In the words of the students
This section is possibly the most important part of the website as it records what the students gained from meeting and listening to survivors in extra-curricula classes. Letters from the students to survivors, interviews and class productions should all become a resource to frame the original testimonies. These documents also speak of how the students related these personal accounts to the history they had learned in class.
Memory and ways of passing it on
Amandine Telliez from Voltaire Senior High School
I was absolutely spellbound by what you told us. As a real-life experience, it is forever imprinted on my heart. You talked on Friday of “teaching about life” but above all you made me appreciate how happy I was – happy to be alive.
Amandine Telliez
61 138 Billy-Berclau
- File name: Letter from Amandine in PDF format
Aurélien VEBR
Your story has lifted the cover in the shadows
Now it’s in the open for the students to see
You teach us to respect all others
To know and understand them better
To seek to protect them
To confront discriminations full of prejudice
To never lose courage in even the most desperate cases
As man is always capable of the worst as well as the best
Most important is to keep the memory alive
Aurélien VEBR
Translator’s note : In English this is no longer an acrostic poem which in French spells out TOLERANCE as written above by Aurélien VEBR.
- File name: Letter from Aurélien in Word format
Adam speaks to us of the importance of remembrance
“It is quite incredible that Sam Braun feels no hatred towards those who deported him and tortured him for three years. So, I think it is very important that his story is preserve. That it is never forgotten and it is passed on by educating future generations.”
Clara speaks to us of the importance of remembrance
“I remember his story, his calm and gentle voice. Also the simplicity and the clarity of his account of what happened to him. He said something, the first thing he said as he sat down, “It is not what I am going to tell you that is important, it is what you will do with it.” That is so true.”
Sam Braun: the man and his values
Adeline, a Year 10 student at Korczak Junior High School in Limeil Brévannes
This man called S. Braun, was born in 1927, so he was 16 years old when he was deported. The thing he said that had the greatest impression on me was: “it is not what was done to you, but what you have done with what was done to you.
Adeline
Korczak Junior High School in Limeil Brévannes
Year 10 (9th grade USA) Class
- File name: Letter from Adeline in PDF format
Aurélie Bouin de Provin
What you told us had an enormous impact. It has a lot to do with your strength of character, which nobody can, or could ever deny. I leave you with my most sincere gratitude.
Bouin Aurélie de Provin
- File name: Letter from Aurélie in PDF format
Adam talks to us about Sam Braun
“The main thing that comes from what Sam Braun taught his daughter is that we must not hate people, because hatred just engenders more hatred. It is a sort of never-ending vicious circle.”
Clara, former student at Lavoisier Senior High School (Paris, 5th arrondissement) talks to us about Sam Braun
“After to Sam’s story in this meeting, the message that stays with me is that we must be so careful to avoid all forms of discrimination.”
Elsa, Year 11* student at Lavoisier Senior High School (Paris, 5th arrondissement)
“From listening to Malka I understood that it was forgiveness that Sam Braun taught and passed on. I find it incredible given all that he endured.”
*Year 11 = 10th grade in USA
Cheraz, Year 11* student at Lavoisier Senior High School (Paris, 5th arrondissement)
“What I took from Malka Braun’s talk were the values that Sam Braun passed on. These were values he held long before he decided to talk about his deportation.”
*Year 11 = 10th grade in USA
To be one of Sam’s children : intergenerational learning
Chloé, Year 10* student, at Korczak Junior High School in Limeil-Brévannes
He came to talk to us, to tell us his story and what he had seen. He did this to help us understand, not what he went through, because nobody can understand that, but to make us realise how lucky we are to have not experienced what he did. That is the best proof of his humanity.
Chloé Cattenoy
Student in Year 10/2 at Korczak Junior High School
*Year 10 = 9th grade in USA
- File name: Letter from Chloé in PDF format
Clara speaks to us about The Children of Sam
“Things that happened in the past are not going to change, so it is important to just maintain one’s awareness, and stay cognisant … It is important to remember that some paths can lead to human catastrophes.”
Adam speaks to us about The Children of Sam
“Mostly he talked about the fact that all people are capable of doing the same thing, all human beings are capable of doing it. Ultimately, our neighbour could easily have been a prison guard at Auschwitz in those terrible times. I think that’s the main point. Malka comes to speak to us young people because we are the adults of tomorrow, we will be tomorrow’s world."
