`SCHINDLER'S LIST' SPARKS INTEREST IN HOLOCAUST

Justin Campbell first learned about World War II and the Holocaust listening to stories about his grandfather, a medic involved in the liberation of prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp.

Last week the Cape Girardeau Central High School junior brought to school a three-page typed letter from his grandfather, Leo Robertson, describing the grisly scene soldiers discovered and photographs his grandfather had sent home in May 1945.

Campbell and other students in the History II course at Cape Central High are studying the Holocaust -- fortuitous timing, said teacher Mark Ruark.

"Schindler's List," Stephen Spielberg's story of German businessman Oskar Schindler's quest to save more than 1,100 concentration-camp Jews, has sparked an interest in the Holocaust Ruark hasn't seen before.

The movie won seven Oscars, including best picture and best director. Schools in some states have added "Schindler's List" to the curriculum. Universal pictures quickly ran out of 30,000 "Schindler's List" study guides, and the studio is offering the film to school groups at discounted rates.

"I teach this every year," Ruark said, "and it hasn't created the interest before that it has created this year." He credits the movie and the attention is has generated. "It has really motivated students to want to learn more."

Ruark is pleased. World War II and the Holocaust, he said, are among the most important historical events of the century. "Until the fall of the Soviet Union, events surrounding World War II had shaped our economy, government and foreign policy," said the history teacher.

"The mass murder of a race of people is a significant historical event in itself," Ruark said. "But it's not the only example."

He hopes students learn the dangers of domination of a minority race. "Hopefully we can prevent it from happening in the future," Ruark said.

Campbell's grandfather died when Campbell was 5, but his grandmother has related the stories he brought home from Europe -- stories of crematoriums and mass graves and bodies piled up waiting to be discarded.

By the end of the war in 1945, the Nazis had killed about 6 million Jewish men, women and children -- over two-thirds of the Jews in Europe.

United States forces liberated about 32,000 prisoners on April 29, 1945.

"I think it very important for people to know what happened to keep it from happening again," Campbell said.

Dan Byrd, a senior at Central High, agrees.

"I think it should be mandatory for people to learn about the Holocaust, even to see `Schindler's List,'" Byrd said. "If we fail to learn from it, it could happen again."

Byrd said "Schindler's List" was a powerful movie. "It showed the people as people. The Germans obviously didn't see the Jews as people. It also showed the fear. They lived in total fear."

Junior Sabrina Renka said in her studies of the events she has been overwhelmed at the scope of the killing. "How many people died and how few actually survived," she explained. "It's important we not forget -- really important."

Holly Robinson, also a junior at Central High, has studied Ann Frank and her time after hiding at a prison camp.

"It was pretty hard on everyone," Robinson said. She agrees with the others that learning of the events is critical. "It's important to know what other people have been through."

In recent years, some historians have promoted the idea, even written books, claiming that the Holocaust never actually happened -- that it was all a hoax.

Students scoffed at the notion of some elaborate conspiracy to fabricate the tales. Campbell asked, would his grandfather, a medic from Cape Girardeau, be party to such a grand scheme? He thinks not.

Renka felt those promoting the idea that the Holocaust is a hoax are simply looking to make money.

"It's amazing that learned people could say it didn't happen," Ruark said. But he said lack of education on the events of the Holocaust could feed the conspiracy theory. "As fewer and fewer survivors are around it is very critical that we continue to educate young people," Ruark said.

George Ketcham, a retired history professor from Southeast Missouri State University, agrees.

At Southeast Missouri State University, students formally study the Holocaust in European civilization and European history courses, said Alberta Dugan, chairman of the history department.

In the past, a course was offered on Germany history, taught by Ketcham.

"We always dealt extensively with the Nazi party and the Holocaust and the rise of anti-Semitism," Ketcham said. "One of the things you try to do when dealing with something like this is explain the build up towards it over a long period of time.

"Show how, for example in Germany, extreme nationalism eventually lead to anti-Semitism. There must be considerable background before a fanatic like Hitler could come along."

Ketcham believes lessons of the Holocaust are particularly important today with the rise of neo-Nazi's in Germany and other countries.

"One thing that has startled us is the number of people who did not know the Holocaust ever occurred," Ketcham said.

He related a story of some friend's children, college graduates now in their late 20s, who did not know about the Holocaust. "It was shocking, almost unbelievable. As a kid, I saw films of occupation of Germany in the movie theater. It's hard to realize there are some reasonably educated people who are unaware of what happened," Ketcham said.

And these are the people the hoaxers prey on, Ketcham said. He too discounts the theory that the Holocaust was a hoax. "It's absolutely incredible to suggest such a thing. The evidence for what happened is so overwhelming and so widely witnessed," he said.

But he added, "One cannot assume there is a general knowledge of things like that among even high school graduates or even college graduates."