ホロコースト記念館 ＪＡＰＡＮHOLOCAUST EDUCATION CENTER
Summer, 1999 No.

10NEWSLETTER
New start after finishing the "The Children's Meetingon the Holocaust '99"
Makoto Otsuka, Director General of Holocaust Education Center, Japan"The Children's Meeting on the Holocaust '99" was a very special,meaningful opportunity for many children in Japan to learn about thehistory of the Holocaust.
Inviting a Holocaust survivor and historian, Dr. Yaffa Eliach fromNew York, the meeting presented various unique events. The mostnotable feature of the meeting was that it was organized by children,for children. They joined in the process of planning and preparation,and they shared the work from the presiding of the program to thereception and guiding in the hall. We believe the meeting was successful
in terms of their ideas about creating an opportunity to think about
peace and putting it into practice, which showed us great hope for thefuture.
Dr. Yaffa Eliach, with her dedication to the education of children,
was a wonderful guest for the meeting. Listening to her story, I
understood that she had experienced three kinds of the Holocaust in
her childhood. The first one was in 1941, when the Nazi Einsatzgruppen
attacked her hometown shtetl of Eishyshok and killed almost all thepeople there. The second one was by the Polish partisans. Her Motherand her baby brother were shot in front of her. The third experience
was when her Father was taken by KGB to a forced labor camp inSiberia.
At the age of four she had to go through all these tragedies of theHolocaust, only because she was born Jewish.
With her experience, she established the first Holocaust Center in
the United States. She also spent many years collecting photos of people
who lived in Eishyshok from all around the globe, and restored themas the exhibition of the "Tower of Life" at the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., which stands over 10 meterstall. Seventy photos from her shtetl collection were also presented byDr. Eliach to the Holocaust Education Center here in Japan, on its
dedication four years ago, and are exhibited in the memorial room justthe same way as
they are in themuseum inWashington D.C..
The display gives
the deepest
impression to thevisitors here.
Professor Eliach
has a big dream forthe near future. It isto reproduce a lifesize replica of theChildren’s Peace Appeal.
shtetl Eishyshok inHadera, Israel. She is hoping that it
would also be a center for theresearch of the Jewish shtetls which
once existed in Eastern Europe
before the Holocaust.
Her way of living and the splendid
hope she has towards the future,appear to us as the dream and hopewhich one and a half million children
who perished in the Holocaust
wanted to achieve.
During the meeting, the tragedy Dr.
Makoto Otsuka, Director.
Eliach had experienced was put in aplay and performed by children. It also included various events suchas the singing of Holocaust songs by a children’s choir, presenting ofchildren's essays, Questions and Answers with Dr. Eliach, reading ofpoems written by children during the Holocaust, and children's
discussion with Dr. Eliach on the theme of "What Can I Do for Peace
Now".
Above all, Dr. Eliach's lecture including her experience during theHolocaust at the age of four had a great impact on all children who
participated in the meeting. Many children responded to Dr. Eliach's
strong will to transmit the facts of the Holocaust in spite of her deep
sorrow, and left the impression that they wanted to do something to
reply to her enthusiasm towards peace.
At the end of the Fukuyama Meeting, "Peace Appeal" was declaredby 100 children on the stage and was followed with their great singing
of " Believe", a popular song in Japan. These meetings were also heldat three other places: Okayama, Kyoto, and Tokyo, all of which were
well covered by television stations, the major newspapers and also bynewspapers for junior high students and school children.
It was racial discrimination, prejudice and indifference which madethe tragedy of the Holocaust happen, which deprived 6 million innocent
Jewish people of their lives. These facts of 20th century history is not
yet well understood by Japanese people. The Holocaust Education
Center has welcomed 34,000 visitors, and we would like to continue
our activities into the 21st century. I especially hope that children ofJapan learn and get to know the facts of the Holocaust and become
people who will act on their own to create peace.
During her stay in Japan, Dr. Eliach mentioned this phrase a several
times: "If you wish, it is no longer a dream."‡Ì†˙¯ˆÂ†‡ÈÔ†ÊÂ†‡‚„‰†°
It happens to be the phrase which have led my life. It certainly isthe phrase which will be the guideline for me in my Holocaust educationin Japan.

