On January 27, we celebrated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This is the anniversary of the day that the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp got liberated. 50 survivors of the Holocaust attended the ceremony at Auschwitz, placing candles and wreaths at the site. A ceremony also took place at at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where Marianne Miller, a Holocaust survivor spoke. She said we need to remember that the Holocaust “happened only 80 years ago…Rule the world with love, not hate.”

        This past January, our eighth grade students have been learning about the Holocaust in their ELA class. They have read an adapted version of the play Diary of Anne Frank. They also read and discussed excerpts from her diary as well as Elie Wiesel’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize. Inspired by these powerful voices, and as a way to commemorate and honor everyone who lost their lives during the Holocaust, the eighth graders went down to the Middle School quad to look at the acrylic butterflies hung all over the wall on the Middle School building. This is a special installation that was part of a larger initiative called the Butterfly Project. There, they were greeted by Mrs. Savant, who told them the importance of these butterflies and their symbolism. All over the U.S., schools have these colorful butterflies displayed on their campus to honor the 1.5 million children killed during the Holocaust. Saint. John’s was honored to be part of this memorial and completed about 175 butterflies.

        It is important to remember the Holocaust because we need to honor all of the innocent people who lost their lives. “I have tried to keep the memory alive, that I have tried to fight for those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices.” -Elie Wiesel. As Anne and Elie so powerfully demonstrated, we can remember our past through our writing. Anne Frank wrote a diary of her experiences during the Holocaust while she was in hiding. She recounted experiences and told us that she was happy that she was safe while in hiding. She always had a positive mindset to everything and approached obstacles with an open mind. She wanted to be a famous writer when she got older, and even though she tragically was one of millions who lost her life during the Holocaust, her writing, and voice, will never be forgotten. “I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe people are good at heart. -Anne Frank.