Holocaust Remembrance Day inspires events, student education
January 20, 2023 | By Lisa Scagliotti In recognition of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Holocaust Remembrance Day in Vermont on Jan. 27, educators around the state will have access to a variety of curriculum resources for students in grades 7-12 to learn about and reflect on the Holocaust next week.
In addition, several special events are also planned in Bristol and Stowe.
Jan. 27 marks the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camps in Germany during World War II. The United Nations in designating the remembrance day urges its member nations to honor the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and scores of others who lost their lives to Nazism, and to develop educational programs that foster tolerance, advocacy, and awareness of antisemitism and other prejudices to help prevent future genocides.
This week, the Vermont House and Senate adopted a joint resolution HCR 11 designating next week in Vermont, Jan. 23-27, Holocaust Education Week to teach students the history and lessons of the Holocaust. To assist with that effort, the Vermont Agency of Education along with Vermont Holocaust Memorial, Echoes & Reflections, and other organizations, have created lesson plans and special Zoom presentations for each day of the week. Classes interested in participating need to sign up using this online form.
To build on the lessons of the week, the groups have organized a writing and poster contest for all students in grades 7-12 to enter through March. Winning entries will be exhibited at the Vermont State House in April. Find details on the website contest page.
Student-organized commemoration in Bristol
To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the conclusion of the first Vermont Holocaust Education Week, Mount Abraham High School 11th graders Emma and Eliza Doucet have organized the second annual Holocaust commemoration event for Friday, Jan. 27th in their hometown of Bristol.
The public is invited to Holley Hall at 1 South Street from 6 to 8 p.m. for the program and child care will be provided.
Emma and Eliza Doucet. Courtesy photo
The teenage twin sisters got involved with Holocaust education after the 2016 general election as incidents of antisemitism have increased in the U.S. including vandalism at the Addison County Jewish Congregation in Middlebury, an institution to which their family belongs. They said they realized that antisemitism exists in their community.
“I began to get more involved in learning about my family's history, heritage, and culture. My Jewish identity began to mean a lot more to me than it ever did before and I realized how proud I was, and still am, to be Jewish,” Eliza said.
Statewide, Vermont is not immune from antisemitism and racist attacks: news reports in recent years have covered antisemitic fliers and swastikas appearing around the state. Last fall, University of Vermont President Shuresh Garimella condemned antisemitism on campus after reports in September that the U.S. Department of Education said it was investigating allegations of UVM mishandling allegations of anti-Jewish behavior there. Nationwide, instances of antisemitism may be worse than acknowledged, as most incidents are never reported, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Ongoing in Vermont is an effort started two years ago by other students who started a petition calling for a requirement that public schools teach about the Holocaust. Titled “Help Make Holocaust Education Required in All Vermont Public Secondary Schools,” the petition has garnered over 900 signatures to date.
The Bristol event and student petition have the support of the nonprofit educational and advocacy organization, Vermont Holocaust Memorial, which is lobbying for legislation to standardize Holocaust education in Vermont secondary schools. According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, at least 22 states already require Holocaust education as part of their secondary school curricula; Vermont is the only New England state not on that list.
The organization offers Vermont educators a variety of free instructional materials, professional development workshops, speakers, projects and exhibits.
Stowe event shares Holocaust survivor’s memoir
Book cover, courtesy image
The Jewish Community of Greater Stowe will hold a special event on Saturday, Jan. 28, at 5:30 p.m. to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day and to honor and remember Holocaust survivor Erika Hecht as well as other Jewish and non-Jewish survivors and victims of the Holocaust.
A Vermont resident of several decades, Hecht passed away on Dec. 20. A founding member of JCOGS, she is remembered as a creative woman who learned and adapted from her early traumatic life experiences as a young child in Hungary during World War II.
In 2022, Hecht completed her memoir, “Don’t Ask My Name: A Hidden Child’s Tale of Survival,” published by East End Press. Copies will be available for free to participants at the program which is sponsored in cooperation with the Hecht family, Vermont Holocaust Memorial, and East End Press.
Author and Holocaust survivor Erika Hecht. File photo courtesy Vermont Holocaust Memorial
The free program held both in person and online will include remarks by Rabbi David Fainsilber, readings from Hecht’s book by her daughter, Stowe resident Marion Hecht, a reception, and viewing of Vermont Holocaust Memorial’s traveling Holocaust exhibit. Attendees are asked to sign up in advance online.
Located 1189 Cape Cod Road in Stowe, the Jewish Community of Greater Stowe is a growing unaffiliated congregation embracing all denominations of Judaism.
Find a commentary about Holocaust remembrance and education by Rabbi David Fainsilber in the Opinion section.