Crossroads Community Tours Holocaust Museum

The weekend prior to Holocaust survivor and author Zenon Neumark’s talk at Crossroads, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH) opened its doors to the School’s community for five guided tours. Sunday’s tours included a conversation with a Holocaust survivor. Approximately 30 students, parents and faculty took advantage of this unique opportunity, thanks to the Equity & Justice Institute working in tandem with Crossroads parent and LAMOTH volunteer Hava Rahimian.

“I am trying to provide a broader context to the subject matter,” Derric J. Johnson, founding director of the Equity & Justice Institute, explained of his reasoning for organizing the tours in preparation for Neumark’s talk.

Led by a docent, the groups examined original artifacts, photographs and interactive exhibits that presented the history of Jewish life in Europe; a chronology of the rise of the Nazism; and the moving stories of lives lost and survivors of the Holocaust. The group also learned about the histories of genocide in Bosnia and Rwanda and made connections between the experiences of Eastern European Jewish refugees in the 1930s and 1940s and refugees today.

“Walking through the museum made it easier to understand what some people’s grandparents have been through,” reflects third grader Yemaya Chappell, who attended both the tour and the talk. “It was like going back in time.”