Upstanders in Color Holocaust Educational Event Held At Pardes

On February 22, 2023 Pardes held an event called Upstanders in Color, featuring the artwork of sixth and eighth graders. This event showcased artwork created by studying and depicting different resistors in Nazi Germany who helped to save Jews from the Holocaust. One of the major art pieces was an eight-pane faux-stained glass window, designed and built by the eighth grade class of 2023. This project was made possible by a generous grant the school received from an organization called Facing History and Ourselves, a global nonprofit whose mission statement is “to use lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate.”

The grant was obtained by art teacher Mrs. Hannah Carter and humanities teacher Mrs. Sarah Ettinger. Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Ettinger worked alongside the students since the beginning of the school year to help them understand the significance of the resistors role in the Holocaust, and to ensure the pieces created represented the intended goal of the project.

The event held at Pardes had over 150 community members in attendance and also featured two speakers who talked about their experience with the Shoah. The speakers were Holocaust Survivor Marion Weinzweig, who is also the grandmother of two Pardes alumni, as well as Ettie Zilber, whose parents survived the Holocaust.

The Jewish News featured this event in an article, you can read the story here.