Powerful session with my PRU group today. We explored Holocaust Memorial Day by using a page from Into That Darkness by Gitta Sereny: Stangls description of his arrival at Treblinka where he steps out of his car into a huge amount of money. To begin with, I told the young people they were simply inspectors visiting a government project. When they encountered the money, they were quick to pick it up, shove it in the car, and make a quick getaway. They didnt want to know whose it was, or where it had come from: they just wanted it. We replayed the scene. This time I told them that as they were driving towards the project they saw dead bodies by the railway line beside the road, and that the railway station they arrived at was fake. One young woman then said: Hang on a minute, all this money has come from somewhere. Where are all the people? There must have been people here before us. She wasnt heard by her classmates because they were too busy acting: going from body to body checking to see if anyone was still alive. One boy turned to me and said in desperation: Theres too many of them, we cant help them all! He wanted crime scene investigators, back up, and was enraged that he couldnt get a signal on his imaginary mobile phone. We replayed the story again, this time 70 years ago with no access to technology. The boy said: These would have been steam trains then. I then told them the story of Treblinka, and of Stangls views of his work there. I asked them why their behaviour had changed once they knew there was more to the environment than just piles of money in front of them. Another lad said: Because of the people. Were inspectors from the government, its our responsibility to protect the people. I reminded them that it was the government that wanted all the people dead, had built Treblinka, and that they were there to check that the killing was being done effectively. At that point the young people got back into the car (four chairs together in a corner of the room), and the girl spoke for all of them and said: Then kill us now, we wont ever agree that this is okay.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 16:28:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015