This school year students from area high schools learned about Judaism and the Holocaust in formal and informal settings. At Harpeth Hall, Iara Kullock and Maddie Marshall created a Jewish Students’ Association designed to provide connection and build community within the larger school setting. Kullock says the goal is to be inclusive and welcoming, “Our goal was to create a safe space for all the Jews to be themselves and talk about something that we all share.”
Kullock says encouraging Jewish involvement in the JSA has been a challenge. “Unfortunately, not all the Jews at Harpeth Hall show up for the affinity group. It is sad because we are a small minority and to not have everyone there is unfortunate.” She adds that her non-Jewish peers are supportive, “The non-Jews at Harpeth Hall don't treat it any differently than any other affinity group at Harpeth Hall. They are respectful and if we were to have an ally access meeting, I think there would be a significant turn out.”
Julia Eisen, the JSA’s faculty sponsor, echoes Kullock and says the school encourages a culture of respect for a diversity of thought and perspectives. “The response from non-Jewish students has been overwhelmingly positive and accepting, as the school encourages all students to learn from and support one another.”
In addition to the emotional and social outlet of the JSA, Eisen says there are some important educational benefits to affinity groups like this one. “They allow students to speak openly and honestly about their experiences, not just within the context of religion, but also about cultural and social issues. Discussions often touch on topics like what it’s like to be a Jewish teenager in the South, and how current events and politics intersect with their identities, conversations that may not always happen in a traditional classroom setting.”
Across town at James Lawson High School, teacher Coby Ginsburg took his Contemporary Issues class to tour the Nashville Holocaust Memorial. Ginsburg, who was born in Israel and raised in the US, is also the grandson of Holocaust survivors. He says the idea for the visit originated with Judge Dan Eisenstein, who first approached his principal last fall. “Honestly I’ve lived here for 22 years and never knew it existed,” he says.
Eisenstein says it was last summer’s marches by Nazi groups that inspired him to push for broader Holocaust education. He brought the idea to Felicia Anchor, chair of the Nashville Holocaust Memorial. “I asked her if any schools had come to tour the memorial, because the only hope in my opinion, is to get the young people to understand what’s going on.” He adds that online Holocaust denial is resulting in misinformation.
After discussions with Metro Council Member Sheri Wiener, Eisenstein reached out to Metro Nashville School Board member Abgail Tylor, whose district includes Lawson High School. She said Tennessee’s state education standards include lessons on the Holocaust within the context of World War II, but there is nothing as impactful as seeing things like the memorial for themselves. “The idea that these kids are able to hear from people who have unfortunately close experiences with it and can speak the truth to how it happened and why they remember it, and to say, ‘Never Again,’ that is more meaningful and stays with them longer.”
Tylor says experiences like this visit to the Holocaust memorial also help students better understand the rise of antisemitism today. “I definitely think it makes a big difference in the way they view what’s happening in the world around them, especially when it’s someplace close to home.”
To help the students prepare for the tour, they met with Deborah Oleshansky, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville. She says she antisemitism is happening here and now and showed a news clip about a Christian nationalist group living in rural Jackson County. “The Holocaust is not a history lesson. It is a current events lesson. That news clip shows the propaganda being used by the group and was also used by the Nazis to promulgate the Final Solution.” Oleshansky says much of the lesson was about the dangers of propaganda and how it can feed hate.
The tour of the Holocaust Memorial was led by docent Marsha Raimi. Raimi is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and has done extensive research about her family’s experiences. She agrees with Oleshansky’s approach and in fact, it was her starting point for this tour. She began with pictures of her father and his family. “It’s relatable. My dad went through this stuff when he was the same age as these kids.”
Raimi also uses current events to draw parallels about what happened during World War II, particularly the lessons of the Nuremburg Laws. “Hitler was democratically elected. The Weimar Republic was a representative democracy, not exactly like ours, but similar. Once he gained power he declared an emergency. He depicted the Jews, and any other population he didn’t like, as the enemy.”
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Ginsburg says his school has very few Jewish students, and many are from other minority groups. He says the tour discussion of other marginalized populations that were also targeted resonated with the diverse group of students, who were respectful and engaged in the tour. He credits Raimi’s approach as a key factor because it described the history of the Holocaust in a modern context. “I didn’t know what to expect, and they outkicked their coverage in their response, for sure.”
This year marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the liberation of Auschwitz, so it is notable that schools like Lawson and Harpeth Hall both find relevance in educating about Jewish history and its meaning for today’s students. Felicia Anchor is the chair of the Nashville Holocaust Memorial. She recently was in Europe and visited some of the historic sites. She says, “As I stand on German and French soil during the 80th commemoration of the end of World War II, I am very aware that our Nashville Holocaust Memorial’s role is more significant than ever before. I am grateful for our partnership with Coach Ginsburg and Metro Schools to work together to educate our next generations so that history does not repeat itself.”
And at Harpeth Hall, Eisen says she is optimistic the Jewish students organization is sustainable into the future, “The foundation is built on providing a safe and welcoming space for Jewish students to celebrate their culture and religion. As long as that environment is preserved and incoming students are encouraged to participate and lead, I’m confident the group will continue to grow and thrive for years to come.”
