7th Grade Field Trip to Holocaust Museum- Dallas Texas

German officers, men and women, stand on the platform and scrutinize us with curious glances.  They stare at us, then exchange incredulous, puzzled looks.

     The tall officer at the head of the group breaks and awkward silence, and addresses us directly.  “We expected women.  Five hundred women.”  Then, after several moments’ hesitation, he inquires, “Who is in charge?”

     Our guards had returned with the departing train. We have no escort, no leaders. Except these openly astonished, hesitant men and women in an unfamiliar military uniform. They are our new masters.

“Any of you  speak German?” the officer inquires again.

Several girls volunteer.

“We expected a transport of women from Auschwitz,” the tall officer repeats.  “Are you from Auschwitz? Were you sent instead of the women?”

“We are from Auschwitz. And we are women.”

A wave of disbelief ripples through the ranks of the assembled army personnel. Women? Our freshly shaven heads, gray prison garb, and stick-like bodies are not very convincing proof.

-excerpt from “I Have Lived a Thousand Years” by Livia Bitton-Jackson

      You’ve probably heard that line when Dorothy steps out of her twister-transported house into the enchanted land of Oz and tells her dog, Toto: “We’re not in Kansas anymore!” 

     A group of 7^th graders from Prairiland Jr. High school could probably identify with Dorothy’s observation upon arriving to the Holocaust museum in Downtown Dallas on a recent field trip they took. 

     For the typical American living in the safety and security of this country, to step back in time and visit one of the concentration camps of WWII Germany would have been anything but  ‘enchanted’.    

     The 60 PJH students recently finished reading a novel based on the true story of a 13 year old girl who survived a horrific journey through the death camps of Nazi Germany during WWII.  For many of these local kids, it was their first exposure to one of the darkest moments in modern history. 

     The story and subject matter was the inspiration for the field trip where they traveled by bus into Dallas’s West End to tour the Holocaust museum.  Equipped with audio guides and headphones, the 12 & 13 years olds wandered through the halls viewing the various displays of numerous photographs and artifacts that documented the tragedy of the holocaust.

     Classmates pointed out to each other an assortment of  items they saw, such as the yellow stars that the Jews had to wear in the early years of the Nazi occupation to identify their race/religion.  Other items on display included gray striped prison uniforms, gold teeth extracted from inmates, and ashes removed from the infamous crematoriums. There was even a genuine boxcar that had been used to transport thousands of Jews to the concentration camps which filled up one corner of the museum hall.

     But the highlight of the trip would had to have been the 45 minute presentation given by Max Glauben, a living survivor of the Nazi Death Camps who at the age of 13, was taken into captivity with his family and encountered a living hell that few today could ever imagine.  Mr. Glauben speaks to hundreds of young school children every year who travel to visit the museum.  His first hand experiences offers incredible insight to attentive minds and ears as he relays some of the difficult situations he was forced to endure as a young boy.

      Max has no reservations in talking about his past, nor showing off the tattoo on his right hand that the Nazis forced him to receive as an identifying mark of camp inmates, his life philosophy tends to gravitate on looking to the future and finding the good in people and in circumstances.  Max recently lost part of his stomach due to stomach cancer but spoke candidly and with much encouragement to his young audience, admonishing them to believe in themselves and to appreciate that which matters most- their families and their own special purpose in life.

     It was stressed to the kids before leaving on the trip that their generation would probably be the last to ever hear first hand from a living survivor of the holocaust, as most have aged and passed away.  Upon their return to school back at Prairiland, each of the students were assigned to write a one page essay discussing their recent introduction to a tragic time in recent history.  Below is a selection of excerpts taken from some of the essays. 

‘The book was very good and heart rending. Ellie was a brave girl and the same age as me!  I mean, teenagers like me and Ellie are suppose to go to movies and be having fun; not working to death, starving and watching innocent people being killed daily!”    –Katelyn Sims

“I learned that there was six million people killed for nothing and were burnt.  Our teacher told about that stuff but I didn’t realize the terror in it until we got to the holocaust museum. “ – Emory Robison

“A real survivor came and talked to us about his stay at the concentration camps.  When he was just thirteen his father died and he became an orphan. It must have been a hard time in his life to survive without a dad.” –Jeremy Hunter

“I looked at some of those pictures at the museum and those people looked like they were human skeletons. They had to shave the men and women’s hair and make them wear uniforms.”
    –Tanner Bowden

“I really don’t understand how someone could hate Jews so much and just be so mean and torture them.  I thought it was cool that we got to see a survivor from the holocaust because that’s probably a onetime thing for me.”    -Bailey Woodard

“I never thought I would be face to face with someone that survived the Holocaust so I think listening to his story is what stood out on this trip.”   -Melisa Ford

“What got to me the most was he (the speaker) lost his family when he was my age.”  - Dakota Womack

“It was the best thing ever to see a holocaust survivor face to face. He was a very, very special guy. There was not a better trip than this. It was fun and sad.”  – Dakota Taylor

    “I never realized how many people actually died from so much hate built up in one man.  It really hurts my heart to know that another human being is capable of so much hatred.”  -Amanda Lockwood 

     “I can’t get it out of my head that they put kids 12 years old and younger in to the gas chambers” 
                                                                                    - Hailey McIntire

     “The thing that stood out the most to me was when we saw Max’s arm and he had the letters tattooed on his arm. I couldn’t believe it. 
                                                                                                                            – Hannah Stumbo

     To me, the most puzzling question of all is ‘Why would people just be so cruel and even do something like this?”  - Ashton Smith

                                             

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