LESSONS FOR PRESENT, LESSONS FOR FUTURE: The Memory Project in Gimnazjum nr 9 im. Jana Pawła II in Sosnowiec

AIMS:

We are working on a set of European/International Lesson Plans about the consequences of the totalitarianism in the XX Century, in the WWII and in the Spanish Civil War, with emphasis on the Human Rights like the concentration camps during the Holocaust (Shoah) and the current consequences of the Spanish Civil War (Law of Historical Memory), and the resistance movement of people who thought other world and reality was possible. It means our main purpose is to make our students aware of the importance of critical thinking and political and social activism in the construction of the EU through the European History and the development of Human Rights against intolerance and totalitarianism in order to create pedagogical tools to offer a new perspective on the extermination: from Collaboration, Indifference and Resistance in response to the new rise of radical-right parties in Europe.

Thursday 26 May 2016

The Memory Project in Gimnazjum nr 9 im. Jana Pawła II in Sosnowiec

In March and April students of Class IB of Gimanzjum nr 9 im. Jana Pawła II in Sosnowiec, together with teachers Mrs Małgorzata Pełka and Mrs Joanna Janas-Sajdak, participated in The Memory Project, an educational project dealing with the Holocaust and II World War, connecting history and art.

The Project was carried out thanks to the courtesy of Mrs Roz Jacobs, an American painter, who together with Mrs Laurie Weisman is an author of The Memory Project and thanks to help of Galicia Jewish Museum in Karaków.

The aims of the project were to acquaint students with the basic facts and terms related to the Holocaust as well as to enable students to reflect on why memory matters, to make a connection between historical events and their own family’s experiences and role in history and express their observations through artwork and language. Students gathered information about their family members and shared them with their classmates. They also learned the biographies of victims of the Holocaust, rescued form the Holocaust, Righteous Among the Nations and drew their portraits created portraits.

First, students watched documentary “Finding Kalman”, which presented the story of Mrs Ann Huberman, Mrs Roz Jacobs’ mother and her younger brother Kalman. It was uncle Kalman, who inspired Mrs Roz Jacobs to start The Memory Project. Learning about the history of one family students got to know the most important facts about the Holocaust.