UP FRONT

Poland And Auschwitz Have New
Meaning For Teachers, Survivors

STEVEN M. HARTZ

Jewish News Intern

G

eorge Vine was 15
years old when he
stepped off the cattle
car that took him to Birkenau
in 1942. He was told to join
the line on the right with the
working people, while his
family was instructed to move
to the left line with the others
who were going to get "clean-
ed and showered."
Last month, the Holocaust
Memorial Center's founder
and executive vice president,
Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig,
escorted 34 adults, most of
them teachers from the
United States, to Vine's
homeland, Poland, and the
concentration camp where he
spent more than three and a
half years, Auschwitz. The
group also visited Israel.
Instead of having a young,
trained tour guide take them
through the death camps and
"promote a park atmosphere,"
the group opted for a 62-year-
old resident of West Bloom-
field — Vine.

The visit was Vine's first
since he was freed from
Auschwitz in late 1945. Vine
took his two sons, 31-year-old
Michael and 26-year-old
Allen, to see the land where
he "grew up" and where his
family was "murdered by the
Nazis."
Along with the Vines,
several Michigan residents
were among the adults on the
HMC's two-and-a-half week
excursion. The trip was sub-
sidized by the David and
Miriam, Ira and Gail Mondry
Foundation.
"I've always had an interest
in the Holocaust and World
War II, and I wanted to know
more about it," said Roseville
High School history teacher
Kathy Stern. "Everybody
knows the numbers (of Jews
who were killed), but being
there, hearing the survivors
and seeing the camps makes
one overwhelmed by the enor-
mity of the tragedy. It's more
inconceivable to me now than
before I took the trip. It has
raised a lot of questions."
Stern, like all of the

Labor, DNR Join
ORT Tech Program

STAFF REPORT

T

he Michigan Depart-
ment of Labor and the
Michigan Department
of Natural Resources have
joined forces with ORT
(Organization for Rehabilita-
tion Through Training) to
teach technical skills to
disadvantaged youth.
Since June 31, youngsters
-- ranging from dropouts and
delinquents to recent high
school graduates heading to
top-notch universities — have
been learning computer and
robotic skills at a Michigan
State Fairgrounds site. They
will graduate in mid-August.
It is the first program of its
kind in the country, said
Sidney Lutz of Lutz and
Assoc. in Farmington Hills.
Lutz and Assoc. two years ago
was instrumental in laun-
ching ORT's original
technology retraining pro-
gram in the United States
under the name Advanced
Center for Technology
Training.
ACTT is modeled after a
British program, which eight
years ago developed a
technology literacy project
based on computers, robotics
and automation. Lutz

Associates purchased rights
to the training program in
North America.
Several schools — including
those in Detroit and Bloom-
field Hills — and corporations
like Chrysler and General
Motors have adopted the pro-
gram since its inception. The
program is available in 24
states.
"We are living in a world
where people are
technologically illiterate,"
Lutz said. "Technology im-
pacts everything we do. With
this program, we can train
everyone."
The Department of Labor
site at the State Fair provides
a workroom, where
youngsters, half from the
Michigan Youth Corps Blue
Ribbon program, are learning
problem-solving and team
building skills with
computers.
The idea of teaching
technical skills to these state
youth program participants
came during a time when the
state program was under
criticism for using the
members for such tasks as
cleaning highways and not
adequately teaching
marketable skills for the
workplace. Li

teachers who went on the trip,
stressed the importance of
studying the Holocaust and
teaching it to students today.
Dave Welcome, who teaches
history and government at
Bloomfield Hills Lahser High
School, said the trip will help
him tremendously with the
three-week unit he covers
every year on the Holocaust.

"The most important thing
to help me as a teacher was
being able to actually go into
the death camps and have the
feeling of what it was like to
be held prisoner because we
had survivors explaining
what it was like," Welcome
said. "It was a very emotional
experience, and I believe that
when you teach with emotion,
you do a better job."
Loren Willey, history
teacher and football coach at
Clio High School, said the
trip was one of the greatest
experiences he's had as an
educator.
"The low point of the whole
trip was at the cemetery and
synagogue in Warsaw,"
Willey said. "The cemetery is
just a woods full of tomb-
stones. The grass isn't cut.
Nobody takes care of it. The
synagogue in Warsaw
featured 70- and 80-year-old
Jews who were begging and
confused. They are right at

ftt
Trees and weeds hide graves in Warsaw.

the bottom of that particular
culture. When it's gone, it's
gone."
Willey said the high point
was seeing the children in
Israel, "There were kids
everywhere. They were so full
of vitality. I thought it was
the appropriate place to end."
Larry Levy, an English pro-
fessor who teaches literature
and history of the Holocaust
at Delta College near Bay Ci-
ty, admitted the trip was "a
heady dose to say the least."
"I was utterly unprepared
for it," Levy said. "The whole

Michael Weiss

trip for me was loaded with
images. I remember seeing
the rabbi (Rosenzveig) walk-
ing alone as we entered
Maidenek. This vigorous man
was deep in sorrow. You could
see it all over his face. And
Coach Will (Loren Willey) at
one point left the barracks
and was sitting by himself
crouched over, saying that he
wasn't well from the sights he
witnessed that day. I can
remember a number of
moments when I just broke
down emotionally."

Continued on Page 11

ROUND UP

Human Rights
Day Cited

Day in, day out; week in,
week out. Whatever it is,
chances are good the Senate
has come up with a way to
honor it with a designated
week or day.
The Senate has named this
Tuesday Helsinki Human
Rights Day, marking the 12th
anniversary of the signing of
the final act of the Helsinki
Accords. As signators to the
accords, the Soviets agreed to
abide by basic human rights
provisions — many of which
are still denied Soviet Jews.
But the really exciting stuff
is yet to come. Only 11 more
months until National Dairy
Goat Awareness Week! And
one week later — really, this
is too thrilling — National
Catfish Day, beginning June
21.
And there's more. Much
more. Everybody sing 'Heigh
Ho, Heigh Ho . . . " It's Snow
White Week, July 13-20.

Surely your calendar is
already marked with Benign
Essential Blepharospasm
Awareness Week in
September and Run to
Daylight Day in April?
There's even something for
the health conscious out
there: National Cholesterol
Week in April. Bring out the
greasy burgers and fries.

School Issues
Religion Policy

Despite pressure from
TORCH, a now-defunct group
of parents who wanted to
bring religion back to the
schools, the Bloomfield Hills
school district issued a policy
reiterating its position that
religion has no place in the
schools.
"Religious ceremony and
religious indoctrination have
no place in public education,"
the policy reads. "Shared
knowledge of the major
religions is appropriate to the

extent that it enhances
understanding and
tolerance."
The new policy requires
that principals approve any
programs with religious
themes and forbids prayers at
school-sponsored events.

Ads To Help
Soviet Emigres

To assist recent emigres
from the Soviet Union find
employment in the greater
Detroit area, The Jewish
News, beginning this week, is
running special employment
wanted advertisements in its
classified section.
Working in cooperation
with the Jewish Vocational
Service, The Jewish News
will prepare and publish in-
formation about these new ar-
rivals and the anticipated 300
more who will be resettling
here in the coming months.

Compiled by Elizabeth
Applebaum.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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