II. osnovna škola Čakovec, Croatia 

Genocide, the Holocaust and War Crimes

a report 

Subject: History

Student: Filip Novak
Age: 14
Teacher: Snježana Odak-Hrkač
Knezovec, March/April 2013

Translation from Croatian into English 

Student: Petra Grašić
Age: 14
Teacher: Branka Lamza
Čakovec, June 2013

Introduction

The holocaust is definitely the biggest indicator of nazi terror and all its ideologies: racism, antisemitism, pangermanism and one of the biggest indicators of genocide and human stupidity which repeats itself over the course of history. "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.“[1]

The word ''holocaust'' originates in antic Greece and means burned completely , and today it signifies the mass persecution of Jews and all others who were not thought of as aryan by the Nazis.
In that crime against humanity, 6 million Jews paid for their religion with their lives, while the others, who survived, were subjected to horrid physical and psychological hardships.

Topic development

After an attempt at a coup in Munchen, Hitler was put in prision, where he wrote the book Mein Kampf  (My Fight), which became the foundation of nacism and which puts a lot of stress on nazi and antisemitistic ideologies.
Before Hitler came into power, his ideas were thought of a laughing matter, chaotic and crazy, but when he did come into power, he started commiting genocide on all ethnicities that did not fit into his idea of the world and what a man should be.
In 1935, in a convention in Nurnberg, anti-Jew laws were put into place.

In the night between the 9th and the 10th November 1938, the most until-then horrific crime against Jews took place. In one night thousands of Jews were murdered or taken away into concentration camps. Many Jewish buildings (houses, shops and synagogs) were destroyed.

In November 1939 in Poland, and later in many other countries, a law was put into place by which all Jews must wear a yellow Star of David on which the word ''Jude'' was written. Such stars were meant to serve as a marking of race.

Jews were placed in special, isolated parts of cities they resided in (ghettos), the biggest of which was the Warsaw ghetto, where a Jew rebellion happened.
On 20th January 1942 in Wansee another decision was made, stating that the Final Solution is to be put in place, signaling the murders of 11 million European Jews. Millions of Jews were arrested and taken into concentration camps, where they were brought to work as slaves. To speed up the results of the Final Solution, the nazis founded 6 death camps, the biggest of which was Auschwitz-Birkenau. That horrid genocide ended in 1945., at the end of  World War 2 and took over 6.5 million lives, including Anne Frank's, who was in hiding from the Gestapo with her family and wrote a diary describing the gruesome everyday life during the occupation of the Netherlands. „One day this war will end. There will be a time when we willl be people again, not just Jews.“[2] The rememberance day of the holocaust and stopping crimes against humanity is on 27th January, on the anniversary of freeing Auschwitz.

Conclusion

Not only is the holocaust one of the most terrifying genocides and racist acts in human history, its horrible consequences can be felt even today, seventy years later. It left permanent consequences, wounds that will never fully heal. A man ruined another man's life, acted towards him as though we was worthless, made him feel as if he truly was, killed his family and friends just because he didn't like him, because he wasn't what he imagined, and that is, in my opinion, disgusting and inhumane. „Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.“

                                                                                                  

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[1] http://www.pticica.net/izreke/izreke-poznatih/albert-einstein/, Einstein, Albert, quotation, published 25/08/2010

[2] Frank, Anne, Dnevnik Anne Frank, Split, Marijan knjiga, 2000

ARTICLE ABOUT THE CROCUS PROJECT IN OUR SCHOOL MAGAZINE

This is our school magazine "Različak" ("Cornflower"). It is published at the end of every school year, containing articles on the most important school activities, competitions and projects. Take a look at the article about The Crocus Project (page 8).

RAZLIČAK 11

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THE INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

On 27th January 2013 the world marked the International Holocaust Remembrance Day - the 68th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. We decided to honour the memory of holocaust victims within classes of History (teacher Ms Snježana Odak Hrkač) and English (teacher Ms Branka Lamza). Pupils found out some important information about this dark part of history, and some of them decided to explore the theme themselves. This is the presentation made by Ivona Taradi, class 8.a.

HOLOCAUST

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ABOUT US

THE CROCUS PROJECT AT OUR SCHOOL

II. osnovna škola Čakovec, Croatia, joined the Crocus Project in the school year 2012/13.The initiator and the coordinator of the project  is Ms Snježana Odak Hrkač, a History teacher. The project is to be done cross-curricularly, as an integrated part of different school subjects and thematic studies. Apart from History the theme is going to be explored within classes of English, Religion, Literature and other subjects.

We would like to share our ideas and experiences with schools in other countries. Therefore we created this blog, edited by 8 grade pupils, the participants of the project.

AIMS:

-      to learn about the Holocaust period and reflect on its consequences;

-      to plant crocus bulbs, grow them and explain what they represent;

-      to commemorate the Holocaust Memorial Day (27^th January);

-      to promote intercultural dialogue;

-      to exchange ideas with other schools;

-      to respect cultural and linguistic diversity;

-      to learn about the importance of tolerance;

-      to accept differences within our society and consider them as a value.

In November we planted the crocus bulbs provided by HETI in memory of one and a half million Jewish children and thousands of other children who died in the Holocaust. The yellow flower symbolises the yellow Star of David all Jews were forced to wear under Nazi rule. The photographs were made by Jelena Sedlar and Monika Kuček, members of our school photo group.

We created a Crocus project pinboard next to our History classroom, to mark everything we do within the project throughout the school year. Next, we are preparing to mark the Holocaust Memorial Day.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Crocus Project was launched in Ireland in 2005 by Holocaust Education Trust Ireland (HETI). It is intended for pupils aged 11 years and over.  

HETI provides schools with yellow crocus bulbs to plant in autumn in memory of the one and a half million Jewish children and thousands of other children who died in the Holocaust. The yellow flowers recall the yellow Stars of David all Jews were forced to wear under Nazi rule.

Since its inception in 2005, this project has grown from 6,000 students in Ireland participating in it to more then 45,000 students in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Malta and Poland.  By bringing together people from local communities across Europe, we strive to enhance tolerance and mutual understanding between citizens while stimultaneously ensuring the transfer of historic memory. (www.hetireland.org).