A school in Whitwell, Tennessee began a study of the Holocaust as an afterschool programme to teach about tolerance and diversity. When the students struggled to grasp the concept and enormity of the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust, they decided to collect six million paper clips – one for each person who died.
Why paper clips? After some research on the Internet, the students decided to collect paper clips because they discovered that 1) Joseph Valler, a Norwegian Jew is credited as having invented the paper clip and 2) that Norwegians wore them on their lapels as a silent protest and symbol of resistance against Nazi occupation during World War II.
The Children’s Holocaust Memorial consists of an authentic German transport car surrounded by a small garden. The railcar is filled with 11 million paper clips (6 million for murdered Jews and 5 million for other groups). The monument was uncovered on the anniversary of the Kristallnacht, November 9, 2001.
Linda Pickett sculpted eighteen butterflies of twisted copper which are embedded in concrete around the railcar. Butterflies came from a poem written by a child who lived in Terezin concentration camp in 1942 (I Never Saw Another Butterfly) and the number 18 in Hebrew symbolizes life (in Gematria, 18 is the numerical value of the word חי, pronounced Chai, meaning life). Inside the railcar, besides the paper clips, there are the Schroeders’ book and a suitcase filled with letters of apology to Anne Frank by a class of German schoolchildren.
For many, a paper clip will never again be just a paper clip. Instead, the paper clip is a reminder of the importance of perseverance, empathy, tolerance, and understanding.
Adapted from the following sources:
Butterflies became another symbol of the children who died in the holocaust
Colour a butterfly here or make your own butterfly.
New Zealand children collected one button for each child who died during the Holocaust. One and a half million different buttons were collected.
Can you collect something to show your family or whanau?
NC students:m post a photo on our blog.