Staff writer

Greencastle-Antrim High School gave back last week to a museum that's provided opportunities for students for years.

Martina Fegan's Human Rights Literature classes visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. - a regular journey for the semester course.

During the trip, the students provided the museum a check and a copy of a project the students created which captured the stories of local World War II veterans and a Holocaust survivor.

"The reason why we feel it's an important part of this course is that they get to actually meet living history," said Fegan. "They get to see all the artifacts we study about during class - which those artifacts are just phenomenal.

"When you meet someone like (Holocaust survivor) Nesse (Godin) who was living history and lived through it, it's profoundly important and it impacts the kids tremendously."

Meeting Godin helped provide a first-person perspective for students like senior Kaitlyn Conner. "She was very lively," said Conner. "She was very open about what happened to her. She was very funny. She talked about how her time was very affecting of her afterlife and that it didn't make her bitter because everyone has to stand before a higher power and they get what they deserve. That was pretty cool."Students were moved by the experience, walking through exhibits and viewing films.

"It was very educating," said senior Lindsey Shank.


"It didn't really hit me how the people were treated when I read all the books. I was very sad. When I saw all the videos and the footage of what they went through and where they stayed, it hit me the most. The thing that got me emotional was the shoes - the thousands of shoes."

G-A senior Aubree Poole, who was one of the students involved in the creation of the documentary "The Glorious and the Brave," provided a copy of the film, companion book and educator's guide to the museum. Verne Baker, a Private First Class in the U.S. Army, and Sylvia Bonebrake, who survived in the Jewish East End of London during the Blitz, also made the trip.

Both were included in the film.

G-A senior and film narrator Joshua Butcher gave the museum a check for $1,000 raised from film and book sales.

"I thought it was really neat (to give money)," said senior Andrew Stanton. "The museum definitely needs to be preserved. Everything in it needs to be saved. People need to know about (the Holocaust). There's not too many survivors who are left. Survivors are really the only ones who know what happened."

