-The program is being recorded.
You can watch this at any time.
And to every single registrant,
after this program is over, sometime this afternoon,
I will send you all the link to this recording
so you can watch it with even multiple classes, as well.
So, how we'll do this, everybody, today,
is we're actually going to switch into another room area,
and so you're going to see a screen change.
And I'm going to put Ela and I on live here.
All right.
And you'll see us here in one second.
You can see, there, waving.
Hey, everybody! [ Chuckles ]
So I would love for you to ask Ela questions
through the program.
And you'll see, below the PowerPoint slides,
there's a little area that says Q&A.
That's where you will be typing in questions for Ela.
I will be looking at that Q&A area
throughout the whole program
and taking some of your questions
to ask our wonderful guest here today.
And that's how we'll do it today.
And I also, students, I have some poll questions
that I have ready for you all.
So I'm going to be quizzing you all out there, as well,
because, you know, I want you all to be involved
and interact with us as much as possible.
So, with all that,
I wanted to give a brief introduction about you,
Ela, first.
So I'm actually going to read the introduction
from this book right here, "The Cat With the Yellow Star."
And it says this.
"Ela Stein was 11 years old in February of 1942
when she was sent to Terezín concentration camp
with other Czech Jews.
By the time she was liberated, in 1945, she was 15.
Somehow during those horrendous 3 1/2 years of sickness,
terror, and separation from loved ones and loss,
Ela managed to grow up.
Although conditions were wretched,
Ela forged lifelong friendships with other girls
from room 28 of her barracks.
Adults working with children tried their best
to keep up the youngest prisoners' spirits.
A children's opera called 'Brundibár' was even performed,
and Ela was chosen to play the pivotal role of the cat.
Yet amidst all of this,
the feared transports to death camps
and death itself were a part of daily life.
Ela was liberated in Terezín in May of 1945.
She emigrated to Israel in 1949
and then later moved here to the United States.
Ela lives in New York right now,
where she and her husband raised two children.
Ela now travels extensively,"
including, as you all know, to New Orleans here,
to speak about her experiences during the Holocaust.
Ela, welcome.
Thank you so much for being here today.
I'm so honored to have you here with us
in New Orleans for these next few days.
-I have to tell you that I'm also very honored to be here
and to be alive... -[ Chuckles ]
-...because most of the friends that I have.
And I now became maybe a speaker
for the million-and-a-half Jewish children
that they were murdered.
So we like to keep the memory of them
because they were wonderful, wonderful children,
and they were murdered only because they were Jewish.
I have something with me that probably...
-Mm-hmm. Shall we?
Yeah, we could start off with this,
and it's something that you students may be familiar with.
And let me hold it up here to the screen really quick.
There we go.
And do you want to hold on to it,
now that we've kind of shown them the detail of it?
Yeah.
-You see, this Jewish star that says "Jude,"
it means, in German, "Jew."
And other countries, like Holland,
they had the same star, but it said "Jood,"
or, in France, they had "Juif," but it meant the same.
And I don't think that too many original stars
are still in museums only,
or some people just went and destroy them,
not to remember those terrible days that we had to go through.
So, this is the star, and for me...
-That's your star, right? -That's mine.
It's 74 years ago that we had to buy it in Prague,
but we were registered as Jews.
And I am very proud of it, that I'm Jewish.
And I had possibility only for very short time
that the Communistic Czech Republic let me go.
But they took, really, my citizenship,
and I went to Israel.
I was very proud to be in Israeli army
and fight for the rights of everybody, really,
not only for Jews.
So, even now in America, I'm supporting,
and especially you should speak to young people,
what it means, freedom,
what I have here in United States.
I have the freedom that I was able to go to school again
after I was already a big girl. -[ Chuckles ]
-And started to study in an art school.
And in 1949, I was expelled by the Communist Party.
I am not in politics, but I always appreciate,
and especially I have to say
that now I'm sitting in a museum from World War II,
and I feel that this will be something
that lot of schoolchildren and schools
will be able to see what freedom means.
-Mm-hmm, yeah.
-We have something behind us.
