The Seminar “Righteous among the Nations: rescuers and rescued”

  On June 13^th 2007 Tkuma Center has arranged the seminar for Dnepropetrovsk students’ youth and museum programs’ volunteers. During the seminars participants (Lyceum #100 10^th grade students with their teacher Savina N. and School 144 9-10^th 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