Observing International Holocaust Remembrance Day Every Day
By Joe Fab, director of Paper Clips and co-director of NOT The Last Butterfly After I made Paper Clips, it seemed like everywhere I went people would ask me, “Are you Jewish?”
I borrowed the reply that I’d been told Charlie Chaplin gave to that question: “I do not have that honor.” I’m certainly not likening myself in any other way to the master filmmaker, but I find myself thinking now, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, about the responsibility all of us have – Jews and non-Jews alike. We have a great responsibility to keep alive the stories of Holocaust Survivors, those great and precious souls whom the passage of time is taking from us.
The Butterfly Project is by its very nature a great contribution to that mission we all share. Indeed, Liebe Geft, director of LA’s Museum of Tolerance declares in our film NOT The Last Butterfly that the project is “passing the torch” to new generations who must keep these stories alive. So it should come as no surprise that co-founders Jan Landau and Cheryl Rattner Price have put together The Butterfly Project’s Education Team to further this effort, taking Holocaust history and Survivor stories into classrooms. The team consists of Jan (chair) and retired educators/children of Survivors Sonia Fox-Ohlbaum, Judi Gottschalk and Arlene Keeyes. They have brought their program to thousands of students in the San Diego area, and have worked with other experts in the field to create the In Our Hands Teacher Training. This idea of carrying the torch and passing its flame to others strikes me as a purpose of the highest order in life. And as the Education Team teaches, this work engages us in both remembrance and prevention, for, as we know, remaining mindful of the lessons of the Holocaust may save us from reliving it. We must understand the sources and dangers of prejudice and racism, and we must treasure the diversity represented by humanity’s many faces and cultures. We must be conscious of the world around us, constantly watchful for oppression, the abuse of power, and injustice wherever it appears. Let us observe International Holocaust Remembrance Day every day. A perfect way to do so is through ongoing support of The Butterfly Project and its Education Team. All of us can and should be involved in this work. Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer expressed how I feel when he said,
“Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.”
I love film festivals. Everybody who knows me knows that. And yet, I had never been to the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis even though it’s been around for 26 years. Thanks to Cheryl Rattner–Price and former San Diegan Craig Prater, that failure has just been rectified.
Craig and his team created a wonderful experience for filmmakers and audience members alike. NOT The Last Butterfly’s first (of two) screenings was held at the impressive Indianapolis Museum of Art. There I met a number of educators whom I would see again over the next two days, including teacher Emily Hodson who brought her family and almost 100 of her students from Allisonville Elementary School. It was a great audience – but Emily’s group’s enthusiasm really made the night! Two of her students even asked if we’ll make a sequel to the film!
The day after the IMA screening was jam-packed. We had our second screening at an AMC multiplex, and had the honor of visiting two local schools to engage in butterfly project activities with students.
Hasten Hebrew Academy
At the Hasten Hebrew Academy, Maya Schmoel greeted Cheryl, Craig and me in the cafeteria. We visited with her and Principal Miriam Gettinger over lunch before being introduced to about 40 students, mostly 5th and 8th graders. The students were — as one would expect in a Jewish school — well-versed in Holocaust education, and they took to the butterfly painting at once when we moved to Mrs. Fellegy’s classroom. But what struck me more than in most other schools I’ve visited was the preponderance of art. Everywhere. The lobby has a colorful mosaic Tree of Life, and the main hallway is lined with large framed paintings based on the Chagall windows at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Especially impressive was the Holocaust exhibit in a dedicated area of the school, featuring student-built bunks and benches of the kind seen in the barracks at Auschwitz, various artifacts, and multiple works of art depicting scenes of the Shoah. Cheryl spotted Susan Goldman Rubin’s book “Fireflies In The Dark” right away in the Holocaust library. The butterflies painted that day will soon adorn the entrance to this reverential memorial.
Allisonville Elementary School
Cheryl, Craig and I also visited Emily Hodson’s school. I’ve found that you can tell a lot about a school community simply by walking into a roomful of students, and then watching and listening for a few minutes. That’s what I did in the gymnasium full of 5th graders. The diversity is what struck me first, followed by the way that students of various ethnicities were interacting with each other all around the room. Here I was in Middle America surrounded by beautiful white, black, Hispanic, Asian and American Indian children! And things only got better from there… After a few words from Cheryl and me, there was time to wander the room and meet people as the students painted butterflies. Watching Survivor Frank Grunwald interact with the 5th graders and their teachers conjured scenes from our film: generational gaps dissolving as old and young remembered the lost children. Principal Mike Pomerenke drew my attention to a boy with special needs being supported in the painting activity by his tableful of friends. I moved about the room to speak with or observe group after group. There was respect, courtesy and compassion throughout the gym. And joy.
