High school students learn the meaning of tolerance

SOPHIA FISCHER/Acorn Newspapers REMEMBRANCE--Holocaust survivor Renee Firestone, lower left, is featured in "The Last Days," a Steven Spielberg documentary about the lives of five Hungarian Jews. Firestone is joined here by members of the Oak Park High School Advanced Peer Counseling Group, which organized Tolerance Week at the campus from Dec. 11 to 15. After a series of bullying and hate-related incidents on campus, students at Oak Park High School participated in "Tolerance Week."

Discussions were held in mid-December about the meaning of tolerance, and student films and essay and arts contests were presented on the issue. A woman who survived the Holocaust spoke of her experiences and suggested actions that students could take against ongoing genocide.

The Dec. 11 to 15 program culminated in a schoolwide cultural fair featuring foods and music of various countries. Students signed a 14-foot banner reading "I will not raise my hands in acts of intolerance," which will remain on display on campus.

"Though many Oak Park students feel that intolerance and hatred are far away from their secluded, perfect community, in reality, prejudices permeate even Oak Park, and as students mature and prepare to depart for college and the 'real world,' it becomes increasingly important for them to know the realities of their society," said Tess Wilkoff, an Oak Park High counselor and advisor for the peer counseling program.

Tolerance Week was organized and run by the school's advanced peer counselors, students who have received training in ways to help their peers.

"This even was important in acknowledging that peers should never underestimate their impact in effecting positive change," Wilkoff said.

The faculty and administration supported the program, said senior Lisa Rotenstein, an advanced peer counselor and organizer of the weeklong event.

"It really spawned discussion in classes and brought the issue out on campus," Rotenstein said.

The event came shortly after several hate-related incidents took place on campus. Swastikas were scrawled on the school and on students' personal property; an African-American student was taunted with a racial slur. Last year the school had problems with bullying; this year some out-of-district students faced intolerance from those who live in Oak Park, according to Rotenstein.

"We thought Tolerance Week would be something good for the school," Rotenstein said.

Holocaust survivor Renee Firestone of Beverly Hills, one of the five subjects of producer Steven Spielberg's Academy Award-winning 1998 film "The Last Days," addressed the student body. More than 200 filled the room despite the fact that the talk was held after school.

Firestone was 19 when she and her family were taken by cattle car to the Nazis' brutal death camp in Auschwitz, Poland. Firestone gave students an overview of the history of World War II, the Holocaust and the 13 months she spent in the infamous camp, where her parents and sister were killed. She spoke of her family, forced to leave their home in Czechoslovakia for Hungary, and of her brother, who was beaten and forced into a labor camp.

"I remember asking my father, 'Is it possible they are killing, shooting people just because they are Jewish?'" Firestone said. "He told me, 'I know the German people. They are the most cultured, educated people in the world. They have music and art. They don't send people into mass graves.'"

Those were the words she wanted to hear, Firestone recalled, so she was satisfied with her father's answer. She warned students to avoid being indifferent.

"While we are sitting here talking about the Holocaust, there is genocide going on in our lifetime--in the Sudan, in Darfur," Firestone said.

How could the world have known about the murders in Auschwitz and not done anything to save people, Firestone asked.

"I want you to know you can do something. Your president, your congressmen, the United Nations--insist they go in and save these people," Firestone said. "We need to look out for each other. Please be aware of what is going on in the world and do your part to help others."

Students gave Firestone a standing ovation.

"We read books about the Holocaust, but to hear it directly from a survivor is really powerful," said sophomore Julia Robinson. She came to the lecture to listen for the first time to a Holocaust survivor. "I hope everyone takes this story to heart and, hopefully, contributes to never letting this happen again."