Exhibit brings message of peace and tolerance
Holocaust survivors' stories, views are focus of O.B. library display
BY MARY ANNE ROSS
Correspondent

MICHAEL ACKER A panel presents the story of one of the Holocaust survivors featured in the exhibit "Survival of the Human Spirit: Triumph Over Adversity," which runs through Nov. 30 at the Old Bridge Public Library.

OLD BRIDGE - The display is simple, but compelling. Some 29 panels featuring black and white photo portraits of survivors of the Holocaust, accompanied by brief essays each has written about some aspect of their experience.

This is "Survival of the Human Spirit: Triumph Over Adversity," a major exhibit on the Holocaust that opened at the Old Bridge Public Library last week and will be on display there until Nov. 30. The display was created by the Center for Holocaust Studies at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft section of Middletown, and is based on the center's award-winning book "To Tomorrow's Children."

"We know that as time goes by there will be less opportunity for young people to meet with these survivors, so we asked them to include a message to children of the future," said Seymour "Sy" Siegler, co-founder and co-director of the center.

The contrast between the incredible horrors the survivors have endured and the legacies they wish to pass on is a testament to the human spirit. Over and over again, they prescribe tolerance, compassion and respect for human dignity.

Helena Flaum, who lost her family during the Holocaust, sends a message of hope.

"My message for the future is not to give up. Peace on Earth will come."

She adds, "My father wanted me to survive with that message."

Genia Litwok, who spent her teen years in concentration camps, warns young people that "we must not only remember how the Holocaust ended but how it began. It is critical that you pay attention to what is going on in the world so that nothing like the Holocaust ever happens to anyone again, anywhere in the world."

John Woolf, who attended the opening, is one of the survivors whose story is on display. He described how he struggled with his own feelings toward the people he felt were responsible for the Holocaust.

"During the Cold War, my company wanted to send me to Germany, but I didn't want to go."

Instead, he ended up in Korea and then Japan, where he realized that many Japanese did not hate Americans and were actually pressured into their involvement with the war. Later, he would work in Germany and have the same realization about the people there. "Eventually I developed some very long-lasting friendships with some of the Germans I met," he said. "Watch who you hate. It's a poison. You have to judge people as individuals, not by what country they're from or what religion they are."

Nelly Segal, who helped coordinate the project, is not surprised by the tone of the survivors' messages. They're not bitter, she noted.

"They deal with this with dignity, courage and a love of humanity. They are remarkable people," she said.

The exhibit has been very well received and will be brought to schools and libraries through the coming year.

Siegler, who was a professor of psychology, and his colleague Jack Needle, a history professor, started the Center for Holocaust Studies 28 years ago. They presented four "lunch and learn" programs called "Why Teach the Holocaust?" Their talks were so popular that Norma Klein, dean of the Community Services Division of the college, suggested making the programs a permanent offering.

"I remember when we opened in 1979," recalled Siegler. "We had one shelf with a plaque on it in the library and one vertical file for papers. Jack and I went into New York to purchase books from the old Barnes & Noble with money that had been donated."

While there are now 19 Holocaust programs at colleges throughout the state, the one at Brookdale was the first and has been recognized as a Center of Excellence by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. Part of the mission of the center at Brookdale is to educate people not only about the Holocaust, but about other acts of genocide. They also strive to help eliminate racism, anti-Semitism and all forms of prejudice, and to develop creative programs about these issues.

"You take a good person, a good teacher, and you educate them about this topic, and they become enraged and determined to do something about it," said Siegler.

The center offers a variety of teacher workshops and trainings. They arrange to have survivors go out to schools and tell their stories.

"It has such an impact when students have a chance to talk to and listen to someone who has gone through this," he said.

The center also offers a unique program for juvenile offenders. In addition to other sentencing, anyone convicted of a hate crime in Monmouth County must attend 12 evening sessions at the center, where they meet the people they hate. They have to bring their probation officers and their parents to two of the sessions.

"We can't say for sure how it's working, but from what they've written, we think it has changed their minds, at least for some of them. One person actually came back to the center and volunteered. We are the only Holocaust center in the country that does this," Siegler said.

He hopes the program will grow.

"I would like to see every school have a good solid library of Holocaust materials, book films and DVDs, vertical files of articles kids could research. I would like to see more teachers trained. And I would like to see more schools implement a curriculum for these at all grades, just the same as they have math, reading and science curriculums."

Sandburg Middle School teachers Patricia Raynor, of Monroe, Carol Grant, of Freehold, Kathleen Kohlhepp, of East Brunswick, and Georgia Vassallo, of Sayreville, all attended the Nov. 5 opening. They are taking a Holocaust teaching course offered by Kean University. As part of their training they have visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and have met with survivors.

All four lamented how little information about the subject is available in typical social studies texts.

Grant, who teaches seventh grade, noted that there were only about three paragraphs in the social studies textbook.

"Until I took this training, I didn't realize how much I didn't know," she said.

Vassallo, a sixth-grade literacy teacher, said she will now being doing an entire unit on the Holocaust.

"We will be reading books about it and writing to Holocaust survivors," she said.

Raynor, who teaches eighth-grade language arts and literacy, noted that while students have always read "The Diary of Anne Frank," more books will be added to the curriculum. She tries to have her students picture themselves living like Anne did.

"They have a very hard time with that. They can't imagine being without their iPod, cell phone or TV," she said.

Kohlhepp, an eighth-grade teacher, noted how upset the students are when they study the Holocaust.

"They ask some hard questions, and the survivors have actually helped me address those issues," she said. "[Survivors] see every hate crime as a crime against humanity and focus on individual responsibility."

Kohlhepp helps her students consider what they can do on a personal level to fight prejudice and indifference.

"We look at this in terms of broader social issues, but we are also able to relate this to bullying and conflict resolution," she said.

"The Holocaust should have changed the way we relate to each other, but it has not changed us enough," Siegler said.

"There are now a couple hundred centers for Holocaust studies throughout the world. But there has also been a mushrooming of hate groups. People need to volunteer, write letters to their government officials and be involved in fighting this," he said.

He quoted the Holocaust scholar Dr. Yehuda Bauer: "Never be a victim. Never be a perpetrator. And most of all, never be a bystander."

For more information about the Center for Holocaust Studies and the programs offered, call (732) 224-2769 or visit the Web site www.holocaustbcc.org. The center is located on the campus of Brookdale at 765 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft 07738.