Recap: 3GDC Presentation to Rollins College

On Sunday, March 9, Manny Mandel, his daughter Lisa Mandel-Trupp, and his grandson Zac Trupp (3GDC Remembrance Committee Chair), shared Manny's Holocaust story with Rollins College students taking a "Teaching the Holocaust" course. The panel was moderated by 3G Laura Bakst, author of the book "The Shoemaker's Son", about her grandfather's Holocaust story.

Each year, Professor James McLaughlin takes students to Washington D.C. or Poland to spend a few days immersing them in the history of Holocaust as they prepare to become educators of future generations.

Most of his students plan to be elementary school educators when they graduate, so they have a unique responsibility in teaching the youngest of future generations about a horrible and indescribable event. Manny, having been born in 1936, experienced the Holocaust during the time he would've been in elementary school. When one of the student's asked the panel about how to teach this massive topic to young minds, Zac suggested using stories like Manny's as a relatable way to put in perspective what was taken away. While the panel acknowledged the trauma that the Nazis committed to the Jewish community that has lasted multiple generations, they also recognized the enduring spirit of the Jewish people as an enduring trait. 

The conversation also led to what messages to take back to their classrooms, the panel spoke about the dangers of indifference and the importance of being an upstander. This topic was also a common thread during the recent International Holocaust Education Day program with Montgomery County Schools. It is relatable, because of its connection to the rise in bullying and the current political environment. It serves as a reminder of Elie Wiesel's thoughts on indifference, "indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten"