2018-04-23 Mon

Foxborough Regional Charter School had started a campaign 10 years ago, to collect 11 million postage stamps in honour of each life lost during the Holocaust. 18 pieces of student artwork, made of stamps donated from across the world, are going to be showcased at the public school next weekend. These include collages of mountains, burning books, soaring doves etc. representing different aspects of the Holocaust. The open house will take place from 1 pm to 3 pm in which hundreds of students, alumni and members of the community are invited.

The Holocaust Stamp Project was inspired by a children’s book named Number the Stars by Cambridge author Lois Lowry. The novel talks about a Jewish family’s escape from Denmark during World War II. A fifth-grade teacher Charlotte Sheer started the project in 2008. She wanted to make children aware about the dreadful event of Holocaust.

People from all over the world started donating stamps and the project grew into a school-level activity. By 2012, 1.5 million stamps were collected. This milestone represented the number of children killed during the Holocaust. The halfway mark was reached in 2013.

The project tries to communicate that we need to celebrate diversity and accept everyone with love. It also reminds us of history’s atrocities and allows us to learn from our mistakes.

Image Courtesy: Google images