WHITWELL MIDDLE SCHOOL
1, BUTTERFLY LANE, WHITWELL, TN 37397
http://www.whitwellmiddleschool.org/
Almost all observers note the unexpected location of the project.
The small rural town of Whitwell has about 1,600 residents and, according to the U.S. census, 97.35 percent of them are white. There was not a single Jew among the population of 425 students when the project began.
Out of the 425 students, there are only five African Americans and one Hispanic. (Wikipedia)
In 1998 eighth grade students at Whitwell Middle School began an after-school study of the Holocaust.
The goal of this study was to teach students the importance of respecting different cultures
as well as understanding the effects of intolerance.
As the study progressed, the sheer number of Jews who were exterminated by the Nazis overwhelmed the students.
6 million was a number that the students could not remotely grasp.
The students asked Sandra Roberts and David Smith if they could collect something to help them understand the enormity of this extermination. The teachers told the students to ask permission of principal, Linda M. Hooper. She gave the students permission to begin a collection, IF, they could find something to collect that would have meaning to the project.
CHILDREN'S HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
After some research on the Internet, the students decided to collect paper clips because they discovered that
1) Joseph Valler, a Norwegian Jew is credited as having invented the paper clip
and 2) that Norwegians wore them on their lapels as a silent protest against Nazi occupation in WWII.
Students began bringing in paper clips. They wrote letters to famous people asking for a paper clip.
The students also asked people to share their reasons for sending a paper clip.
To date over 30 million paperclips have been sent to Whitwell Middle School.
In addition, the project has received 30 thousand + letters, documents, books, and artifacts.
All of these have been counted and catalogued by students and are on display
in the Children's Holocaust Memorial Research Room located at the school.
The paper clip collection has become a part of the "Children's Holocaust Memorial"
created by the students, staff, and community of Whitwell Middle School.
The Memorial contains 11 million paper clips housed in an authentic German transport car
honoring the lives of all people murdered by the Nazis.
And
11 million other paper clips are contained in a monument honoring the children of the Holocaust.
The Children's Holocaust Memorial was dedicated November 9, 2001.
Approximately one thousand people were in attendance at the dedication.
It was an awesome celebration of what a committed group of people can accomplish.
The students conduct tours, lead people in learning activities and answer questions
FACTS AND BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NAZI RAIL CAR:
The Children's Holocaust Memorial consists of an authentic German rail car
that was used to transport victims to concentration, labor, and death camps.
The rail car houses eleven million paper clips, one for each victim of the Holocaust.
A small park surrounds the car.
Originally there were eighteen butterflies some inlaid with stained glass
and others free standing copper sculptures.
Over the years visitors have left additional butterflies so the number grows daily.
The students, staff, and community of Whitwell Middle School have transformed the car from a death car
into a symbol of renewed life honoring the lives of those murdered by the Nazis.
This rail car was built in 1917 and used for many purposes over the years.
After being bought by a German state-owned company in the late 1970's,
the car was used for intra-company transport and then abandoned.
During World War II, the Third Reich used this car to transport prisoners to camps.
The car was discovered after the war in Poland, near the town of Chelmno.
It was used as a grain car after World War II.
The grain holes in the floor and the ventilation hole in the roof were put in after the war.
This historic rail car transported 80 to 150 prisoners at a time to the camps.
The rail car at Whitwell Middle School was part of the "German Reichsbahn"
and is one of the very last remaining "cattle cars" of the Nazi era.
DONATION
This car was located in a railroad museum in Robel, Germany.
Peter Schroeder and Dagmar Schroeder Hildebrand (White House correspondents for German newspapers)
purchased the car and donated it to Whitwell Middle School.
This German rail car, numbered 011-993, was also used
in the European film "Stalingrad" and in the U.S. film "Enemy at the Gate".
HOW THE CAR MADE IT TO WHITWELL:
GERMANY
When the Schroeders purchased the car from the museum in Robel,
they took on the daunting task of getting the car to Whitwell.
The German Rail Company
After inspection by their technicians
the car was declared "rollable" (maximum speed of 30 miles per hour).
The German Armed Forces
had the car sprayed and disinfected for foreign insects.
The "Deutsche Bahn"
had a decorative locomotive in front of the car
and towed it under official designation "Special Train Holocaust Memorial".
The car traveled 300 miles to the German port of Cuxhaven.
By special arrangement with the
German Armed Forces,
the Memorial Car was placed on the chartered Norwegian freighter "MS Blue Sky"
and was transported to the United States
ARRIVAL IN THE UNITED STATES PORT OF BALTIMORE
The car had to be cleared through customs and the required inspections of the US Dept. of Agriculture.
From Baltimore,
the CSX Rail Company
transported the car to Chattanooga, Tennessee
via one of their flatbed rail cars because the wheel gage of the German car conflicted with American rails.
Fletcher Trucking Company of Whitwell, Tennessee
provided the transportation for the final leg of the trip from Chattanooga to Whitwell Middle School.
ARRIVAL AT WHITWELL MIDDLE SCHOOL
B & B Crane Company
donated the services of an operator along with a crane capable of lifting 600,000 pounds
to set the car on the tracks at the Memorial site.
The tracks, which the car sits on, were donated by
CSX Railroad Company.
These tracks were made in Tennessee in 1943.
AROUND THE RAIL CAR
Linda Pickett sculpted eighteen butterflies of twisted copper which are embedded in concrete around the railcar.
Butterflies came from a poem written by a child who lived in Terezin concentration camp in 1942
(I Never Saw Another Butterfly) and the number 18
in Hebrew symbolizes life (in Gematria, 18 is the numerical value of the word חי, pronounced Chai, meaning life).
Over the years, visitors have left more butterflies.
Inside the railcar, besides the paper clips,
there are the Schroeders’ book and a suitcase filled with letters of apology to Anne Frank by a class of German schoolchildren.
A sculpture designed by an artist from Ooltewah, Tennessee stands next to the car, memorializing the 1.5 million children murdered by the Nazis, and incorporating another 11 million paper clips.
THE STUDENTS, STAFF, AND COMMUNITY OF WHITWELL MIDDLE SCHOOL
HAVE TRANSFORMED THE CAR FROM A DEATH CAR
INTO A SYMBOL OF RENEWED LIFE HONORING THE LIVES OF THOSE MURDERED BY THE NAZIS.
FOR GENERATIONS OF WHITWELL STUDENTS,
A PAPER CLIP WILL NEVER AGAIN BE JUST A PAPER CLIP.
INSTEAD, THE PAPER CLIP IS A REMINDER OF THE
IMPORTANCE OF PERSEVERANCE, EMPATHY, TOLERANCE, AND UNDERSTANDING.
Paper Clips (2004) - Film Trailer
frgdr.com (1.38)
film available from
https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Paper_Clips?id=N6AqfJ7i5oA&hl=en_GB
Whitwell Middle School Holocaust Memorial:
Paper Clips brandylu100 (5.00)