On May 9, 2005, we had some guests at our school, we had news reporters, and newspaper people here. Speakers included the honorable Mayor Thomas Menino, Alan Ronkin, Deputy Director, JCRC; Rabbi Moshe Waldoks, Chairman, JCRC Holocaust Commemoration Committee, Jimmie Jones, Facing History and ourselves; Mike Ross, City Counselor, and Ms. Sonia Weitz, Holocaust survivor.

After the assembly, The Messenger staff asked students and one teacher these questions:



1) What was the most important message you heard today?

2) Do you believe it’s important to learn about the Holocaust? Why or why not? What lessons does it hold for you?

Raziel, a 10th grader: "Even though people want you to forget about the past and let it, you cant let it go because it stays inside you…it’s just one of the things that stay inside you."

"Yes, because it is an important factor of the past and present, and how it has affected millions of people all over the world. It teaches me how cruel the Nazis were."

*****

Joel, a ninth-grader: "The most important message was what the rabbi when he said, treat others like the way you would want to be treated and that even though the Holocaust was 60 years ago that’s something we can't forget, the way we haven’t forgotten about the slavery. Yes, it is important to learn about the Holocaust because is something that could happened again in the future. Because the Holocaust happened 60 years ago and that’s not that far away, it is something that happened recently. So by learning about it we could end up getting an idea to how to stop this from happening again."

*****







Jose, a ninth-grader: "I heard a lot of talk about the Holocaust today, but one of the most important things I heard was when the guy was talking about the bible story, and how the world needs to unite so they can finally make the tower to heaven.

"I do believe it is important to talk about the Holocaust because it is a time when alot of people died, families were crushed and broken up. What I’ve learned is that we should from the things that happened in the past. Learn from your mistakes."





Jessica, a 10th-grader, said the most important message that she heard was about the struggle and what they went through and how people said it didn’t happen and people died for their religion.

"It was important that we should learn and what happened. We don’t need another Holocaust and people died just because of their religion."

"I learned that you shouldn’t judge someone because of his or her race or religion because of what I believe in."





*****





Ms. Manning, a TBA teacher, said the most important message that she heard today was a loss of rights and it related it to all people -- no one should be treated like that.

"What was most important was that we were able to learn from what happened and we would be able to prevent it from happening again."

"I learned that you shouldn’t sit back and watch any people be victims of genocide. It wasn’t right for people who knew what was going on to stand by and not care and make it seem like it didn’t happen."

*****

Mia, a ninth-grader, said said the most important message that she heard was when the guest speaker told us about her likes and what she had to go through. She felt that she was strong and she could embrace what she was saying.

"It was important because it happened a short time ago and it had and impact on the world and we are also learning about it in history so that helps also."

She learned to be kind and "don’t discriminate against someone just because of their race, whether or not they are handicapped or if they cant reach a certain standard as you, it wouldn’t be fair."

Staff members Stephanie, Deshawn, Robert, Najeeba and Sherrelle helped report and edit this article.