Introduction:
Welcome to another blog post! This time, I studied the Holocaust and the second world war, and read the book, “Maus” by Art Spiegleman. Going into this project, I already knew a lot about the Holocaust, and the whole time period for that matter, however, I learned a lot of new things through personal first person stories, documentaries, and a symposium. The driving question for the project was: “How can multi-modal communication enhance our ability to humanize and understand complex issues?”
History of Antisemitism:
To start this unit, my class learned a lot about the dark history of antisemitism. During one notable class, our teacher, Ms. Madsen, brought in one of her friends who is Jewish, and has family that lived through the Holocaust. She told her family’s story to us and it was a very effective way to learn. One key point I took away from this project is that stories help the process of learning a lot. Hearing this women talk about her family’s story was very helpful for me to picture what it looked like during the time, and what the traumatic consequences looked like for her and her family.
Symposium:
During the latter stages of this project, my class and I drove to UBC to attend a Holocaust symposium. It was a great experience for everyone who went, and we all learned a lot. There were intelligent professors and first and second hand survivors speaking about their experiences with the Holocaust. The courage it took some of these people to stand up in front of hundreds of spectators to talk about their experiences with the Holocaust is incredible and I am so greatful they took time out of their day to share with us. One highlight was a Jewish man named Dan Schubert who’s great grandmother lived through the Holocaust as a teenager. Schubert made a short film documentary called Martha, about his great grandmothers experiences in the Holocaust. There was also a first hand account from a women named Mariette Doduck who surviuved the Holocaust as a Jewish child. The symposium was a great experience and I took a lot away from it.
Maus Essay:
The final assignment of this project was to write an essay after reading the book “Maus”. Maus was a fantastic graphic novel that told the story of the Holocaust according to the author’s father, Valdek Spiegelman. The story was very intriguing and becuase it started years before the second world war, and worked its way to Valdek’s death. Our task was relatively simple. We wrote an essay about the book before starting the exhibiton tasks. This was the assignment I think I did least well on, because my focus was more aimed at the exhibition and BCFP.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this project a lot and I learned a lot of new things. The Holocaust is a very hard, sensitive, and dark topic to cover, however, through storytelling, and seeing in new and different perspectives, I was able to enjoy acquiring lots of new knowledge in this area.