We ended the visit by having students share about what the experience meant to them. As one student said…
“I was just touched by The Butterfly Project and the words that they said today. I felt horrible for every kid of the 1.5 million that died during the Holocaust. I learned that even if you look different or talk different, or have other beliefs, it’s not bad. I can be av nice of change by speaking up when someone isn’t doing the right thing.” – Caleb, 5th grader at Allisonville Elementary School
Don’t let anyone tell you that pre-teenagers don’t have deep thoughts and feelings. They made the connection that Frank Grunwald was just about their age when he was sent to the camps. “My child was killed when she was only six years old,” said one student, referring to the information on the identity card each card read before starting to paint. “Mine was only one year old,” said another, as a third child let out a shocked gasp.
It was a profound day for me, despite the fact that I’ve had similar experiences at scores of schools — thanks to Paper Clips and now NOT The Last Butterfly. All too frequently, I need to be reminded to hang onto my ideals, because, as Anne Frank said, “people are really good at heart.” She was right, and on that recent morning — in the heartland — a hundred or so fifth graders were helping this senior citizen believe again in the promise of tomorrow.
Can it be only nine months ago that we were celebrating our just-completed screening of NOT The Last Butterfly at the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville? Can it be only nine months ago that Cheryl and I, along with composer Charlie Barnett, basked in the warmth of an attentive movie audience, the friendly gathering of locals to paint butterflies, the autumn serenity of one of my favorite cities?
NOT The Last Butterfly poster displayed during Virginia Film Festival.
How was that serenity shattered by a hateful band of white supremacists – people who personify what we’ve proclaimed wouldn’t ever be tolerated again?
Earlier this month, we learned what we should have already known: hate and evil never really die. They simply crawl under rocks and hide in the shadows until we foolishly lower our defenses. They wait, confident that their time will come again: when we let our guard down… when we begin to forget.
In an op-ed that appeared in the New York Daily News this past January, I wrote that every day each of us is choosing to be either a bystander or an upstander, whether we consciously think about it or not. This reality has never been more critical than it is today — and will continue to be in the foreseeable future.
I also wrote that “Trump is not Hitler” – put a pin in that thought, and I’ll get back to it in a moment.
Heather Heyer chose to be an upstander on August 12. Not the flashy kind, but the everyday kind. The kind who shows up. The kind who speaks out. The kind who recognizes that hate and evil never die and who remains vigilant in that knowledge. Surely Ms Heyer didn’t leave her house that sunny Saturday morning expecting to die for having taken a stand. She simply did what she thought was right.
In her eulogy for her daughter, Sarah Bro addressed the bigots: “You tried to kill my child to shut her up. Well guess what: you just magnified her.” When I heard that, I sat back in my chair, stunned at the realization of the truth she had just spoken.
What happened in Charlottesville was like a hit upside my head, making me realize that I myself have become too lax — even as I have been making films and speaking out about the lessons of the Holocaust. Isn’t what Ms. Bro said about Heather also the essence of The Butterfly Project? Isn’t the legacy of the 1.5 million children murdered in the Holocaust that we must always maintain our diligence and our promise to oppose hatred?
I’m reminded of a story about the then-famous radio newsman H.V. Kaltenborn, as related by Erik Larson in his insightful book, In The Garden of Beasts. It was in September, 1933 that Kaltenborn and his family were preparing to return to the U.S. after an extended European tour during which he shared the common journalistic view that reports of violent Nazi extremists were greatly exaggerated. His “nothing to see here” attitude was about to be overturned by painful personal experience.
The reporter and his family were doing some last-minute shopping, hours before their trip home. A formation of Storm Troopers appeared on the busy commercial street, heading their way. Those nearby began to give the Hitler salute. Even though the government policy of that time relieved non-Germans of any obligation to do the same, Kaltenborn directed his family to focus their attention on the display in a nearby shop window, avoiding the passing parade and, he imagined, any trouble.
