Butterfly Project Honours Holocaust Victims

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SPREADING AWARENESS: Social studies teacher Sande Hartman and her Holocaust class gather together to showcase their finalized ceramic butterflies. The butterflies purpose is to represent and bring awareness to each of the 1.5 millions children who passed away during the Holocaust. Photo courtesy of Sande Hartman

By: Lily Salvatori

The Butterfly Project began as an elementary school project, and since then it has expanded into middle and high schools. The project was created to honour the children lost during the Holocaust by creating a memorial featuring wall-mounted ceramic butterflies. For the first time, The Butterfly Project was implemented in West Broward High School’s Holocaust class by social science teacher Sande Hartman, and other classes were included on the day of service, February 14.

Students were able to learn about the history behind the project and have hands-on participation in creating the butterflies. Hartman wanted to teach her students the importance of remembrance by bringing awareness to the tragedies of the Holocaust and the lives that were lost. The Butterfly Project is an educational movement that combines learning, creativity, and remembrance through art. By teaching students about the tragedies that occur when hate goes unchecked, they learn the importance of empathy, compassion, courage, and standing up against injustice, even in the toughest times.

“Children of Terezin didn’t live long lives, but their lives and what they went through to survive need to be remembered. We owe it to them. Butterflies don’t live long, but they are beautiful and unique, just like the 1 million children who died in the Holocaust.” said social science teacher Sande Hartman.

Hartman brought “The Butterfly Project” into their curriculum to bring recognition to the children who suffered in the Holocaust. The Holocaust took place between 1933-1945. It was the mass murder of 6 million European Jews by the German Nazi regime and their allies during World War II. Millions of other people, including the Romani, Soviet prisoners of war, Polish citizens, people with disabilities, people accused of homosexuality, and other victims, were also killed. This genocide was done through major acts of violence, such as mass executions, forced labor, starvation, and gas chambers, which were used in concentration camps to kill innocent men, women, and children. Students today still recognize the horrors that occurred.

“The Holocaust is important to me because it reminds us of how dangerous hatred and silence can be. It shows what can happen when people choose to ignore the suffering of others. The Butterfly Project helps us remember these lessons and encourages us to be brave, kind, and active in standing up for those who can’t. It’s about making sure history never repeats itself,” said senior Amanda Carrillo.

The Butterfly Project began in 2006 and was co-founded by educator Jan Landau and artist Cheryl Rattner Price. The project was inspired by the poem “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” which was written by a child in the Terezin concentration camp, the main idea being how butterflies did not exist in the “ghetto”; thus, children did not get to see much beauty when they were in captivity. The Butterfly Project’s mission is to spread awareness and bring attention to the 1.5 million children who were killed during the time of the Holocaust, as well as teach people about the history of the Holocaust so those events never happen again. Each butterfly represents a child who died during that time.

“Every child, every person had dreams, families, and futures that were unjustly taken away from them. Miss Hartman wanted us to see beyond the statistics and truly feel the emotional weight of what happened. She wanted us to understand the importance of remembrance and carry that knowledge towards the fight against hate in today’s world,” said senior Caitlyn McCall.

Students who participated in the Butterfly Project were able to learn about the meaning behind the butterflies as well as create their own butterflies. First, they got to choose their design template, then they coloured and cut out paper butterflies. Once they were finished, the butterflies were laminated. Students also chose their designs and painted ceramic butterflies that were glossed once all the projects were complete.

“I was truly inspired by how the project brings people together with one goal: to learn from the past and stand up for others. Seeing students come together to create something meaningful while also learning about the horrors of the Holocaust showed me how powerful education and unity can be,” Amanda Carrillo said. “It made me want to be someone who speaks up and supports others, no matter what.”

Every year around the day of service, February 14, the butterfly project will be included at West Broward High School for students to participate in. The students’ completed butterfly projects will be permanently mounted to a wall in the back of the media center, and new butterflies will continue to be added to the wall in the future. This project will remind students and faculty of the 1.5 million people who suffered in captivity for years to come.

“I think that if we don’t teach about the past, we’re doomed to repeat the most horrible things about it. So by learning about what people went through in the Holocaust and in other acts of genocide that occurred in this world, and by educating the next generation, we can hopefully make sure that these things don’t happen again,” Sande Hartman said.