


Jeff Wolfanger
Sep 6, 2022
United States
Categories:
History, Education, War, Memorial, Hatred
From oneclipatatime.org: "Paper Clips is the moving and inspiring documentary film that captures how these students responded to lessons about the Holocaust-with a promise to honor every lost soul by collecting one paper clip for each individual exterminated by the Nazis."
"Although they had previously been unaware of and unfamiliar with the Holocaust, their dedication was absolute. Their plan was simple but profound. The amazing result is a memorial rail car filled with 11 million paper clips representing six million Jews and five million gypsies, homosexuals, and other victims of the Holocaust. The rail car stands permanently in their schoolyard, an unforgettable lesson of how a committed group of children and educators can make a difference."
Though the movie debuted several years ago (2004), it is a poignant reminder that hate harms and destroys.
From an article written by Michael Kammen for the American Historical Association (2008):
"When one student responded to the concept by remarking, "What is six million? I've never seen six million anything," it became clear that there was a problem of comprehending the sheer magnitude of what had happened between 1938 and 1945 in central Europe. So the decision was made to collect and count six million paper clips. Someone discovered that the paper clip had been putatively invented in Norway during the later 19th century and that Norwegians wore them during World War II as a sign of resistance to Nazi fascism. The students wrote letters to various people, including celebrities, explaining the project and asking them to send paper clips. They went to the internet, created a web site outlining the project and its rationale, and soon the school received their first shipment: 100,000 paper clips. At first the intake was slow, but a married pair of German journalists based in Washington for 20 years noticed the web site, and called it to the attention of the Washington Post, which ran a feature story about this curious scheme. It then got picked up by other media, including NBC News with Tom Brokaw, prompting a deluge of paper clips, every one of which had to be counted. Eventually the grand total reached 29 million."
"Both teachers wanted to break down stereotypes about people who were different, expand the horizons of students they considered isolated and unworldly, and use a major historical "event" as a memory project that ultimately became a memorial project that bonded the entire community—and put it "on the map" to a degree no one could have anticipated. Twenty-five thousand letters were received and logged, each one containing paper clips. One letter came from a Holocaust survivor with 14 clips, one for each family member who had been exterminated. A suitcase arrived from Germany containing messages addressed to Anne Frank by students there, asking for her forgiveness. Everything that came in the mail, overwhelming the local post office, had to be recorded and placed in binders. Each school year between 1999 and 2002, the next cohort of eighth-graders continued the project, learning about the Nazis and those who had suffered in ghettos and the concentration camps."
"In 2001 members of a five-town group of Holocaust survivors from just outside New York City decided to visit Whitwell. They wanted to see first-hand what these "kids" were doing, such as making a monument of discarded shoes (evoking the death camps), and learning about anti-Semitism. The survivors were warmly received in the Methodist Church on their first evening, where some gave testimony, explaining to townsfolk the horrors they had undergone. The students were deeply moved by the experience of meeting people who were part of the historic "episode" they had been studying, and the scenes of mutual admiration and affection between the survivors and townspeople are among the most poignant in the film."
"After so much had been achieved, Linda Hooper mentioned at a casual dinner with the German couple, Dagmar and Peter Schroeder, that the school was so filled with paper clips (22 metric tons) that every broom closet was packed. Something innovative had to be done. She envisioned having an original German rail car that had been used to transport Jews in which to place the paper clips along with educational materials as a Holocaust memorial. The Schroeders took it upon themselves to crisscross Germany a total of 3,000 miles in search of one, and finally located a cattle car (made in 1917) in a deserted rail yard. The car, viewed as surprisingly small by the folks at Whitwell, would have held about 90 to 100 tightly packed prisoners."
"Owing to an astonishing series of pro bono gestures, a Norwegian freighter brought the car and took it to Whitwell, where it was placed on tracks, carefully refurbished by volunteers from the town with materials donated by Home Depot and others, and made into a museum in which Linda Hooper chose to place 11 million clips, selected from donations by as many different people as possible, and from as many different locations: six million for the Jews and another five for the gypsies, homosexuals, and others who had died in the gas chambers."
While working as a prevention/intervention specialist in rural Washington state middle and high schools, I was an advisor for substance abuse prevention clubs in each school. I would show this film to inspire the students by demonstrating that small ideas and baby steps can take on a life of their own. The students could conceptualize how their work in the school had the potential to inspire positive impacts in the larger community.
So what "small" idea are you harboring about positive change in your community that you have never shared with anyone? What leap of faith have you never taken that could have monumental implications for your neighborhood or community?
Photo by Snapwire on Pexels.
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Catalog #:
0322.106.01.090622