Eighteen Holocaust survivors will enter the June 29 “Portraits in Courage” event at the arm of a young person.
And as the young students usher in the older adults, so too have the survivors carried the young people to a deeper understanding of the Holocaust.
And that is one of the central reasons the Holocaust Education and Research center of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Coalition for Jewish Learning organized the event, “Portraits of Courage — Honor the Memory,” to be held at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
“We must ensure that the children who are our future take over the responsibilities of educating future generations about the Holocaust,” said Betty Chrustowski, event co-chair with Bill Appel.
The students, from area public schools and the Milwaukee Jewish Day School, interviewed the survivors and afterward, created a poster with a short biography and photos.
The students also worked with local artists Barbara Kohl-Spiro and Linda Mollick on art projects that reflected the students’ feelings after the interviews. Students were able to create a piece of artwork, a poem, or videotape.
Event sponsor Time Warner Cable taped the interviewing of the survivors by the students to run them on the Wisconsin on Demand channel 1111 “so the community at large” can benefit from what the students learned, said Bev Greenberg, vice president of public affairs at Time Warner and a member of the event committee.
“I quickly realized what a great educational opportunity this could be” for students and the community, providing them both an experience that will “last them a lifetime” she said.
Greenberg then contacted the History Channel, whose president will be at the event with a film crew.
“Nowhere, [does the History Channel] believe, have children from schools been involved with survivors and liberators in this fashion,” she said.
Future plans also include hosting a television program where students will be invited to speak in a “forum where they can talk with survivors and liberators and be able to ask questions and exchange historical experiences,” Greenberg said.
“There are people in this world who tell a different story” of what happened during the Holocaust, Greenberg said. “If we don’t connect the survivors and liberators [with the next generations], who knows whose stories will prevail?”
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