The first Holocaust Remembrance Day at Sikeston Junior High will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the school.
"It's about community awareness," said Carissa Ware, communication arts teacher at Sikeston Junior High. "There are so many lessons (from the Holocaust and World War II) about honoring the veterans, and the survivors and the individuals who died. We just want to slow down and take a moment and think about what they went through and how we can stop it from happening again."
The Holocaust was the persecution and murder of approximately 6 million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators and began in 1933. During the era of the Holocaust, German authorities also targeted other groups because of their perceived "racial inferiority," killing at least 6 million people.
Ware said hosting the Remembrance Day was actually a culminating event for the communication arts classes.
"We are reading "The Diary of Anne Frank," and the national Holocaust Remembrance Day is on the 19th," explained Ware.
Communication arts students made diaries and presentations using tri-fold boards about different World War II subjects, such as victory gardens (a small sample of what someone in the city might have), Food Rationing Program, women's roles during the war and code talkers.
"The Diary of Anne Frank is the one story students get excited about reading," Ware said. "And when they learn she doesn't make it, they are really upset."
Lessons about the Holocaust and World War II expanded to nearly every department in the school, Ware said.
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