"Preparing All Students to Succeed"

And Then They Came For Me
Image courtesy of the Children's Theatre of Charlotte Web Site.

Hitler started it all. If you were a Jew, Gypsy, or handicapped in any way, you weren't wanted and because of his beliefs, 11 million lives were lost. Of course we are referring to the Holocaust and although it is hard to think about, it is important that we know about this tragic event.

That is why on March 16th, the sixth grade gold team hit the buses and left to go to the Children's Theatre of Charlotte at ImaginOn.  The way they presented “And Then They Came For Me- Remembering the Time of Anne Frank was moving and innovative. They used multimedia effects, videos of survivors Ed Silverberg and Eva Schloss combined with live action portrayals of their stories. Lights flashed across the stage and booming sounds made the audience jump. There wasn’t a big cast, but the few actors really “played the part”.  The actors showed all of the hard ships and what the survivors, family, and friends had to endure.
“And Then They Came For Me” also showed more than one perspective. Not only did we hear from the Jewish survivors, we also heard from a boy in Hitler Youth. Many students found it fascinating that even boys in Hitler Youth didn’t have the easiest life; and this boy had to strangle his own puppy to show his loyalty to Hitler.
Students learned a lot from this play, and felt things that won’t be soon forgotten. Many said they felt like they were there; they empathized with the characters and they got really emotional while watching. This is definitely going to help the sixth graders understand more while reading Parallel Journeys  and Number the Stars in Mrs. Barach’s and Mrs. Earnheart’s classes. 

“This play helped us better understand the Holocaust because it showed us the lives and different perspectives of Holocaust survivors. We could see, hear, and feel all of the emotion and sadness. '' It was a life changing learning experience." says Brooke Cunningham. "The play showed us about our grandparents and great grandparents lives without them even telling us. It was a great experience to see the play." says Brie Mullan. Clearly, this play had an impact on these sixth graders.

Written by: Mrs. Barach's 6th Grade 1st Block Language Arts Class
Posted March 24, 2011 by Mrs. Stephanie Ferron
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