis’ story dealt with the idea of what she referred to as “us vs. them.” She explained that within every tragedy lies the idea that one group of people is an “us” and their opposition is a “them,” whether it be 70 years ago or just last month.
To dissuade this mindset, Ravis told students that even one small act of kindness can make a world of difference and chip away at the hatred that permeates modern society. She is, to this day, grateful for her grandmother’s act of kindness by taking her father away from the anti-Semitism and violence that was so prevalent in Germany, especially after Kristallnacht.
“I believe one of the greatest traits we can model for our young people is empathy,” said Kristen Shaw, tenth-grade English teacher and chaperone. “Today, the speaker reminded my students about the positive impact of even the smallest acts of kindness; it is my hope that they will act on behalf of any oppressed group and embrace diversity at all levels of society as they grow into adulthood.”
Trinity senior and field trip attendee Hannah Klepsky believes that eliminating the “us vs. them” attitude as mentioned by Ravis is the key to preventing more violent incidents from happening in the future.
“I already do my best to avoid being judgmental, but the story the speaker shared convinced me, in a way, that the ‘us against them’ mindset needs to be fixed,” said Klepsky.
Maria Cimino is Co-Editor-in-Chief of “The Hiller” newspaper.
Trinity student Kylie Poland on the campus of Community Day School visits the Gary and Nancy Tuckfelt Keeping Tabs: A Holocaust Sculpture, which commemorates every one of the approximately 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.