Twenty-five GEAR UP students from Savanna High School recently traveled to Dallas, TX, to tour the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum. Museum Experience Lead Ellie Keffler greeted the students and briefly explained the museum’s mission.
The tour began in the Holocaust/Shoah Wing, where students learned the history of the Jewish people and their experiences that led to the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust. Guides discussed Hitler’s worldview, the Nazi rise to power in Germany during World War II, the ghettos, and the concentration and death camps across Europe.
Next, students explored the Human Rights wing and the Universal Declaration of Humans Rights (UDHR) based on four foundations: dignity, liberty, equality, and brotherhood. Students learned about the Nuremberg Trials, where German officials were tried, convicted, and prosecuted. Soon after the trials, the United Nations adopted the UDHR.
The tour concluded with a self-guided tour through exhibits such as the Ten Stages of Genocide, the Texas Upstander Wall, and the Memorial and Reflection Room. The final stop was the Cinemark Theater, which showcased a film featuring local Holocaust Survivor interviews created from rare footage and photographs.
The field trip was sponsored by Eastern Oklahoma State College’s GEAR UP program. Eastern received a $17 million federal GEAR UP grant in 2017 and will serve more than 3,000 students in 39 area schools for seven years.
