4 6,

HELPING TO
Remember

MSU honors Betty Rotberg Ellias for
developing Holocaust curriculum.

BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News

achievement in Holocaust educa-
tion" over the past 18 years. For
Ellias, a retired English teacher from
Southfield-Lathrup High School, her
work stands as a tribute to her par-
ents.
Wendy Karen Wilkins, dean of the
College of Arts and Letters, may
have called the honoree "an extraor-
dinary person," but Ellias refers to
herself as just one of several "ordi-
nary people becoming involved in a
project about extraordinary people,
who experienced extraordinary cir-
cumstances." The curriculum teaches
about "concentration camp survivors
with few choices available . . . forced
to adapt, or fight or hide."
As a member of the Holocaust
Education Coalition — Ellias is now
first vice president — she threw her-
self into the project with the assis-
tance of colleagues Sidney Bolkosky,
a history professor at the University
of Michigan-Dearborn, and David
Harris, head of social studies for
Oakland County Schools. Taking
four years to complete, "Life
Unworthy of Life" grew into 18 les-
son plans, with lectures, quizzes,
tests and questions and answers.
The curriculum, offered free of
charge to any high school, includes a
286-page teacher's manual, a student
textbook and a 60-minute videotape
with Holocaust survivor testimony.
Following a successful pilot program
in a local high school, the course
now is taught at nearly 600 educa-
tional institutions throughout the
world, including Russia, China,
Japan, New Zealand and India.
"Life Unworthy of Life" has
received the endorsement of the U.S.
Department of Education and such

.

S

amuel Rotberg was in seven
different German concen-
tration camps between
1939 and 1945, escaping
from the last one shortly before the
end of World War II. His future
wife, Fay, was in a slave labor camp
for four years before being liberated.
They met later in Germany, got
married and came to America.
Through the years, they told their
daughter, Betty, many horrific stories
about the Holocaust, about people
living under barbaric and uncivilized
conditions. Learning how Jews
exhibited "extraordinary behavior" in
tragic situations inspired Betty
Rotberg Ellias of Farmington Hills
to tell the world about them. And
she did.
Ellias took former Southfield
School Board President Zelda
Robinson's request in 1984 to create
a Holocaust study and ran with it.
Ellias said all Robinson had expected
were "a few Xeroxed pages passed
out to some teachers." Instead,
assisted by grant money from the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit and a later financial "angel,"
Ellias developed an in-depth study
of the Holocaust for high schools.
For her efforts in creating the
widely used curriculum "Life
Unworthy of Life," Ellias recently
was honored with a special-recogni-
tion citation from Michigan State
University's College of Arts and
Letters Jewish Studies program.
Presented to her at its annual com-
memoration of the Holocaust, the
honor is in "recognition

Holocaust scholars and authors as
Lucy Davidowicz and Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel.
To complete the initial Holocaust
curriculum project, Sidney Lutz of
Huntington Woods was the "angel"
who donated $200,000 through his
former Lutz Associates Inc. The
publishing royalties for "Life
Unworthy of Life" now go to the
Federation, which gave a $50,000
grant for development and distribu-
tion, and maintains the copyright.
"Once I heard about the project, I
just had to get involved," said Lutz,
now a consultant. "I wanted to do
something important regarding
remembrance of the Holocaust, and
this was the perfect thing. I'm glad I
was able to help bring the project to
fruition."
Watching Ellias receive the MSU
honor were her husband, Franklin, a

sales executive, and
her mother, Fay
Rotberg, now 80, of
Southfield. Betty
Ellias' father,
Samuel, who died in
1995 at age 74,
would have shared
their pride. ❑

Betty Rotberg
Ellias with her
mother, Fay
Rotberg

High school teachers may obtain
the Holocaust curriculum, "Life
Unworthy of Life," by writing a
letter of commitment on their
school stationery. Send it to:
Holocaust Education Coalition,
Attention Betty Ellias, 6735
Telegraph Road, Suite 300,
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301.

-

1111111101L.

5/17
2002

51