By Noel Dodson and
Marissa Silverman
Staff Writer and Special Features Editor
There are many events that occurred in European history that are essential to what our world is today. The Holocaust took place in Europe during 1933-1945. Even though many different minorities were targeted during this time, over 6,000,000 Jews were killed along with the destruction of 5,000 Jewish communities.
“The Holocaust is an important to our curriculum because it sheds light on a dark period in our history and shows the dangers of ignorance and propaganda.” 9th grade English teacher Jared Katz said.
Many movies are shown in classrooms to provide examples and information about the Holocaust. One of the movies is the “Beautiful Life” written in Italian. “Shindler’s List is well produced movie because of the extreme details and actions that occur in the movie. “The film is important because you get to see every thing that happens from the tattoos on their forearms to getting put into gas rooms” freshman Dominique Escudero said.
It’s significant for students to learn about the Holocaust to realize the pain and suffering many families went through during this horrifying time in our history. “I think it’s very helpful to inform us about this past issue, I definitely learned a lot and grew from it” freshman Alysiana Bagwell said.
The books “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “The Boy with the Striped Pajamas” are read by students during the Holocaust curriculum in their eighth grade year.
“The Diary of Anne Frank” is about a young girl and her family that is forced into hiding in an attic while the Nazi’s occupied Amsterdam. Her book was diary entries of some of her most scariest days while in hiding. Anne Frank passed away two weeks before her concentration camp was rescued.
“The boy with the Striped Pajamas”, written by John Boyne is about a boy that is the son of a commandant of aconcentration camp. The boy tries to be friends with a Jewish boy on the other side of the fence even though he knows its forbidden. Both of these books have been made into movies. Students entering twelfth grade also have the choice of reading “Maus”, a book from the summer reading list that is in a comic book form. This book is about a father telling his son about his life throughout the Holocaust.