The Seminar “Righteous among the Nations: rescuers and rescued”
On June 13th 2007 Tkuma Center has arranged
the seminar for Dnepropetrovsk students’ youth and museum programs’ volunteers.
During the seminars participants (Lyceum #100 10th grade students with
their teacher Savina N. and School 144 9-10th grade students with
their teacher Gelberg A.) “created” their own alley of Righteous, “pulling
down” the path which had led to HUMILATION, MISFORTUNE, DEATH.
Svetlana Gerus (Tkuma Center Educational Programs Coordinator) has begun
the seminar with the opening addressing about special human choice of Righteous
in WWII period, disposing the participants to analytical activity. The
documentary “The march of living’ (produced by Rodnyanskiy, Kiev) helped to
feel acutely the atmosphere of the past and consider the problem from the
viewpoint of the third and fourth generations.
While discussing the plot of the film, young participants touched upon
the questions “The ways of resistance and the past”, “Righteous among the
Nations and Righteous of Ukraine”, “The ways of resistance and the present”.
The keen youth attention has been shown to discussing the question “Love as
resistance and the way to survive”. Svetlana Gerus suggested for illustration
the plot”Love”, taken from the “Auschwitz Chronicles” (produced by Bukoemski,
Warsaw).
The practical work “Alley of Righteous” has involved not only the young
seminar participants, but also the adults. Instead of horrible “path” to the
Nazi “Auschwitz-Birkenau” concentration camp, one had opportunity to “plant”
the tree of the good – create own Alley of Righteous, for that one should only
remember his/her good, unselfish deed. All the participants unanimously concluded the seminar activities
with the idea: “it became comprehendible that the more unselfish GOOD from each
person, the less remains for the “path” to selfish EVIL”
At the end of the seminar all the participants attentively and with great empathy reviewed the story of “rescuers and rescued”, depicted in the
documentary “Children from the abyss” (produced by Chuhrai, Moscow).
S. Gerus,
Tkuma Center
Educational Programs
Coordinator