-We'll get to it. We'll talk to you
about "Brundibár" in just one second.
I really am excited to show that poster,
and I was telling Ela, everybody,
that we have over 6,425, I think, 25 students
from 38 states and like 215 classrooms
watching with us today,
so you're watching with all of them.
Would you mind maybe starting off the story today
maybe telling us about your early life
before you were deported to Terezín?
Tell us.
-You know, for me, it was very early
when the Nazis separated part of Czechs, Czechoslovakia,
and there was one part that we were Czechs and Jews.
In the part that was called Sudetenland,
and there I had to go to, when I was 8 years old,
with the time that they called it Kristallnacht.
It was the day of crystal
that they attacked Jewish families
and started to kill Jews and burned books
and broke, really, glass in the stores that...
You know, we were, like, very much involved with other people,
not only Jews,
but it was the time that the army --
the German army --
came and started really to punish Jewish people,
Jewish businesses.
One night, they just took my father,
who was a very young and successful businessman.
They took him to the, uh, Gestapo.
You know, now I'm a little bit excited,
so the words are not coming so fast.
But they took him to Gestapo, and we didn't see him again.
-It's because he spoke out, right?
-Against. -He spoke out against Hitler.
Right? -Right.
So, for me, it started very early,
and I have to say that now I made up my mind
that I can't let again happen
something that happened that time,
that my family really couldn't survive all that.
And I'm traveling, now, the whole world with my daughter.
-You were just talking about that --
how many different places you go.
-Yeah, I really can't count it, because it's a really a lot,
but the last time -- I have to say it now,
because I have a proof of it --
I was invited by the Russian government.
And I was invited to Saint Petersburg,
what was Leningrad before,
on the day that the war really was ending in Russia.
It was far away, but I have a little things
that I came through with,
because we will talk about something
that is very close to me
and to the Jewish star,
because when I was chosen to be
in children's opera called "Brundibár."
It's now starting today...
-Yes. -...performed
in the museum of new...
-The National World War II Museum, yeah.
So, we actually...
And I'll tell you all about it at the end.
For any local teachers, we will have three performances
of "Brundibár" here this weekend.
So if you're within driving distance of New Orleans --
I know a lot of you are not, and my apologies --
but you can actually even...
We'll show you some pictures of the opera actually in Terezín.
Now, tell us about Theresienstadt or Terezín.
Tell us about when you arrived there.
There are a lot of students...
Let me actually pull up...
We had one question from -- Let's see here --
I think it was White Oak Elementary.
They wanted to know,
"What were the conditions like in this camp,"
or "What did you experience?
Were you separated from your mom?"
Tell us a little bit about that.
-You know, "Theresienstadt" is in German.
"Terezín" is in Czech language.
And this concentration camp started
even before all those camps
on the other side of Germany and so on.
It is a fortress -- a fortress
that from, you know, a picture of it,
it's almost like a Jewish star,
and it has six entrances.
So it was very easy for the Nazis to put two soldiers
to every entrance of the six entrances,
and it was very easy for them to bring us in.
But, for us, it was very hard to escape,
because once when you were -- they were aware of it,
so mostly people that they tried to escape
was sent to a smaller fortress that was built very close to,
but the killings started there.
When you were punished for something,
you knew that you would not survive.
-So, tell me a little bit about where you lived, in room 28.
Was that right?
-We, when... After a very short time,
when we came to that fortress,
they were still civilians living there,
so they had to leave.
And all the buildings that are still there,
and homes,
were preoccupied with people that were working there
or they were soldiers or so.
They cleared it out,
and were used later on by the Jewish population.
-Now, one question coming in, it's from Mrs. Bowman's class.
Now, did you have a job, or did children in general
have jobs in the camp-- things that you had to do?
-We had to work. -Mm-hmm.
-But not officially... -Mm-hmm.
-...because they were afraid of International Red Cross,
that they will be probably called.
But by, you know, like, when somebody was 13,
that time, they were put to work.
-Mm-hmm. -Very, very hard work.
So, a little later, we children had to work
also in children's garden,
and the adults was called agriculture department,
and they worked really very hard.
