Testimonials

* “I never expected I would care this much and be so excited to showcase these pictures.  When I started this project, I didn’t know anything about David Labkovski (or the Holocaust) and now we are here to tell you his life story… The beautiful paintings give us a glimpse into this time period.  They help you understand the pain and suffering of this time and how things changed with the before and after pictures (paintings of his childhood in Vilna/paintings of his return after the Holocaust.)
                                               
-Jordan, 8th grade student
 
*  “Before beginning my time doing this project, I did not really identify with the Holocaust or its effects on Jewish life as a Jew. Rather I saw it as an unhappy topic that, like the atrocities of the Japanese occupation of Korea and other such horrific happenings in history, it just was. In some cases I outright avoided learning about it when I could.” 
After participating in the program (David Labkovski Project), her outlook was transformed, “I have had to confront my own Jewish identity and apply myself to learning about the Holocaust. Through David and Rivka’s life and struggles, I learned how to see the Holocaust as less of another flat atrocity of history and more of a dynamic event that needs to be shared to the general public in order to make them understand its importance.”
 
-Sam, 10th grade student
 
* “By teaching through this window into the world that was, we are giving Jewish students a slice of their DNA.”  He goes on to say, “ the DLP is a way in for creating Jewish identity.  A way in to Jewish peoplehood, a way into history, a way to connect, a way into what was.”
 
-Dr. Bruce Powell, Head of School, deToledo High School
 
* “The resurgence of life in Eastern Europe is creating interest in the life before the Holocaust.  Looking at life before is trending (in Holocaust education).  There are few Holocaust education programs that focus on the communal life before the Holocaust.  She went on to say that only when teens can better understand the magnitude of what was lost can they finally ‘get it’.
 
- Maya Aaron, Educator at the Bureau of Jewish Education, Los Angeles, and March of the Living ​

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