CenterNET2 videoconference links Lincoln County history students with Holocaust survivors in New York
This month, about 65 students at Lincoln County High School didn’t have to read about the Holocaust in their history books to learn more about one of the most horrific events of the 20th Century.
That’s because state-of-the-art, cutting edge technology available through the statewide CenterNET2 videoconferencing network bridged a nearly 800-mile gap to bring those students face to face with two Holocaust survivors.
Students in teacher Jeff Wesley’s U.S. history classes participated in interactive, two-way videoconferences with Holocaust survivors Gloria Glantz and David Taub at The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Nassau County, New York.
The technology allowed students to not only listen to and watch Glantz and Taub as they gave their harrowing accounts of the Holocaust, but also to ask questions and interact with the pair in “real time.”
The videoconference was made possible by CenterNET2, which is bringing the world to Kentucky students through unique distance-learning programs. CenterNET2 is a service of The Center for Rural Development in Somerset, Ky.
“Yesterday, I walked out of my history class with a whole new outlook on life than I had when I went in,” junior Katie Lappin said after hearing Glantz share her childhood experience of growing up within a few miles of a concentration camp.
“I have always wanted to talk to a Holocaust survivor, and Gloria Glantz’s story made me more grateful that we live in a country with so much protection and freedom,” Lappin said.
As the students watched Glantz on the videoconferencing monitor, she spoke freely on the many chilling details of the Holocaust. Glantz said she was 3 years old when the Nazis began to deport the Jews of her town—including her family—to Treblinka, a death camp near Warsaw, Poland.
She said her mother dropped her off at the home of a Polish Catholic woman, who sheltered her for the duration of the war by pretending Glantz was her daughter’s illegitimate child. The woman became Glantz’s second mother and was reluctant to give her up when Glantz’s aunt, her only surviving family member in Poland, claimed her at the end of World War II.
Authorities intervened and Glantz spent one year at a Swedish orphanage and three additional years with a Canadian family before entering the United States.
David Taub relayed his own Holocaust memories to the students, even displaying an actual Star of David insignia the Nazis required Jews to wear on a patch or armband as a means of identification.
When the war broke out in 1939, Taub’s parents sent him to the small town of Vichy, France for safety. He quickly returned to the city, but escaped with his family back to Vichy when the Germans invaded in 1940.
The entire town knew the family was Jewish, but no one betrayed them to the authorities. They remained there in relative safety until the end of the war, Taub said.
Students, including junior Tyler Presto, said experiencing these stories “live” gave them insight into World War II they would not have gotten otherwise.
“This was a truly amazing opportunity,” Presto said. “Gloria’s story was truly amazing and it was very cool to be able to talk to her in our classroom.”
Sam Jacobs thought hearing Taub tell his story was “better than reading about it” in a history book.
“It was neat to think he was in New York and we are here talking to him and seeing him like we were face to face,” student Stacy Jarrett added.
CenterNET2 Project Manager Robyn Phillips said Kentucky teachers can bring subject matter to life through the use of videoconferencing technology.
“These students were enriched by a ‘virtual field trip’ by connecting to real people who lived through the Holocaust and lived to tell about it,” Phillips said. “Had it not been for the videoconferencing technology, those students would not have been able to capture the real essence of that era.”
Wesley agreed.
“I was absolutely thrilled with the opportunity to utilize technology to bring such a unique experience to our students,” he said following the presentations. “It was a wonderful experience that I believe our students will treasure and share with others.”
Timothy Godbey, principal at Lincoln County High School, said videoconferencing is an effective way to engage students in a unique learning experience.
“Technology allowed real people with truly amazing lives to connect with our students within the walls of the classroom,” Godbey said. “This is something no textbook or lecture could ever produce.”
For more information on CenterNET2, contact CenterNET2 Project Manager Robyn Phillips at The Center for Rural Development by phone at 606-677-6000, or by e-mail at rphillips@centertech.com.
The Center for Rural Development, located in Somerset, Ky., provides economic and community development programs to residents in a 42-county service area of Southern and Eastern Kentucky, and is home to several statewide and national technology-based programs. For more information on programs available through The Center, visit www.centertech.com.
Photo Caption 1: In a videoconference with U.S. history students at Lincoln County High School, Holocaust survivor David Taub shows students a “Star of David” badge, which he kept after World War II. The Nazis used the Star of David as a method of identifying Jews during the Holocaust. CenterNET2, a statewide videoconferencing network provided by The Center for Rural Development in Somerset, Ky., made possible the videoconferencing link that brought the students together with Taub and fellow Holocaust survivor Gloria Glantz, who spoke from The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Nassau County, New York.
Photo Caption 2: Holocaust survivor David Taub, top left, shares his experience with U.S. history students at Lincoln County High School, who can be seen at the bottom of the split screen, in a CenterNET2 videoconference link with The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Nassau County, New York. Appearing with Taub is museum director Sarah Cushman, top right. Taub told how his family fled the Nazis in an attempt to escape being sent to a concentration camp. CenterNET2, a statewide videoconferencing network provided by The Center for Rural Development in Somerset, Ky., made possible the videoconferencing link possible.