But several troopers and onlookers challenged Kaltenborn and his family for turning their backs. Insults were hurled at them, and tensions rose quickly. The journalist called to nearby police officers for help, explaining that they were Americans, but to no avail. Just then, someone from the crowd struck Kaltenborn’s sixteen-year-old son in the face, knocking him to the ground. One of the police officers smiled.
The Kaltenborns escaped and fled the scene. But it took that moment when violence invaded his personal space for Kaltenborn to see that the rising threat he’d been denying was all too real. And so I ask:
“Does what happened in Charlottesville strike close enough to home for us to ‘get woke’, to use the current vernacular?”
Getting back to that January op-ed: it may still be politically correct to say that “Trump is not Hitler.” But the violence in that beautiful college town where we showed our film about remembering murdered children WAS perpetrated by armed neo-Nazis and white supremacists. They’ve promised more public demonstrations and some have even promised more violence.
We can and should consider when our political correctness becomes a failure to learn from history. As far as I’m concerned, that time has come. Charlottesville was my “hit upside my head” and I intend to “stay woke.”
Taking Action
The Butterfly Project has reached out to Brody Jewish Center of the University of Virginia and Congregation Beth Israel in Charlottesville to offer butterfly painting events and screenings of our film in support of their communities’ healing. If you are feeling called to take action like we are, here are some things you can do to make a difference:
1. Write a letter to your Members of Congress about the need for Holocaust education in all 50 states. The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect is leading an initiative to mandate Holocaust education across the country and has information you can share with your member of Congress. Click here to learn more. (Find your Member of Congress here).
5. Engage in an honest exploration of your own biases and start talking to people who aren’t like you.
6. Share this blog post on your social media platforms. Even if just one person in your network reads it and takes action, that’s one more person working to make a difference!
A special story showing Paper Clips and The Butterfly Project coming full circle…
Recently I found myself going through a big box of notes from students at schools where I’ve shared my film Paper Clips and spoken to classes over the years. Here are a few samples:
“Dear Mr. Fab… your movie really inspired me not to judge anyone.”
“…every time I see a paper clip, I will remember the Holocaust.”
“…the movie shows how much people really do care for other religions.”
“…one thing I learned is that I should start something because all of us can make a difference.”
“…you showed me that one person can begin a big project.”
“…what I have learned from your visit is if you want to accomplish something, do it NOW.”
These are the kinds of things I heard from students at the De Portola Middle School in San Diego when I was invited to speak there some years ago. And this past March, The Butterfly Project’s Education Team (made up of Co-Founder Jan Landau, Sonia Fox-Ohlbaum, Arlene Keeyes, and Judi Gottschalk) introduced De Portola sixth graders to The Butterfly Project. As the students painted butterflies in memory of the children killed in the Holocaust, the Education Team was touched by the responses they heard:
“We went back in time and felt the pain that they felt.”
“[The project] shows us how much destruction can come from hate.”
“I can promise to stand up for what is right no matter the circumstances.”
And lest you think that these are no more than nice-sounding words spoken in the enthusiasm of the moment, let me put that concern to rest. When I work with students, my purpose is to have them identify things that matter to them and to get into action NOW, as indicated by some of the remarks above. Think of the positive impact that is lost when we adults treat our young people as apprentices who will be ready to make things happen at some indefinite time in the future. I say “No, they can have great impact today, right now” and I point to the example of the middle school kids in my film Paper Clips. And I point to the fifth grader from Massachusetts who started a campaign against testing cosmetics on animals. And Maya from Philadelphia who created this website to encourage people to consider becoming vegetarians.
Make no mistake about it: the work we’re doing with The Butterfly Project, NOT The Last Butterfly and Paper Clips has real and lasting power. As a parent said about The Butterfly Project: “It teaches the current generation not to make the same mistakes.” And as the then-principal of De Portola said about my time with her students: “I believe our school climate has changed as a result… our students are demonstrating more tolerance towards others as indicated by a decrease in bullying.”
A student and her mother paint butterflies for The Butterfly Project, several years after Paper Clips was shown at DePortola Middle School.
In a time when I worry about the future of our country more than I ever have before, having the privilege of sharing our films, The Butterfly Project and the lessons they endorse with tomorrow’s leaders is a great treasure to Cheryl, to Jan and the rest of the Education Team, and to me. Seeing children respond with compassion for others and a new resolve to be their best selves gives us hope. In a very real sense, we have the chance to counteract the erosion of the values we know are essential to a fair and just world.
