Sixth graders at Chatterton School in Merrick recently visited the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove and later heard firsthand testimony from someone who lived through it.
Holocaust survivor Irving Roth visited Chatterton on Feb. 5 and spoke with fifth and sixth graders about his personal experiences in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. Roth travels throughout the U.S. and Europe, educating his audiences about the evils of prejudice and hatred. Last month marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
During an earlier visit to the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center, students participated in small-group, docent-led tours of the museum and listened to testimony from a child of a Holocaust survivor.
In addition to serving as an important part of their studies on the Holocaust, the trip reinforced Chatterton School’s efforts to receive the Anti-Defamation League’s No Place for Hate designation and realize the importance of being an upstander.
“Chatterton students learned that each person has a voice,” Chatterton librarian Ellen Widawsky said. “And even one person can make a difference in this world.”
Roth is pictured speaking with students. In an alternate photo, sixth graders stand in the grand hallway of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center holding a sign that quotes American historian Edward Everett Hale and speaks to being an upstander.