Middle school students from St. Mary School recently participated in the Face to Face Holocaust education program offered by Congregation Shaarey Tikvah...
Students Participate in Holocaust Program
Middle school students from St. Mary School recently participated in the Face to Face Holocaust education program offered by Congregation Shaarey Tikvah synagogue in Beachwood. They listened intently as George Kronenberg shared his experience as a 10-year-old survivor of the Kindertransport. The Kindertransport was a program that brought 10,000 children from Nazi-occupied Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to England, without their parents, from December 1938 until September 1939. After World War II began, this escape route was no longer possible. Kronenberg’s parents perished in the Holocaust and he never saw them again.
“There is no better way for one to hear about tragic or momentous events than to hear about them from someone who was there.” said Face to Face director Louise Freilich. “The days are numbered when our students will have the chance to meet survivors. Considering that there is still Holocaust denial more than 70 years after liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, the value of such a meeting is more critical than ever.”
St. Mary School teacher Amber Yeager remarked about the trip to Shaarey Tikvah, saying, “This program provides our students with a first-hand experience to learn from leaders in the Jewish faith and Holocaust survivors. It sends a powerful message that really resonates with our students.”
Chase Vargo, a student at St Mary’s said about Face to Face that it is important “to remember history and to realize man’s humanity” and that “life is very precious.”
At Face to Face sessions, students meet with a rabbi or Jewish educator, learn from a powerful Holocaust overview slide presentation, talk with volunteer docents while exploring the Face to Face museum, hear first-hand survivor testimony, and ask and get answers to their many questions. Since 1994, more than 47,000 students have attended the Face to Face program and have had the opportunity to learn about Judaism, the Holocaust and tolerance.
Middle and high school groups interested in experiencing living history by attending Face to Face should contact the program’s director Louise Freilich at 216-765-8300, ext. 140 or at face2face@shaareytikvah.org.
Submitted
St. Mary School students in grades six through eight meet with Holocaust survivor George Kronenberg at the Face to Face Holocaust education program in Beachwood.
