Chaparral High School hosts Holocaust exhibit from Martin Springer-Institute
Staff Reports | Digital Free Press
Chaparral High School hosts a traveling Holocaust exhibit of the Martin-Springer Institute of Northern Arizona University at campus this week.
The exhibit, “Through the Eyes of Youth: Life and Death in Będzin Ghetto” tells the stories of seven Jewish children from the Polish city of Będzin, before, during and after World War II’s Holocaust.
On display in the lobby of the Chaparral Auditorium, “Through the Eyes of Youth: Life and Death in Będzin Ghetto” is open to the public Nov. 1-2 at 6:30 p.m.
Furthermore, on Nov. 1, visitors will hear from the institute’s director, Professor Bjorn Krondorfer, who will relate the harrowing story of Holocaust survivor Doris Martin, who was 12 years old when Nazis forces invaded her hometown. The institute is named after the one-time Flagstaff resident, coupled with the anglicized version of her birth name, Szpringer.
Ms. Martin passed away last year in California at the age of 95.
On Nov. 2, SUSD parent Adena Bernstein Astrowsky, author of ‘Living Among the Dead,’ will be the exhibit’s special guest.
Ms. Astrowsky, the granddaughter of two Holocaust survivors, will speak about her grandmother’s experiences during that time in history and how the stories she grew up hearing are tools that are relevant today.
Chaparral High School hosts Holocaust exhibit from Martin Springer-Institute of NAU
The exhibit consists of 24 panels centered around a contextualized timeline of events that coincide with the Holocaust and World War II. Northern Arizona University students constructed the exhibit, which has visited Poland, South Africa, New York and many parts of Arizona.
In addition to the public events at Chaparral this week, the exhibit, district officials tell the Arizona Digital Free Press, is a valuable resource for SUSD middle and high school educators.
Of note: State law requires that students receive instruction regarding the Holocaust and other genocides at least twice during their school years, once in either 7th or 8th grade, and then again in high school.
The institute spent last week training student volunteers from Chaparral’s Holocaust/Genocide Studies class and National Honor Society to serve as exhibit tour guides for middle school and high school field trips.
Longtime SUSD educator and Holocaust/Genocide Studies teacher Sandy Flayton says the field trip schedule filled up quickly when her fellow teachers learned about the opportunity.
“Students are able to connect through history with the stories of these seven young people from Będzin and come to learn that they were not much different than they are – they played with their siblings, they celebrated holidays, they sang and they studied,” Ms. Flayton said. “Through this exhibit, we, as viewers, are taken on a journey that doesn’t necessarily have a happy ending,” she adds, “yet we share their stories in the hope that the youth of today will pay forward the lessons of courage and resilience of the Będzin children.”
