Darkness
Continued from preceding page
Most of the students emerged at the end
of the tour wearing stunned, uncomfortable
expressions on their faces. Sheila Faulkner,
16, says she gained some insight. "I unders-
tand a lot better. It's terrible."
Michelle Vergiell, 17, didn't realize the
extent of persecution. "I learned that a lot
of them (Jews) were persecuted more than
what most people would think. A la of peo-
ple don't know what actually happened."
"I learned some things, maybe more than
I wanted to know," says Linda Earhart, one
of the parent chaperones.
Opening eyes and minds is what the
Holocaust Memorial Center is all about.
Last year, 137,000 people toured the ex-
hibit — individuals, history students,
senior citizens, church and synagogue
groups, and civic organizations from across
Michigan and the region. Guiding the
curious, the uninitiated and the reluctant
through this emotionally jarring maze is
the role of the docents — the HMC's
volunteer tour guides.
On this particular morning, Lois Shiff-
man was shepherding the students through
the tour. Mrs. Shiffman says she was one
of those who was relatively uninformed
about the Holocaust until she took a tour
herself four years ago. Now the former
school teacher feels fulfilled by enlighten-
ing others. "It's given me a chance to im-
part my knowledge to all these school
children who have absolutely no concept at
all."
When you talk to the HMC docents about
their work, a sense of mission, purpose and
commitment comes through. It's not an
easy task to speak effectively about such
a monstrous chapter in history. One docent
says she always became teary-eyed and had
to "toughen up" to keep on guiding.
And while the subject matter is difficult
and heartrending, many of the docents
have been guiding since the HMC opened
six years ago. They keep going because it's
satisfying for them to know they've had an
impact — to teach the lesson of the effects
of blind hatred and prejudice, especially to
teen-agers.
"It's very rare that I walk out of there
without a headache, but . . . it's worth every
minute. I feel like I've done something
special," says Gloria Ruskin. "It's a wonder-
ful feeling to know you've affected someone
who has no knowledge — a person who
walks in there, who lives on the opposite
side of town who has never even met a Jew
in person, let alone been introduced to the
subject of the Holocaust.
24
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1991
Students listen to docent Susan Friedman.
"It sounds ironic, but when I finish a tour,
I am on a real high," says Susan Friedman,
a 45-year-old former schoolteacher who co-
chairs the docent committee. "Here I am
talking about six million people who lost
their lives ... and the only way I can ex-
plain it is that I am so involved in what I'm
talking about as I'm doing the tour that I
feel if I can reach out and touch somebody
in the group and tell them just one thing
they didn't know before they came into the
Holocaust Center, then it's a success."
Mrs. Friedman recalls one incident where
the message got through successfully. After
guiding a group of school children, she was
approached by a little boy, about 12 years
old. She says he looked up at her with em-
barrassment in his eyes and said he felt just
awful, that his grandparents had lived in
Germany during the Holocaust and they
could have participated in the persecution
of Jews. The boy asked Mrs. Friedman what
he could do.
After taking a moment to collect her
thoughts, "I said to him, 'You are not
responsible for any of their actions. What's
important is that you realize what hatred
can bring. Just asking that question tells
me a lot about what kind of a person you
are — very caring and interested. And you
are going to do your part to make this world
a better place.' "
Mrs. Friedman says being a docent is
more than just bringing history to life for