-Mm-hmm. -I have something funny to say,
but I don't know if it's okay with you to...
-I think we can have something funny in here, for sure.
Yeah. You want to share with us?
-My mother was very young.
She was 31 years old.
-31 when you guys entered the camp?
-When we came to the camp.
And she was chosen to work in agriculture department.
-Mm-hmm. -Very hard work.
They were carrying out from the fields
big, you know, stones to clear it...
-Wow. -...for spring,
that in spring they started to, you know, produce vegetables.
My mother, in very short time, lost a lot of weight,
and, you know, her undergarments or bra became very big.
And she hoped that she will be able
to bring me and my sister
some vegetable that will help us grow,
because the food was terrible.
And not only terrible but very little of.
And I remember
that she was able to put in her bra 50 tomatoes.
-[ Laughs ] Wow. -She never squished any,
so that she was able to exchange it with other people
that they were getting packages, like people from Denmark,
so that we got a little thing
that was something that other children didn't get.
So maybe that's...
Many times, I'm thinking that my body
got a little more food than the other people.
That's why.
-Yeah, because your mom was good
at hiding those fruits and veggies, right?
-And very shortly after,
when they started to open children's home...
-Mm-hmm.
-...we were separated from the German children also.
-Mm.
-So they built a house for Czech children,
and I was very lucky
that my caretaker in that room was a music teacher.
And right from the beginning,
the Nazis allowed us to sing, to play.
And when we had a pencil or something,
we were allowed,
with our wonderful, wonderful teacher
from Bauhaus student, Friedl Dicker-Brandeis.
-And actually you saw some of the artwork
from children as you were...
If you logged into the room a little bit early today,
you saw... And you were pointing out,
you knew the artwork from different people,
and talked about Friedl, as well, and her role
in, you know, in saving a lot of artwork, right, too?
She saved...
-She used to put the artwork from children
into suitcase,
and she believed
that one day it will be clear to the public
that all those children didn't survive.
But their drawings in the suitcase
were found after the war
and brought to a museum in Prague,
where they are, some of them, on display.
And some of them, when some family returned,
are asking to look at them.
So they allowed.
But I have to say, if you are lucky and you have,
you should really pay attention to your teachers...
-[ Chuckles ]
-...especially if your school existed already
Holocaust Studies
and many things about some of special teachers,
like Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, Ilse Weber.
There were some teachers that they paid to us children
such attention that it helped us to survive.
-Yeah. We have a lot of...
I'm not going to single out one class,
because I'm getting this question quite a bit.
Students want to know, you know, how did you survive day-to-day,
you know, in the camp? Like, how did you
emotionally deal with everything that was going on, you know?
-I have to admit that I say
that I'm, today, alive different way
and not too many children or people
had the opportunity that it would happen to them.
I lost my father when I was very young,
but brother of my mother
was a very famous person in Czech government
before, even, and the same thing happened,
that in the camp of Theresienstadt,
he had little opportunities,
but he used them to work underground against the Nazis.
But it came a day that the last transport to Auschwitz,
before Auschwitz even fell, that it was destroyed,
not to leave anything to the world,
that what factory of death was Auschwitz-Birkenau.
And so he was punished,
and he was put into that transport
to go to Auschwitz for the last time,
that they didn't admit it,
that all the people from that last day,
from the 28th of October, 1944,
will not live.
So they put him in a separate part of a barrack.
And I already wasn't in the children's home,
because most of the children...
-Were gone. -...was already gone.
And so I wanted to go with my uncle,
what will ever happen to him.
I wanted to support him and to be with him.
So I slept over,
and when they started to prepare the people
to go to the train,
I smuggled myself to my uncle.
And when I came to the big door,
this was called the Hamburg barrack,
and and there was the station -- the train station.
I was still...
They were still showing that part of that train
is with people that they are punished,
but I really didn't care.
I wanted to be with my uncle.
And when it came his spot,
I was with him, so I didn't have this.
-Oh, yes. Hold that up
a little closer, too, if you'd like.
Do you mind? I'll show it to everybody.
-I didn't have the number,
so they didn't let me go through to that train.
