GARNER, N.C. – Students at East Garner Magnet Middle School unveiled a memorial and labyrinth of shoes Tuesday in remembrance of victims of the Holocaust.

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The eight graders spent the last few years studying the Holocaust, doing research on victims from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum database and creating stories from their research.

 

“The students created shoes to represent the victim and they wrote stories about their lives, so all 740 of the shoes represent a person that suffered through the Holocaust,” said Meghan Retseck, Chair of the Fine Arts Department.

 

The students not only read about the tragedies of the Holocaust, they also had the opportunity to interact with Giselle Abramson, a Holocaust survivor.

 

Eighth grader Kira Martin said she will never forget the stories from the victim, and how people could have acted so cruel.

 

“The gas chambers, starvation, no sleep, it just wasn’t cool.  I couldn’t believe people did that to other people,” said Martin.

 

The eighth grade students will wrap up their lesson with a trip to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. With the assistance from the United Arts Council of Raleigh, this will be the first year that all eighth graders will get a chance to go to the national museum.