Streator Woodland students engage with survivor stories from the Illinois Holocaust Museum

Students in Matthew Phillips’ World Wars class at Woodland High School in Streator had a unique opportunity to deepen their understanding of the Holocaust through the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center’s Survivor Stories teaching trunk.

His class was able to use this teaching trunk for two weeks. This educational resource, filled with primary and secondary sources, offers firsthand accounts and artifacts that bring history to life in a way textbooks simply cannot, Phillips said.

Phillips incorporated the teaching trunk into his curriculum, believing it will enrich his students’ learning experience.

“This will allow students to engage with real survivor testimonies and historical documents, making their learning experience more immersive and meaningful,” he said.

For students like senior Nick Plesko, studying the Holocaust through firsthand accounts is essential.

“I think personalized stories will help me understand the emotions these survivors felt, and how bad the Holocaust was,” Plesko said. “This is much better than normal textbooks because they tend to generalize all the emotions and actions that occurred.”

Sophomore Elizabeth Davis also values the impact of hearing survivor stories.

“I think personal survivor stories show the true emotional impact of the tragic events that took place during the Holocaust,” she said. “Hearing survivors talk about their experiences allows us to connect with those hurt during that time on a personal level, something a textbook could never provide.”

By engaging with these survivor stories, Phillips hopes his students will not only gain historical knowledge, but also develop a deeper sense of empathy and responsibility to remember the past.

The Survivor Stories teaching trunk is part of the Illinois Holocaust Museum’s mission to educate future generations about the consequences of hatred and intolerance.

Through this initiative, Streator Woodland students are experiencing history in a way that ensures the voices of survivors continue to be heard. As survivor testimonies become one of the last remaining links to this tragic chapter, opportunities like this ensure that their stories — and the lessons they teach — will never be forgotten, Phillips said.