The whole train was punished,
and only maybe couple people...
I didn't want to name them, really,
but now I can do it because I'm in the museum
and there are, I mean, certificates and everything
of what happened to those,
that they really escaped like me.
And they didn't let me go to the train,
and I stayed in Terezín.
-So did you not have a chance, then,
to see your uncle? -No, never.
-You didn't quite get that, yeah, close.
-There's some students from New Jersey, Pequannock.
I might be mispronouncing your town, and I apologize,
but they want to know,
"Who were your friends in Terezín,
and who was your best friend?" they wanted to know.
And it's hard to say one best friend, but, so...
-You know, we were really...
Children always were supporting each other.
And should I say the story about my friend Gonda
that I will show the book of?
It's not real book, you know?
-Mm-hmm. -It's, like,
what she wrote before she was sent away.
-Mm-hmm, you can show. -So, I didn't...
I have it here in the museum because it is some...
It's a story that nobody believed
that I would be able to do something like that.
When it was their last day, that all my friends were already
put into the transport to go to their death,
I looked around. That moment
that this was probably the hardest moment in my life,
that I had to say goodbye.
And there is also a document...
I was asked by "60 Minutes" program
to describe my last goodbye.
And this is very well, now, shown
on television and so on.
But I couldn't believe
that I will not see again in my life my best friends,
that maybe one of them would survive
and tell me of that day
that we had to say goodbye to each other.
And I was the last one to leave that room.
And I found on a bunk bed one of my best friends' art.
It's not a diary,
but she called it, in a different language --
it's also in Czech language -- everything,
because she didn't have opportunity
to write a real diary,
so everything what she wanted to put down,
because she did write beautiful poems.
Everything was in this book,
and I never looked into that book,
because there was secrets about, also, the last notes
from her father that didn't survive.
So I took this book.
I never opened it, really.
But my belief was that she must survive,
that I be able to give her back something
that was so deeply, you know...
-Her everything, right? -Everything.
-Yeah. -And, uh, I was hoping, also,
that there will be no more transport.
It was by not mistake,
but the Red Cross from Switzerland
worked with the Nazis.
And after 8 months,
there were some people coming back to the camp.
It was called the death marches of...
Now they call it a March of Living,
but that time, those were really people that survived,
and the death marches came back.
All of a sudden, I see my friend Gonda.
And for me, it was a miracle
that I be able to give her back her everything --
"vsechno," she called it.
So next day, I went to look if I can find them.
They were very, very sick with typhus,
and they were shaven.
And only a very small group of children from the 15,000,
about 100 of us,
we were able to still, to be a little bit,
you know, like, showing life of us in the camp.
And between the death march, I found my friend, Gonda.
And the next day,
I brought her her vsechno, her everything, with me.
And I only told her,
"Gonda, I really have something for you."
She was looking at me like, "Something?
What can be something?" You know?
Because we were calling a lot of things "something."
-[ Chuckles ]
-And I took out her vsechno, her little book.
She almost collapsed that she never believed
that I would be the one to save her everything.
And she lives still in Israel.
And she speaks about my saving her everything.
-[ Chuckles ]
-And I have to say,
that this didn't happen to too many people,
but I'm one of the, uh...
My thing is a little different, probably, than other people,
and I thought that this will also save her life,
when she will find out, again,
the letter from her father that didn't survive
and our friend that wrote in this little book.
-Let's talk about another...
There's a lot of students asking about your liberation,
but before we get to that,
I do really want to talk about "Brundibár"
and something that maybe brought you all
at least temporary joy in performing this.
And so could you tell them a little bit of backstory
about how the play started in the camp,
and then, of course, your role?
-You know, somehow, the Nazis were not against of people,
like, I would say, even Friedl Dicker-Brandeis,
that she was teaching us and she was from Bauhaus.
And she was one of remarkable people
that what she did for us children
and saved us and our little art.
They were very much a lot of musicians in Terezín.
And I have to say that I met almost everybody
because I wasn't working,
and in between, I was already singing,
before I came to Terezín, in a synagogue.
And so my voice was already a little bit, you know,
that I was able to do the notes that we were asking for,
and my room teacher, or caretaker,
she was a teacher of music.
