Purdue News

March 16, 2001 Ackerman Center sponsors Holocaust program WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University's James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship is sponsoring the fifth Student Holocaust Program as part of the 20th annual Holocaust Remembrance Conference. The educational outreach program encourages support of Holocaust education in upper elementary and middle schools. Center staff have provided study questions and suggested activities and a list of resources to help local teachers educate students about the Holocaust. The program culminates with a Jefferson High School Players performance of Celeste Raspanti's "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," at 9 a.m. March 22 in Loeb Playhouse. "The Student Holocaust Program was developed to provide area students and teachers with educational experiences about the Holocaust," said Phillip J. VanFossen, director of the Ackerman Center. "Holocaust education is a clear case of examining history to learn from it in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. An important step in preventing future occurrences of such catastrophes is for current generations to learn the lessons of the Holocaust." Ackerman estimates that 20 local teachers will bring more than 700 students to the play, which is based on a book about the experiences of children held by Nazis in the ghetto at Terezin, Czechoslovakia, from 1942-1944. The book is based on the art and poetry created by children of Terezin. Following the play, Charlotte Opfermann, a survivor of the Terezin ghetto and Holocaust educator, will answer questions from children attending the performance. VanFossen said local students have already begun working on classroom projects about the Holocaust. Some sixth graders have created their own Holocaust representations through art and poetry. The students' work will be on display in Stewart Center after the performance and throughout the Holocaust Remembrance Conference. "Even though the Holocaust is 'ancient history' to these sixth graders, they are developing an understanding of the suffering and an empathy for the victims of this terrible human tragedy," said Janet Tipton, a teacher at Happy Hollow Elementary School. "Through literature, poetry and art, the students' emotional ties to the Holocaust victims is deepening and having a profound impact on their lives. They ask the unanswerable question, 'Why?'" Holocaust Remembrance Conference events are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, March 24 and 25, at sites on the Purdue campus and in the Greater Lafayette area. The event's focus is on the need to affirm history and accept responsibility for the Holocaust. The James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship, housed in Purdue University's School of Education, was created in 1994 with a $2 million gift from James Ackerman, an Indianapolis cable television executive, and his wife, Lois. VanFossen said the center sponsors an annual Summer Institute on Citizenship Education for teachers, workshops and civic education projects for teachers and students, and serves as a national resource center for citizenship education materials. CONTACT: Phillip VanFossen, (765) 494-2367, vanfoss@purdue.edu. To the Purdue News and Photos Page