8th Grade Holocaust memorials

In Literature, the 8th graders are currently reading "The Diary of Anne Frank." In order to connect art and Literature, they created Holocaust memorial projects in groups. We researched some Holocaust memorials and museums that already exist (examples below), and some students were able to share Holocaust museums that they have visited.

 Group 1 created a 3-d sculpture using clay and foam representing the hand of a Jewish person grasping for hope and not abandoning their religion even in the darkest times.

Group 2 decided to focus on a specific night of the Holocaust: Kristallnacht; the night of the broken glass. On this night, many Jewish homes, shops and synagogues were trashed, vandalized and burned to the ground. The structure they created in the middle that is not destroyed was wrapped with newspaper, the words representing that you can destroy a town but you can't erase memories.

Group 3 wanted to display how the people that were being tortured and murdered were at one point completely normal people and families. They created a gas chamber box, and inside they shows a normal family; mother, father and child. Instead of showing the torture they were really going through inside that gas chamber, they showed what their life should have been like if none if this ever happened.

Group 4 created a chamber like cell, that although was a prison for Jews, was still decorated with the image of the Jewish star. This shows that even through the Holocaust, the Jewish pride never faltered deep down.

Group 4 created a tree of life sculpture. The tree of life represents that the Jewish people will continue to grow and flourish, no matter what enormous obstacles the past has given them.