And her best friend was Gideon Klein,
the youngest composer.
And I only can mention that he was writing for us music,
and the words were in Hebrew.
At that time, we didn't understand what we are singing,
but the music was beautiful.
There happened that somebody who was son of a Jewish -
in a Jewish orphanage of Prague,
and he came, and there was only 50 kilo
that we were allowed to bring with us.
And he put it in the piano score of the opera "Brundibár"
that was performed in Prague in the orphanage only twice.
But all the children were already shipped to Terezín.
So they started to look if there will be opportunity
for us to repeat and to do the opera "Brundibár."
You want to show that? -Yeah.
We can show it, and also, even we see
we're performing... Oh, thank you. [ Chuckles ]
We're performing, as I mentioned,
the opera here at the museum this weekend, so let's see.
We've got our biggest VIP here, of course, Ela.
[ Chuckles ] So, and of course,
we can talk about, too, behind us here,
this is the original... -Poster.
-...cover and poster -- right? -- for "Brundibár,"
but it's in Russian, here behind us.
Yeah. -Yeah, because I was in Russia,
invited by the government, in Saint Petersburg,
and I was part of -- be part in the opera "Brundibár."
So they gave me the poster,
and this is behind us in Russian.
-Mm-hmm. -You want to take it off?
-We'll probably...
I don't want to rip it or anything like that,
but there's your name right there.
So, students from Hopewell Elementary,
they're typing in, "Were your friends in the play?"
And they also want to know,
"How did you get chosen for your part as the cat?"
And let me show you all there. They can all see, right there.
There you are. -We were about 42 children.
-Mm-hmm.
-And some of them were really, really young.
But from the 42 children, we are two survivors.
And we became very good friends.
And in the picture, you can see
that they let us to take off the Jewish star.
And I have to say that this star was so close to my heart
that when I took off the star, I was free.
I was almost like, "That's my freedom.
This will be my freedom.
When it will be the end of the war,
I would be able to walk out without the star."
It wasn't like that, exactly,
because most of my friends and their friends,
they didn't survive.
They were sent to Auschwitz, and they died,
even that they were singing beautifully.
Now, when the, you know, piano score
was smuggled into Terezín,
very, very fast, they wanted the children
be preoccupied and sing the opera,
what we did.
And we became very close friends.
And like you heard,
most of Terezín children perished.
They were murdered.
And I took on myself, "Why is it that I am alive?
I still have my Jewish star.
Maybe somebody was looking over me to -- to --
that I am here.
They saved my life."
I'm now 85 years old.
-I got that question, so I'm glad you answered it.
Some students were wondering how old you were,
and I didn't know if you wanted to reveal your age.
[ Chuckles ] -Yeah.
You know, the years pass very fast.
-[ Chuckles ]
-But I made up my mind
that I will never, ever forget those children
that didn't have the same opportunity to be 85.
It's a, you know, age that, normally, I always --
I never thought that I will reach that age.
But I made up my mind to fight for children,
that there is possibilities,
when we will have teachers
and, like, museum that I'm now sitting in,
that they will help us
produce those beautiful songs from the opera
that is now performed in the whole world.
So I'm not going through the world alone.
I have my daughter with me.
But we were in Russia, invited by the government,
and "Brundibár" was very popular, so we...
-So, have a great performance,
you know, in the next few days, too.
-That will probably be the same thing
because now "Brundibár" is well-known.
-Right, right, right. Yeah.
-And in America,
everywhere where there is a little possibility for me
and my daughter, in that we can be there,
I sing the victory song. -Mm-hmm.
-But, like, you know, when I mentioned the Brundibár,
he was with me 55 times.
He asked for the role to be Brundibár.
-He was a student. Right. Yeah.
Let me actually put the pointer so you can see him.
And actually, students were wondering...
Stacy was asking, "What is 'Brundibár' about?"
They want to know what the actual story is about, so...
-Brundibár is really not such a bad guy, normally.
-[ Chuckles ]
-It's "bumblebee."
And Hansel Dreichlinger was, I think, 2 years older than me.
