HARRY KIRSBAUM

Staff Writer

he schoolteacher from a
private Catholic all-girls
school said the biggest
question posed by her stu-
dents is why the Jews themselves did-
n't offer more resistance in World
War II.
A Jewish public school teacher
from Flint replied that she always
gives the same answer when she's
asked that question.
"I try to explain that this was a
long process," said Nora Fisher of
Flint Central High School. It was "an
invasive process in country, culture
and government, which happened so
subtly. It's not that there weren't
instances of resistance, but by the
time everyone realized what was hap-
pening, it was too late."
About 25 high school teachers
from parochial, private and public
high schools across the state, attend-
ing a Holocaust studies workshop at
Michigan State University last Friday,
spent the day discussing what works
and what roadblocks they face in
teaching what they all agree is a very
important topic.
Emily Lumpp, a West Bloomfield
High School teacher, said she has no
problem teaching a course on the
Holocaust in a school with such a
large Jewish population. With the
Holocaust Memorial Center a few
blocks away, and frequent classroom
visits from Holocaust survivors, her
method of teaching is in part to "let
the community help us."
Because Holocaust education is
not mandated on the state level,
teaching the subject is generally
decided by individual school districts
or comes about through the actions
of a single teacher.
James Frishman, the only Jewish
staff member on the faculty of Forest
Hills Northern High School in
Grand Rapids, said, "I have very little
interaction in the school with Jewish
issues and studies. The comfort level
with students, teachers and adminis-
trators is a major hurdle.
"They're afraid that they're going
to be exemplifying the stereotypes, or
dealing with some issues that are
going to be very uncomfortable for
them as people and as parents and as
teachers," he said. "It's another hur-
dle that you have to overcome. It's

.

Harry Kirsbaum can be reached at
(248) 354-6060, ext. 244, or by email
at hkirsbaum@thejeivishnews.corn.

4/23
1999

10 Detroit Jewish News

essons To
Remember

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Teachers cite experiences
in presenting the
Holocaust to students.

Clockwise
from top right:

Koel Epstein,

professor at

Olivet College.

Deborah Dwork is
concerned with
educating scholars.

25 participants
traded views in
a roundtable
discussion.

Phyllis Goldstein
participated in
the workshop.

not just the kids; it's the community
itself."
The lessons to be learned are ones
of prejudice, intolerance and some
old, familiar sayings:
"For me, it's 'those who fail to
study history are condemned to
repeat it.' To the students it is, you
can never let an atrocity like this hap-
pen again,'" said Scott Laing, who
teaches U. S. history at Walled Lake

Central High School. When students
look at what's happening in
Yugoslavia they can understand what
an ethnic cleansing is. You need to
teach that ignorance is bliss, and you
can't be ignorant about this."
Suzanne Jones, a teacher at the all-
girl Parchment High School near
Kalamazoo, said she starts the year
with the same quote.
"When I came to my high school,

half of the senior class could not
describe the Holocaust," she recalled.
"My first year I said that will not
happen again. It's a very strong com-
mitment to make sure that kids won't
listen to deniers who say (the
Holocaust) didn't happen."
Robert Lurie, a teacher at Waverly
High School in Lansing, said his stu-
dents know about the Holocaust, but
LESSONS on page 12