By Rachel Lee Garofolo, Freelance Contributor with the Halina Wind Preston Holocaust Education Committee
Imagine . . . you’re in a meadow with a cloudless, cerulean sky above you, a slight breeze rustling your hair, the warm sun on your face, inhaling the delicate perfume of wildflowers. From nowhere, a butterfly floats by you, elegantly dancing in the wind, followed by another and another. One by one, more come, and you can no longer see the sky nor the flowers, as you are immersed in a shimmering storm of wings.
1.5 million butterflies.
To most people, butterflies joyfully herald the arrival of warm weather; they can also symbolize transformation and freedom. To those interred in a concentration camp during the Holocaust, they represented hope that they could survive a devasting nightmare. We all know that millions of people were killed during the Holocaust—1.5 million of them children.
Holocaust education was ratified in Delaware in 2020 and a key component in shaping and sustaining this program was the Halina Wind Preston Holocaust Education Committee (HEC), supported by the Jewish Community Relations Committee at Jewish Federation of Delaware.
Sarah Snyder teaches sixth grade at Postlethwait Middle School in Camden, Delaware. She didn’t want to teach about the worst atrocity in history for merely a day or two, perhaps jumping next to a lighter subject. She asked herself how she could help her students understand what happens when hate and bigotry go unchecked. She found out about The Butterfly Project, a grassroots education initiative based in San Diego, whose mission is to teach social justice through lessons of the Holocaust, educating participants about the dangers of discrimination and prejudice to cultivate empathy and social responsibility in classrooms, museums, and community centers. But why butterflies?
The Butterfly Project pays tribute to the poem, “The Butterfly,” written by a young prisoner at the Terezin concentration camp. The concept of the program is to use the example of a butterfly to help students make tangible connections to the Holocaust. Each butterfly is ceramic and hand-painted to reflect each student’s unique imagination. “The metamorphosis of ceramic butterflies represents the resilience of Holocaust Survivors. They start as clay, which is soft and malleable, with the potential to become anything —like children. Then they are kiln-fired for the first time, which makes them hard, but brittle—similar to the effect trauma has on a person. At last, they are glazed and kiln-fired a second time, after which they emerge strong, resilient, and beautiful—just like a person who survives devastation.” (https://thebutterflyprojectnow.org/)
The Butterfly Project made state history by being the first of its kind in a Delaware school. “For me, the point of the project is to remember the Holocaust but also to find hope in remembering the children and shining a light on how we fight hate when it seems impossible.” Due to cost, Snyder reached out to the HEC to help with funding. “We are proud to . . . have funded this program. [The students] did a phenomenal job in creating the first permanent display of butterflies in the state of Delaware” says Steve Gonzer, co-chair of the HEC. 350 ceramic butterflies were permanently affixed to the walls of Postlethwaite’s library. The ceremony for the unveiling of the installation was attended by the Mayor of Dover, among other officials. Snyder plans to repeat last year’s project and add an additional 350.
Gonzer interviewed students after the project and was saddened by some of their responses. One of his questions was if they thought the Holocaust could happen again. One student replied, “Yes, it probably will happen again because a lot of bad things have happened, and I feel like it’ll never be truly over.” Another student responded, “not really, but it’s still possible because a lot of people just don’t like a lot of people, even when you’ve never met them. It’s sad and depressing.” The students could not comprehend why, under Nazi influence, many people followed unquestioningly, as if herded like sheep.
Another way to perceive the Nazi’s influence was to compare it to bullying. Thankfully, each student was adamant that if they saw another student being bullied, they would step in. This is the hope we have for our youth—don’t let one person or groups’ power influence your decisions and decency. “Using history’s darkest time to instruct students about hope, resilience, and kindness, helping them develop the courage to stand up to injustice in today’s world.”
The victims of the Holocaust never smelled wildflowers again. People across nations must commit to empowering our youth to stand up to injustice in today’s world to prevent another Holocaust and end genocide everywhere.
Never Forget the next time you see a butterfly swirling in the sunlight.
At the time of the article, 394,800 butterflies have been painted.