But standing next to me in every performance.
We were very good friends.
He asked for the role because he wanted to be actor,
and he was really playing, act as though that the whole...
-You can tell.
I mean, he's, like, you know, in that role.
-Right.
-Now, Brundibár, he's an organ grinder, right?
That's what the... -Right.
-And there are two children -- right? --
that he's mean to, isn't it?
So, tell us a little bit about the plot.
-The plot was normally when, you know, read about,
so the children were taking his area
where he was really somebody, and that he was making money.
-Mm-hmm.
-But when in real life,
he was completely opposite... -[ Chuckles ]
-...that, you know... -He was a good actor, right?
-Very good actor. -[ Chuckles ]
And as the cat, so your role...
So, Ela, let's go back to that picture.
So, you're the cat.
And so the cat and the dog are helping the children?
Isn't that what... -No.
We were three animals. -Mm-hmm.
-A dog, a sparrow, and cat.
And we were, three of us,
were helping the children to sing and to be happy.
And I just want to tell you, the music is beautiful.
And the meaning of the whole opera, you know...
Maybe you can advise the people
that they can still see it on YouTube.
-Yeah. So, there's also, you know,
there's many recordings of "Brundibár,"
if you want to hear the music.
Actually, there were students...
I don't know if you feel up to this,
but one of the students was asking about the victory song
and if you could sing a little bit of it.
Would you want to?
Or we could save it for... They can watch it on YouTube.
-Yeah. We can. -Yeah?
-Okay. You know, normally...
-I know, we've got some accompaniment,
probably, normally, too, right, but...
-Normally, I am invited by the children, also,
to sing with them. -It's the last song, right?
-The last song is the victory song.
And I even don't mind a minute.
And it makes me so feel happy about those children
that they are -- today can sing the victory song.
And what makes me so happy that thousands of children...
-Have sang that song. -...are singing this song
and listening and trying to sing it.
And somehow, there were more people interesting
that they were and want to be part of it.
And there was one very, very wonderful lady,
by name Ilse Weber,
that she smuggled into the camp a little guitar.
-Mm-hmm.
-And she was a writer of poems and music,
but she became a nurse for the children.
And when I was walking by, she...
When it was a beautiful, warm day like we have here today...
-Yeah.
-...she would take the children out in their bed
and sing for them.
And now I found out who was with her in Auschwitz
before her death in the gas chamber.
She was with the children of her hospital.
-Wow. -And to the death,
she was playing and singing for them.
You see, those people were something very special.
And I remember, after the war,
we were taking one of her poems,
and it was music for that poem. -Mm-hmm.
-And I decided that my children really lost --
also now children, too -- a lot of bad things.
-Mm-hmm. -And it was alcohol.
There were drugs and all that, but friend is a friend.
And they died like my friends,
So I decided
that I will translate this poem to my children
that they should understand what is it,
a loss of a friend.
It became, also, very popular
that after every, you know, victory song...
-To read the poem? -...I said the poem.
And I will say it again now.
-Do you have -- It's all committed to memory?
[ Chuckles ] Would you mind? -I don't mind.
-All right. -And it's called "You and I."
"And you and I, and we are friends.
And you and I, and we love each other.
In Terezín we met,
friends in need, hand in hand.
And you and I, friends we still be.
And you and I shall never forget."
So I'm asking you, who are listening to us,
if you had such a good friend --
and I have new friends,
and I still can say I never forgot my old friends --
please remember them.
There are somewhere with us.
-They are. Yeah.
Looking at all the people you were in "Brundibár" with,
and they can see it here...
Now, and you were talking about your friends
coming back in on these death marches
and leaving on these transports to Auschwitz,
but there are also some students out there wondering --
in Miss Guthrie's class, Mr. Parker's class
and others -- how were you liberated?
How did that happen, and what day was it?
-We were liberated in Terezín, May 8th, 1945.
-So, V.E. Day, which is what we...
Yeah, Victory in Europe Day, that is what we consider
the end of the war, yeah, in Europe.
-And by Russian army. -Mm-hmm.
