How Holocaust Education Can Be a Pathway Out of the Ghetto

The Charlotte Jewish News, May 2023

By Albertia Burgess

In the ghetto where I grew up, we lived under the absolute worst conditions. Violence and murders were not uncommon, a general disregard for higher education was pervasive, and we hoped for the best instead of planning for the future.

In such an environment, I did not learn self-advocacy, the value of education, or the skills to be gainfully employed. Because I hated this culture, I adopted a different one - one that valued the thing that is the most likely pathway out of poverty: education.

I became an English teacher, and, after a few years, found myself educating students in the poorest areas of West Charlotte. Like me, many of these students grew up in communities that were impoverished not only in material things but also in neighborhood values that could protect them from gangs, drugs, and alcohol.

While looking for new teaching material, I stumbled upon the graphic novel “Maus” by Art Spiegelman. I watched a documentary featuring the trip to the Auschwitz death camp by Elie Wiesel and Oprah Winfrey. At this time, I was introduced to the North Carolina Council on the Holocaust and its programs that focus on bullying, hate, bigotry, and antisemitism and the history of the Holocaust. I went to teacher workshops and was selected to go on a bus trip to the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

In each Holocaust survivor tale I watched, read, or listened to, I saw my own communities. I saw people I love forced to live in conditions that were unsafe, crowded, and, often, unsanitary. Akin to Jews being forced to live in ghettos because of antisemitism, my people had been ghettoized because of systemic racism.

At the Holocaust Museum, I watched images of Nazi troops and collaborators dragging brothers and fathers away, never to be seen again. I watched images of others, the Righteous Gentiles, hiding Jews in their homes. I saw abuse, desperation, and despair. Although the texts and various media were teaching me about antisemitism in Nazi Germany, I was able to relate those lessons

to my own upbringing and those of my students. Within a week, I was teaching the Holocaust fervently. I was searching for materials and opportunities to learn more. I needed to be able to show my students what happened to the Jewish people and why. I needed to talk about what can happen when you turn a blind eye to maltreatment and inhumanity — not only when young black men are treated unfairly by police, but when your neighbors in

the ghetto embrace a violent lifestyle instead of building a caring community. I wanted my students to see just how much people will abuse their power if you let them. I wanted to talk about what ghettos represent and why we should never be proud of such a thing.

My classes created drawings, made dioramas, and even created a song. We investigated and researched the Holocaust, and my students were able to relate too many of the horrific occurrences of the Holocaust to current events in our own neighborhoods. There was nothing to glorify or laugh about. Just a lot of sadness.

I will admit, I teach the Holocaust, in part, to scare them. I’d rather scare them with what “could happen” if they are not vigilant, informed, and active. When they say to me, “That could never happen here,” I remind them that many Jews thought the same during various stages of the Holocaust and that the world we live in today is still filled with maltreatment, prejudice, and inhumanity.

I’ve heard Kanye West and many other public figures disrespectfully utilize the language unique to the Holocaust. That is why we must continue to teach what happened during the Holocaust. We must ensure the narrative is accurate and our scholars are decoding the information correctly.

We cannot allow this event or the language thereof to be redefined. The Holocaust happened. Although we cannot change this historical event, we can certainly teach it and try to prevent it from happening again.

As all survivors say, what’s most important is to “teach the children.”

Albertia Burgess is a post-secondary English and digital literacy instructor and secondary language arts educator with a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in legal research who specializes in literacy support, community engagement, and increasing equity in underserved areas. She currently is teaching the 8th grade at Onslow Visual Secondary School. She is also a Holocaust fellow selected by the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.

Photo Caption: Albertia Burgess