Echoes of History

Our world is one that is filled with hate, and that hate will never be able to disappear, but instead of putting all our effort towards something that is never going to happen, what we need to focus on is why. Why don’t people get along? Why do we have mass genocides? Why do people have to live their lives in fear over something they can’t control? Just why. We are never too young to be exposed to information, and in too many cases we take advantage of that. That idea has stuck with me and has been my biggest takeaway over the past few weeks working on our project titled “Echoes of History.” In our exploration throughout time, understanding why our world is the way it is in terms of intolerance, we were guided by the question “How is storytelling an effective weapon against hate?” And to me, the answer is as simple as because stories are human, and human-to-human connection is a force stronger than anything else we’ve seen.

To put an event on this idea of intolerance, our focus was the Holocaust, an event that I once had no connection to, turned into one that continues to stay in my mind as I’m still trying to fathom the event as a whole. This connection that I now have is linked to one thing, and that one thing is stories. Stories told by one human to another. 

Having previous knowledge of the Holocaust made this project much more meaningful as I already had thoughts and opinions that I was able to follow up on, and rather than focusing on the lower tier of learning, I was able to go into the higher tiers of the pyramid, forming my own conclusions based on the tiers below. Our response as humans was the focus of this project, and we learned through relating it to ourselves, putting everything in perspective, and creating that human-to-human connection that is so important. Last year PLP took us down to Dallas, and we visited the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum where we saw an interactive hologram of Holocaust survivor, Max Glauben, where he would talk about his experience. The one thing he said that still sticks with me to this day is that he doesn’t hate the Germans because that was their goal and he didn’t want to help towards achieving that. 

“Those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them back.” – Richard Nixon

Through reading the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel, this idea was reinforced and led me to believe that that was the mindset of most, if not all, Holocaust survivors. Those two stories were from direct survivors and offer a new aspect of understanding what happened. Another story we heard was from a woman named Esther that we were lucky enough to have come into class and talk about her family. This aspect of storytelling taught me something else, and that is how much of an impact tone of voice has in telling stories. After hearing different experiences from completely different people, the answer to the question of how storytelling can be a weapon against hate was starting to become clearer, and the pieces to this bigger puzzle were all coming together in my head. 

Ever since I joined PLP in grade eight, it has been a goal of mine to connect whatever I’m learning to something I’m interested in, and I was able to do that. A trip to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre was lined up for us and that’s where that connection to my interests was made. This museum’s sole focus was propaganda; how the Nazis were able to convince so many people that what they were doing was the right thing. Where this connection comes from is the idea of propaganda vs marketing. When hearing the definition of the word propaganda, I couldn’t help but think that it sounds similar to marketing, something that I will be looking more into next year as I’m going into business at university. I appreciate effective marketing, so a part of me appreciated the way in which the Nazis were able to manipulate the amounts they did. This is where that takeaway that I mentioned earlier stemmed from, as so much of the exhibit looked at kids and how they were being influenced without even knowing it; their books contained ideas on anti-semitism, and their curriculum was changed to things that supported the beliefs of Germany at the time, the Nazi’s created the perceptions of the next generation. 

Our final task was to create a book for a grade 4/5 class, so in a way, we were countering what we saw at the museum. Having visited the class early on in the project, I wasn’t too fond of this idea as I found dealing with this audience to be a difficult task. They knew enough to have opinions but didn’t know enough to understand references, so finding the in-between was a task that proved a struggle. Watching a documentary about Mr. Rogers and the way he deals with sensitive topics with a young audience taught me that children are just as capable of learning as we are, but the way to approach that learning is through relating to their experiences. This goes back to how we are never too young to be able to take in information. Last year, I said that children have an innate sense of curiosity that we tend to lose as we grow older in our Spring Exhibition. Mr. Rogers confirmed that, but he went a step further than I did; he understood their curiosity and then let that run free, let them be able to harness that curiosity to help them learn about difficult events. However, to prove my statement made a year ago, my curiosity has faded and trying to come up with a way to tell the story of the Holocaust to an audience of kids was getting the better of me. I was able to analyze and synthesize what made “Night” so effective, what made Esther’s story so effective, but wasn’t able to take that knowledge and create something of my own. 

After countless conversations with friends and family, and research into what makes a good children’s book, I had an idea. But after showing my completed book to a group of 10 year olds, I realized I may not have effectively told the story I was trying to tell. When watching the reactions of the kids as I was reading, and reflecting now, my idea of going full circle may have been too complex for my audience. In my eyes, the idea I had would make a great book, but my execution of that idea didn’t sit the best with who I was telling my story to. While my final book wasn’t necessarily my best display of work, the thinking leading up to it was what I am proud of. 

With every piece of our puzzle coming together, I’ve realized that the hate in our world can bring out the best of us, while at the same time bringing out the worst. Stories, whether those be testimonies, verbal histories, or children’s books; they all teach us what it means to be human, they give us a reason to fight the hate in our world, and in some cases, are the thing that’s fighting back against hate. Stories aren’t just words on a page, but are the connection that allows us humans to relate to what we’re seeing. They are what bring us together and serve as a reminder that within the chaos, we are never truly alone.