Queensborough Community College is currently home to an singular object: A jacket worn by a concentration camp victim during the Holocaust. I was fortunate this week to take my English Composition I students to the Kupferberg Holocaust Center for a lecture on the Holocaust as well as a tour of the exhibition, "The Jacket from Dachau." We learned the definitions of the terms genocide, antisemitism, and Holocaust. We followed the timeline of Hitler's rise to power and his fatal Final Solution. We also toured the museum's current exhibit of the jacket worn by Ben Peres during his internment at Dachau, viewing primary source documents such as letters and ship manifests, and footage of Peres family films and photographs. Finally, we saw the jacket itself, which is displayed in a case at the end of the exhibit space. Last week, my students and I blogged about the artifacts and museums and considered whether or not museums might create arguments with their exhibitions. Now that we've had a chance to experience a particular exhibit, let's discuss to what extent "The Jacket" makes an argument. Comment below to share your thoughts!
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About this blogA blog is an online conversation. This one is for students of writing and is an extension of our face-to-face classroom. Here is where we can continue a discussion started in class, ask questions, and test new ideas. Archives
March 2020
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