By Maria Riegel, Special Writer
South Brunswick High School students enrolled in the Holocaust and Genocide Studies course visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. Dec.5.
Holocaust and Genocide Studies is an elective course that is offered to junior and senior students. The class teaches specific aspects of the Holocaust and several genocide’s in Bosnia, Cambodia, Kosovo, Rwanda, the Sudan and Turkey.
According to the course’s teacher, Marc Babich, the course has been in existence at SBHS for 11 years and he has been taking students to the national museum since the first year the course was offered.
”To me, going to the museum was always a requirement,” Mr. Babich said. “If you are studying the Holocaust it is important to get to the museum.”
While at the museum students were able to visit the Permanent Exhibit which takes up three floors of the facility.
The Permanent Exhibit includes artifacts, photographs, and video footage on the Holocaust. Some artifacts include a railcar that transported victims to the largest German concentration camp, Auschwitz, a room of shoes that belonged to camp prisoners, children victims’ artwork and toys, and bunks from Auschwitz. Concentration camp prisoners’ uniforms and a scale clay model of the Auschwitz crematorium were also on display.
Students visited the Memorial Room, which is a large, open room containing candles that visitors can light in order to remember a loved one that died during the Holocaust.
Students had the option to light a candle for the victims if they chose to.
Students also saw the “Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story” exhibit which is geared for young children, but is open to all ages. The exhibit portrays the Holocaust through the mind of a child.
Daniel’s Story has rooms that correspond to a child’s life before and during the Holocaust. The exhibit includes a replica of a child’s bedroom and a bedroom one would expect in the “Ghettos” the victims lived in. There is also a room portraying a concentration camp.
At the conclusion of Daniel’s Story, students had the option to leave a comment for Daniel about his life during the Holocaust.
Furthermore, students also had the option to meet and speak with a Holocaust survivor during their time at USHMM.
Mr. Babich said that each year, he encourages his students to speak with a Holocaust survivor at the museum because it helps the students understand history in a different and personal way.
”I think sitting down talking to someone who was actually there lets history come alive for the students,” Mr. Babich said. “Talking to a survivor is something I think students should do.”
According to Mr. Babich going to the museum is “the most important day of the class.”
”The class would not be complete without a trip to the museum,” Mr. Babich said.
Student feedback has been exceptionally positive according to Mr. Babich.
He said that his favorite part of the trip each year is being able to witness how each one of the students experiences the museum and how many students talk to the survivors.
”I think it has been a great experience for students,” Mr. Babich said.
Senior and Holocaust and Genocide student, Grace Gabriele said that her favorite part of the museum was the Daniel’s Story exhibit because it went deeply into a child’s mind.
”It (the museum) was very depressing and very fantastic all at the same time,” Grace Allie Boda, senior and Holocaust student said, adding that she really enjoyed visiting the museum.
”I thought it (the museum) was awesome,” Allie said. “I learned a lot and (my) favorite parts were the third floor and walking through the rail car. I loved Daniel’s Story as well.”
Senior and Holocaust and Genocide student Aroma Saini said that she will never forget the experience she had at the museum. She said she had chills walking through the railcar and that the Daniel’s Story exhibit touched her heart.
”Visiting the holocaust museum gave me a deeper understanding of the event,” Aroma said. “We have been learning a lot in Holocaust and genocide but visiting the museum and actually seeing everything we’ve talked about on display made everything seem more real.”
Several students also met with, and spoke to, 84-year-old Holocaust survivor, Nesse Galperin.
Ms. Galperin lived with her Jewish family in Siauliai, Lithuania as a young girl.
In August of 1941 Ms. Galperin and her family were forced to live in the Siauliai Ghetto. The family was later deported to the Stutthof Concentration Camp where she was prisoner number 54015.
Ms. Galperin was deported to a total of four different labor camps until January 1945 when she was sent on a death march.
She survived and was eventually liberated by the Soviet Army on March 10, 1945.
Ms. Galperin lives in Washington D.C. and works at USHMM to educate others on the Holocaust.
Ms. Galperin said her goal is to have students’ voices be heard on the Holocaust and to make others aware of the different aspects of the event which killed more than six million Jews during World War II.
”You can’t change what happened in the past, but you can change what happens in the future,” Ms. Galperin said.

