Seated on the floor inside a replica of a World War II-era cattle car, 9th graders at Westfield High School listened intently as voices and videos filled the space.
The immersive multimedia exhibit—part of The Hate Ends Now mobile Holocaust experience—offered students a deeply moving and powerful lesson about the Holocaust and the importance of standing up against hate.
“The two-day program, which has been in planning since September, was organized by a core team of 9th grade educators,” says Supervisor of K-12 Social Studies Andrea Brennan. “The exhibit is closely aligned with the learning goals of the Holocaust and Genocide unit in the 9th grade Global Perspectives course.”
On the wooden floor beneath the students were 100 sets of footprints, representing the estimated number of Jewish men, women, and children forced into a single cattle car for days-long journeys with only a bucket of water and a few loaves of bread, in stifling heat or freezing cold, until arriving at Auschwitz-Birkenau or other Nazi concentration camps.
“It was an impactful and meaningful two days of learning for our 9th graders,” Brennan says. “The experience challenged students to think deeply about the past and their role in shaping a more just and compassionate future.”
The traveling exhibit, hosted at WHS on May 13 and 14, was made possible through the support of the Westfield Education Association, Temple Emanu-El of Westfield, and the Jewish Federation of Metrowest New Jersey. Over two days, all WHS freshmen participated in the program, which included a 360-degree presentation housed inside the replica of the cattle cars used to transport Jews and other victims to the death camps.
The 9th graders also visited an accompanying artifact museum, learning about the history and personal stories that illustrate the human cost of unchecked hate and antisemitism.
“Many students explained that while they knew a great deal about the Holocaust, sitting in the cattle car made it real – it provided a deeper understanding of what happened,” says WHS social studies and humanities teacher Kimberly Leegan, who also is advisor of the No Place For Hate and Jewish Cultural and Development Clubs. “In addition, the ability of the students to see artifacts such as a Hitler Alarm Clock sold in the United States, gave students a deeper understanding of the fact that hatred spread well beyond Europe.”
Brennan adds that, in addition to the immersive cattle car experience, the artifact exhibit encouraged “critical reflection on the historical conditions that allowed the Holocaust to occur—and the moral responsibility we all share to stand against hate in all its forms.”
Other students and the community were invited to explore the exhibit and the original artifacts during after-school hours as well.
The Hate Ends Now: The Cattle Car Exhibit continues to travel the country as part of an initiative to raise awareness of the Holocaust and combat all forms of hate through education and empathy.
