On Tuesday, February 3, MICDS seventh graders, along with their teachers, went on their annual field trip to the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. This trip fits into their Global Perspectives curriculum, where they specifically study a unit on Power & Equality. Through their seventh-grade year, they study historical events and examine primary and secondary sources to gain a deeper understanding of the past and present. “Visiting this museum is great because the focus is on St. Louis-area Holocaust survivors, which gives students a chance to see how the history we study intersects with our community,” details Berta Simic, Middle School History Teacher.
While at the museum, students toured all of the exhibits, engaging with primary sources, survivor artifacts, and historical exhibits that trace the rise of Nazism, the Holocaust, and its aftermath. Prior to the trip, they completed a case study on the Holocaust, examining how individuals and societies come to participate in, or comply with, systemic injustice. In the classroom, they analyzed Nazi propaganda posters and read about the Hitler Youth, which helped students understand how ideology, fear, and conformity can influence behavior.
“A highlight of the visit was hearing personal stories of Holocaust survivors, shared by their grandchildren who spoke in person, helping students connect historical events to real lives,” Ms. Simic reflected. When they returned to campus, Carla Federman, JK-12 History & Social Sciences Department Chair & Upper School History Teacher, shared her grandparents’ survival story and how they settled in Kansas City. This brought stories of the Holocaust even closer to the MICDS community.
Students were deeply moved by the Holocaust Museum field trip. Aryana Kamat ’31 stated, “It impacted me in an emotional way because I realized, my day-to-day life is someone’s dream. Everything that I have in my life, no matter big or small, has such value no matter what, and I should be grateful for everything the world has given me. How it also impacted me in an emotional way was how you could treat people like this. We are ALL people, no matter what. We deserve respect and kindness, and when we lose that sense of compassion for other people, the actions that come out of it are sickening, and we need to be better as a society and learn from the past moving forward.”
There was a lot learned through this trip as well, both eye-opening and surprising to the students at times. “I learned that when the war had finally come to an end, the liberators discovered the horrors of what actually happened to Jews in these concentration camps,” Aryana shared. “As sickening as it was, it was even more frustrating how you could even treat anyone like this. But what made the pure anger grow for the liberators was when photo and camera footage was released, no one could believe this had happened, and people thought that the Holocaust was made up or had not even happened at all.
“What surprised me was how malnourished many people were in the concentration camps, and the lack of cleanliness was unimaginable. Up to 200-2,000 people had to sleep on little bunk beds with no space whatsoever. It was so dirty that there were also mice, fleas, and ticks. They were fed so little food with very little nutritional value, like rotten fruits. However, what surprised me was that if they had even the simplest food, but if it had even the slightest higher nutritional value, their immune system couldn’t handle it and they would die.”
This important part of history is not easy to comprehend and learn. “This is difficult material, but it’s essential,” added Ms. Simic. “Our students need to hear and honor the stories of Holocaust survivors, not only to understand what happened but also to recognize the warning signs of injustice and dehumanization when they appear in the world today.”
Thank you to the seventh-grade class and teaching team for taking the time to explore the museum, gain a deeper perspective on the Holocaust, and learn such an important lesson from the past about human kindness and decency. Aryana said it well: “We are ALL people, no matter what. We deserve respect and kindness, and when we lose that sense of compassion for other people, the actions that come out of it are sickening, and we need to be better as a society and learn from the past moving forward.”