866 Nakatsuhara, Miyuki, Fukuyama-City,
Holocaust Education Center, JAPAN
Hiroshima-Pref. 720-0004 JAPAN(In Memory of 1.5 million Jewish Children)
Phone & FAX : (+81) 849-55-8001
President, Masaru OTSUKI
URL: http://www.urban.ne.jp/home/hecjpn/ E-mail: hecjpn@urban.ne.jp
Director General, Makoto OTSUKA

The Program of the "The Children's Meeting on the Holocaust '99" in Fukuyama"The Children's Meeting on the Holocaust '99" was held at the"Hiroshima Prefectural Citizen's Culture Center in Fukuyama" inFukuyama City, Hiroshima, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, July 29.
About 500 people, mainly students from elementary, junior and seniorhigh schools, participated in the meeting.
The main program consisted of a morning session starting with thereading of children's poetry of the Holocaust, followed by an opening
message by the Director General, Mr. M. Otsuka. A short play "At theEishyshok Shtetl" was performed, which retraced the childhood
experience of the Holocaust survivor and researcher, Dr. Yaffa Eliach,
the main guest for the meeting. The script of the play was originally
written by interviewing Dr. Eliach. Following the play, Dr. Eliach gave
a lecture entitled "What happened in Eishyshok" and talked about herown experience at the age of four during the Holocaust. After thelecture, she answered questions from the audience.
The afternoon session included three children presenting their essays
on the theme of "My Peace Message: From the Children Who Will
Lead the 21st Century" They were the winners of the essay contest
held by the Holocaust Education Center from April to September in

Discussion on “What can I do for Peace Now”.

1998. The next event was thei n t r o d u c t i o n of p e a c e
activities done by children in
Japan (four groups reported
their activities on stage, andfour groups held exhibitions
on their activities at theCulture Center Hall.) "SmallHands", a volunteer group ofchildren at the Holocaust
Education Center, presented
roses called "Souvenir ofPlay “At Eishyshok Shtetl”.
Anne Frank", raised at theCenter, to 23 organizations which participated in the meeting from allover Japan.
Following the children's chorus of "Donna Donna" and "Lonely
Child" which are songs of the Holocaust, seven students from juniorand senior high schools discussed the theme of " What I Can Do for
Peace Now". There was an active exchange of ideas among students
such as; "We must know the facts of the Holocaust and educate ournext generation", "It is important to care for the others", "Each one ofus should act with the vision of creating peace in the future". Dr. Eliach,her husband, Rabbi Eliach and Director General Mr. Otsuka joined
the discussion by giving them comments.
Finally, Dr. Eliach gave a message titled "To the Japanese children".
"It was always the adults who were discussing for the children. Thisis my first time to attend a meeting which was planned and managed
by the children. The group 'Small Hands' is not small at all. They are
active hands which are filled with life that will create peace. You are
the bridge to peace in the 21st century."
The meeting was concluded by children's declaration of "PeaceAppeal" and singing the song "Believe" together with the audience.
The meeting in Fukuyama was planned and prepared by about 40children members of Small Hands. They spent six months prior to themeeting studying about the history of the Holocaust and discussing
the program and the organization. We believe that this success of themeeting opened a new page in the Holocaust Education Center's activity
in Japan.

Peace Appeal declared by the children"Holocaust" comes from a Greek word which means to "burn everything". It happened in Europe and Russia from 1933 to 1945. Six
million Jews were killed, and among them there were one and a half million children.
Professor Yaffa Eliach is a survivor of the Holocaust. She is among 29 survivors out of the 3,500 Jews who lived in her hometown,
Eishyshok. Only four children, including Dr. Eliach, out of 900 children survived. There are no Jews in Eishyshok today. The Holocaust
started with people's indifference, prejudice and discrimination. What occurs in your mind after knowing these facts?
From her experience, Dr. Eliach established a Holocaust Center in the United States. She started with travelling all around the worldby herself, gathering photographs from survivors and their families, researching each picture and recording each name. She wanted to letpeople in the world know the truth of the Holocaust.
Mr. Makoto Otsuka, Director General of the Holocaust Education Center in Fukuyama, Hiroshima, met Mr. Otto Frank, father ofAnne Frank, 29 years ago. He established the Center willing to "tell the truth of the Holocaust to children in Japan" to transmit themessage he received from Mr. Frank, "Please do not just sympathize with Anne, but try to become a person who will do something tocreate peace". It was because the 20th century's tragedy of the Holocaust was a creation of the human beings, must have been restored by
the hands of man.
Since its opening in July 1995, 32,500 have visited the Center and learned about the Holocaust. Then we, "Small Hands", were born.
We publish the newsletter "Small Hands", make videos introducing the Center, and present Anne's Rose, a symbol of peace, to people allover Japan. Through these activities, we have always thought about "What can I do for peace now", which lead to the opening of the"Children's Meeting on the Holocaust '99" this year. We have learned to care for the others and to try to understand with each other nomatter what difference we have in race, ethnicity, or religion.
The 21st century is approaching. We are the children who will lead the new century. Let's think about "What I can do for peace now","What can you do for peace now?"
Let's continue to study the facts of the Holocaust, so that it will never be repeated.
Today, July 29, 1999, is the day when we all start again. Small Hands, Create Peace !