We should all make the most of that opportunity. Your support for The Butterfly Project and our documentary NOT The Last Butterfly is having a great impact on the future. Thank you!
The Butterfly Project Education Team (L-R Arlene Keeyes, Co-Founder Jan Landau, Sonia Fox-Ohlbaum) in front of one of the butterfly murals at DePortola Middle School in San Diego, CA.
One of the reasons that making Paper Clips was such a joy is that I spent so much time in that middle school in rural Tennessee where children were learning! And in this case, they were learning about something that I’m sure all those reading this believe is critically important: the Holocaust. But I didn’t realize back in the early 2000’s just how poorly we, as a nation, educate our young people about the critical history and lessons of that horrible event.
And so, when Cheryl Rattner Price asked me to become involved with The Butterfly Project and to help create the film NOT The Last Butterfly, the opportunity to help further Holocaust education convinced me to accept. By then I had become aware of our societal failures in this subject area and was beginning to understand some of the reasons for those failures. I also learned – much to my surprise – how many of us assume that basic Holocaust education is being taught in all our public schools. Not so!
Why Holocaust Education is needed
It would be hard to prove this point more dramatically than author and teacher Rhonda Fink-Whitman of 94 Maidens does in a short video for which she interviewed public school graduates enrolled at four major universities in Pennsylvania. It plays a lot like Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” routines, but in this case it’s no laughing matter. Rhonda’s video helped spur the legislature in her home state of Pennsylvania to require Holocaust education. Her video and efforts also helped in campaigns that eventually brought similar mandatory curricula to Michigan and Rhode Island. But even with those three states getting on board, there are now only eight states in this country that require Holocaust education in the classroom. And it’s not getting any easier to change this picture; in fact, it’s getting harder.
There are a few basic and very formidable forces at play that help explain why many efforts to make Holocaust education mandatory have failed – or have not even gotten off the ground.
No national standards
First, there is no applicable set of national curriculum requirements. Rather, each state takes its own approach to what should be taught. So, as Rhonda can tell you, it takes a concerted and sustained effort in each state where one wishes to bring about change. And that means becoming immersed in that state’s particular political system, learning to work effectively within that system, identifying sympathetic lawmakers, helping craft bills to be proposed, etc, etc. It’s easy to see how big an undertaking this is. And if you speak to anyone who has experience in such things, you’ll find that even getting onto a legislative docket means competing for attention with a plethora of other proposed legislation – some of it more immediately vital than Holocaust education, and some of it perceived to be.
Teaching to the test
A second obstacle can be summed up in three words: testing, testing and testing. As any parent knows, public school education today focuses intently on “teaching to the test” – that is, making performance on standardized exams paramount among teaching objectives. This practice has the effect of pushing other subjects to the margins, while making math and language arts dominant. So with science, social studies, the arts and other study areas all clamoring for a bit of class time, anything newly proposed has a very hard struggle ahead of it.
Potential progress
Nevertheless, on Yom Hashoah this year the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect announced some very welcome news: legislators in 20 states have signed a pledge to introduce bills mandating genocide education – either adding it to the state curriculum or strengthening existing requirements. The intention is to teach students that genocide, as Massachusetts Representative Jeffrey Roy put it, “is not just somebody else’s story,” but rather to show how the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, and other atrocities threaten all of humanity. Of course, how those efforts will fare remains to be seen, and the great responsibility of ensuring that the generations we’re raising learn from history – and especially from the history of the Holocaust – falls to all of us. That’s why The Butterfly Project is undaunted in the face of these (and other) challenges, and remains determined to do all it can to make Holocaust education a national priority. Already we have programs in motion that are reaching out directly to teachers and to people like you who care about this issue. So stay tuned for articles to come about how you and those around you can promote the teaching of effective Holocaust education where you live and across this country. In the meantime, check out the op-ed I wrote, The urgent need for Holocaust education in an era of ‘alternative facts’, that ran in the New York Daily News in January and check out Rhonda Fink-Whitman’s powerful video. And, most importantly, know that your support is being used to make sure that the phrase “Never Forget” represents a permanent, meaningful stand for learning from the past and creating a more peaceful, tolerant future.
