By Adrienne Wilson
The Holocaust isn’t as easy to explain as it seems.
“There are a million reasons why it happened and why it wasn’t stopped sooner,” Silverton High Junior Shiree Hessel said.
This year, the Holocaust class was added to Silverton High School.
“The class made me appreciate life a lot more.” Hessel said.
The class was created by SHS English teacher Brad Emmert who was inspired by Professor Paul Kopperman, who teaches a Holocaust class at Oregon State University.
When Emmert put the class together, he wanted to approach it as “an issue of human rights.”
The class is designed to “push students to do what’s ethically and morally right,” Emmert said.
While the class was designed by Emmert, it is taught by SHS history/ psychology teacher Brett Davisson, who has learned a lot about the Holocaust himself since he started teaching the class.
One of the biggest challenges with teaching the class Davisson says is “deciding what to use and what not to use.”
“This is a serious subject, but I don’t want them walking out of my room everyday feeling there is no hope in the world,” Davisson said.
In a regular history class, the Holocaust is lightly touched due to time.
“The Holocaust class goes into a depth I have never gone into before,” SHS Junior Derek Bright said.
The class places emphasis on the History of Anti-Semitism, Hitler and the Third Reich, discrimination against the Jews, the camps, and where America was during the Holocaust. Students also read the books “Ordinary Men” by Christopher Browning, “Maus I” and “Maus II” by Art Spiegelman.
“I now have a more lean background on how the Holocaust happened and how it is possible for the Holocaust to happen,” SHS Senior Devan Merrifield said.
Five out of five students interviewed for this story would recommend the class to their peers, describing it as “amazing.”
Although it’s taught by Davission, sometimes Emmert visits during his prep period to add to the discussion.
“It’s fun as a teacher to help student see the complexity of the historical events,” Davisson said.
At the end of the semester, students were visited by Holocaust survivors Rudi and Laureen Nussbaum.
“They made us realize life is a gift and you should always have hope no matter what’s happening,” Hessel says.
The class is highly requested by students.
“It makes one really stand back and reevaluate ones life and what ones doing with it,” SHS senior Juliana Kuenzi said.
