The students grew silent in Choate-Rosemary Hall’s packed auditorium, riveted to renowned historian Dr. Debórah Dwork as she recounted the tale of a valorous woman who saved Jewish people’s lives during the Holocaust.

Dwork, Rose Professor of Holocaust History and Director of the Strassler Family Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, shared this powerful story as part of a two-day program of Holocaust learning that TCI organized. Held January 9th and 10th, at Choate in Wallingford, CT, the intensive event engaged the school’s over 1000 students in discussion and study of the genocide that took the lives of over ten million people, six million of whom were Jews. Bringing lessons from history to the students’ lives, the program carried themes relevant to today.

The program’s overriding theme was what it means to be an “upstander”, a term denoting someone who chooses to act righteously rather than being a passive bystander. Underscoring this concept was Dwork’s plenary presentation about Marion Pritchard, a Dutch citizen who risked her life to protect Jewish children.

After spending three months in jail for illicit anti-Nazi activities, Pritchard witnessed two SS officers throw several Jewish children — and the two Dutch women who were trying to save them— onto a truck Though Pritchard knew these individuals were bound for death, she stood immobile, paralyzed by fear.

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Keynote speaker Christina Brinkley, Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at Simmons College in Boston, addressed the educators’ complex work to create inclusive school environments that value multiple perspectives and diverse student communities.