For high school students, the Holocaust can seem hauntingly abstract: learned in history class, reflected only in textbooks. In August, 21 Jewish high schoolers from 14 Greater Boston, North Shore and Merrimack Valley towns dug deeper and were forever changed through Lappin Foundation’s Teen Up: Empowering Teens to Stand Up Against Antisemitism Using Lessons of the Holocaust.

The program comprises three sessions: a preparation session that includes an overview of the Holocaust, a lesson about racial antisemitism and meeting a Holocaust survivor. Session two is a daylong fully subsidized trip to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., followed by session three, a debrief about lessons learned—including resources for teens to stand up to antisemitism in their own lives.

Alex Gross, a rising senior at Newburyport High School, joined the program because of a longtime interest in history and World War II. The experience was more moving and multi-dimensional than he could have expected.

“I’m always looking for ways to deepen my understanding of Jewish history and Jewish faith,” he says. “You can watch YouTube videos or read about the Holocaust. But this was just really eye-opening, and a lot more emotional than I would have thought.”

Gross was especially struck by the Theresienstadt children’s camp exhibit at the Holocaust Museum, which showcased artwork they created to cope while held captive.

“I thought it was just so interesting to see how people managed to get through this experience by expressing their feelings through drawings,” he says. “I learned that there was a lot more than what was on the surface when studying the Holocaust: There’s so much to unpack, so much more than what it seems. Now, I have an emotional understanding of what happened.”

Angel Katzen, a rising senior at Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School in Haverhill, saw parallels to her own life after hearing from the Holocaust survivor Magda Bader during the first session.

“We learned about her siblings and how they were all on track for such a bright future—and then it all got stripped away from them,” she says.

At the museum, she was haunted by the image of a destroyed Torah from the Night of Broken Glass, the Nazi dictatorship’s declaration of war against Austrian and German Jews in November 1938.

“It stuck with me because I’ve always seen the Torah as something you can’t drop. You have to keep it nice and protected. To see it destroyed hurt me, because I always knew to just try to keep it safe. It wasn’t right at all,” she says.

Katzen says the program, especially moments such as that, galvanized her to spread awareness about antisemitism and its repercussions at her own high school.

“Teen Up made me want to stand up a lot more, to make sure this doesn’t happen to any group of people, so no one has this experience that the Jewish people had. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she says.

Teen Up got strong reviews overall: In a post-program evaluation, all of the participants said it met or exceeded expectations—and almost all said they now feel more confident coping with and spreading awareness about antisemitism in their own lives.

Gross and Katzen in particular each appreciated the opportunity for a third session to reflect on their emotional museum visit. The group had the chance to open up about how they’d experienced antisemitism in their own lives, and how they felt more secure in standing up to it, knowing they’re supported by a newfound community of Jewish friends and peers. Importantly, they were also taught how to advocate for more education around antisemitism in their school communities.

“Now, I know what to say to my school administration, and different ways to present it—and how not to take ‘no’ for an answer: just to go higher and higher up in the administration,” Katzen says.

Gross agrees.

“Teen Up made me see Jewish people in a whole new light. I understood that they went through so many bad things, but they never lost hope, and eventually they were liberated. To see that strength within the Jewish people has motivated me to do the same.”

Jewish high school students can register for the fall session of Teen Up at LappinFoundation.org. There is no cost for teens to participate. For more information, email natasha@lappinfoundation.org. Teen Up is supported by CJP and the Jewish Teen Initiative.

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