KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. He learned of this story thanks to our Let's Talk event earlier this fall in Lee's Summit. Share your story idea with Tod.
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The Holocaust can be a heavy subject for anyone to discuss, but there’s a special class at Lee’s Summit North that aims to keep an important part of history alive in a special way.
Students in Jenny Buchanan’s Holocaust Studies class have partnered with the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education on a special project about survivors that incorporates history and provides hands-on experience beyond the classroom.
“Sophomore year English is when we kind of study the Holocaust, and I really just had a passion for it,” Lee’s Summit North senior Lily Graham said. “I was just so interested in it, and wanted to hear more about survivors’ testimonies and just really dive deeper into the Holocaust. That is what really drew me to this class.”
After spending the semester researching Holocaust survivors, Graham and the other students crafted Instagram posts about the stories they’d learned.
“To keep the stories of survival alive, that, as dark as things can be, there is always hope,” Buchanan said.
Students occasionally have been surprised by what they’ve learned.
“It's important to recognize that these people aren't defined by the Holocaust,” Graham said. “They lived this and they experienced this and, yes, it was horrible, but their life is so much more than that, and they are so much more than a Holocaust survivor.”
She added, “Half of these people, especially the local ones that we have been covering, built a beautiful life after the Holocaust.”
The students visited the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education in September and staff there have provided feedback on the social-media posts, some of which may wind up on the Center's account.
“Their mission is to educate the community, but also to be in the classrooms too,” Buchanan said.
Instagram and other digital spaces are dominated by Graham’s generation.
“I partake in ‘The Gram’ for sure. Yeah,” she said.
But history, especially one of humanity’s greatest tragedies, isn’t often reflected there. That juxtaposition can be challenging for the students.
“It's a heavy class, but I really think that it's important to learn about these survivors and what they had to go through,” Graham said.
Now, they’re eager to pass on that knowledge.
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