Aboard WWII cattle car, students learn about Holocaust

BY LEIGH BLANDER

Hundreds of Marblehead High School students traveled back to 1940s Europe this week by boarding a replica of a cattle car — the kind that transported Jews and other targeted groups to Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.

Inside the car, which is 30 feet long by 10 feet wide, students watched a 360-degree, immersive video featuring two Holocaust survivors who were put on cattle cars with their families decades ago. The wooden, windowless car had 100 painted sets of footprints to represent the typical number of people packed inside.

“The boxcar was the transition from being a human being to a number,” said survivor Nate Leipcinger. “This was a moment of horror. This was the last time we were together as a family.”

“I remember how they pushed everyone into the cattle car,” said survivor Hedy Bohm. “We were liked sardines packed into a can. I remember my mother telling me she couldn’t breathe and I was fanning her. I remember darkness, crying and the feeling of fear.”

After the survivors’ stories, the video gave a brief history of the Nazis’ campaign in the late 30s and 40s to dehumanize and eventually systematically murder Jews and other minorities.

The cattle car was part of an exhibit from the groups ShadowLight and Hate Ends Now, traveling across the United States to teach students about the horrors of the Holocaust and what people can do to make sure it never happens again.

“The students have been very moved,” said Evelyn Riddell who led some of the presentations at MHS. “They are emotional and surprised by some of what they