The history and memory of the Holocaust in the Caen school district

Throughout the school year, students and apprentices at five Normandy high schools participated in a Holocaust education program.

In January, the Shoah Memorial organized a journey to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the keynote of this program launched by the Basse-Normandie region in partnership with the Caen Board of Education.

The students presented their work at the Caen Memorial on May 12, 2015.

Under their teachers’ responsibility, they worked on the project throughout the school year. Its long-term nature prompted them to think about the Holocaust’s historical, memorial and civic dimensions and strengthened their involvement. 

The projects

Each project led to an editorial, video, audio or other production relating to the journey, survivors’ testimony and, as much as possible, local history.

The Lycées Lépine and Malherbe de Caen (14) 
The students focused on the Righteous. Maurice Etynger, a Jewish child hidden by a Norman family, testified at the Lycée Lépine. The students also worked on a Righteous Among the Nations nomination submitted to Yad Vashem.

The Lycée de la Morandière in Granville (50)
The students did research on the Goldenberg and Bobulesco families, deported in 1942. They organized a photo exhibition, published a brochure about families deported from Granville, broadcast a series of programs on the high school radio station, including reportages made during the journey to Auschwitz, and presented their research in theatrical form.

The Lycée Lehec at Saint Hilaire in Harcouët (50)
The students studied the history of deported Jewish families from the Sud Manche. Photographs, paintings, sculptures, films and videos traced their reflections on the Holocaust.

The Lycée Marguerite de Navare in Alençon (61)
A plaque in the high school courtyard recalls the memory of Edith Bonnem, a student who was deported and killed at Auschwitz in 1942. The students’ research at the Orne departmental archives allowed them to tell her story in a photo exhibition and a radio reportage.

This project is part of an educational travel program the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah has supported in partnership with many regions since 2003.