-We didn't display, but I brought from Russia
the poster of celebration... -Oh, yeah.
-...of the Red Army coming to Prague and Terezín.
-Wow.
-This is like life for me still today.
I will never forget that, you know,
they came in different type of people,
but they also want to help us to come over one day,
that we had such a hard time also in Russia.
They had such a very hard time. -Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
I want to actually turn it to the students.
So, we have this ability to ask them poll questions,
and I'm actually going to ask them...
You were saying an important thing --
to remember your friends --
and also the kind of reenacting of "Brundibár."
So I'm going to pull down a poll question for students,
and they're going to respond, and you'll see it.
My poll question for everybody out there, I'm asking them,
"How can we remember those who were lost in the Holocaust?"
And just after you sharing your beautiful poem,
I thought we would let students respond.
So we're going to open it up and let them respond,
and then we'll broadcast the results,
because, I mean, the reason
that, I mean, I talk here at the museum
and share with students about the Holocaust,
and the reason that you travel so much
from place to place to place
is really to share the story of your friends who you lost --
right? -- and of "Brundibár," too.
-I wish that the whole world should understand
and help children
to get out of those bad things that we hear today.
-Mm-hmm.
-Also the deaths of, you know, friends with guns and all that.
I'm very sad about it.
So, you know, many people in between them, is my sister,
that she's 4 years older.
She was never involved with so many things like I did,
but she's telling me, "Isn't that enough
what you are telling children what they should do also?"
-Mm-hmm. -I said,
"This is never enough," that they should.
And I appreciate that your museum
is a good example to the whole world.
What you want to save,
not in the mad times that it was war,
but you are remind people, General Patton,
all the generals that tried so hard
to keep freedom in the world.
-So, tell us -- I'm showing this is actually
I'm not sure which perform--
I think -- Was this in Los Angeles,
the performance we see here onscreen?
But tell us about what it really means to you today
to see "Brundibár" be played all across the world.
I mean, what does -- How do you feel when you see it onstage?
-I am very proud and honored that people
are even asking me to come and to participate
and stay on the stage with the children
to sing the victory song, or my part, you know,
because my part, this orange type,
you know, she really was putting herself into the part of a cat.
And she really wanted to come onstage.
And the harmony that we sang, you know,
the three animals,
that we will help the children and all that,
they took that to the heart.
And I think that they are building again,
you know, something
that nobody would believe that it will happen.
-I'm going to show you, this is another really lovely...
I love that picture of you and that performance, too.
-And this is... -Oh, the butterfly.
Yes. Okay, so, let's actually...
So, we have all these students responding
about how we should remember the Holocaust.
"Continue reading about it, learning from our mistakes,
listening to stories of survivors like you."
One other really great way --
and I know we're getting towards the end of the year,
but it's something called the Butterfly Project.
And actually, students here tomorrow with you
will be making these butterflies.
And so you can actually order a kit for your classroom,
and we've paid for the subscription fee,
so you just have to pay for the actual kit itself.
And so each one of your students and all you guys out there
can paint a butterfly.
And then after, when it's fired in the kiln,
and you add glaze on it, it looks like this.
So, tell us the significance. What does the butterfly mean?
-Freedom.
"I Never Saw Another Butterfly."
-Let's show them that, too.
So you can see here, that's what this book is called,
"I Never Saw Another Butterfly."
And it's from... -Pavel Friedmann...
I mean, nobody from these boys survived.
There was one girl, Alena Synková.
I don't know.
I didn't go through because in every,
you know, new production of it is little changes.
But she just passed two years ago.
She was the only girl that she put in her painting.
-Let's see if I can find the... -Show the poem.
-...find the -- Oh, yeah.
Here is the poem, so that it's based on it,
painting one million butterflies -- right? --
for every child that was lost in the Holocaust.
-I can't -- You know, I looked at many times,
that I should read the poem,
that I have sometimes, you know,
much closer connection to the person that's saying.
-Mm-hmm.
-So and also because my boyfriend was
one of the most talented children of the...
-Someone was asking us -- Some of the students were asking
if you dated anybody in the camp.
So yes. [ Chuckles ] -Yes.
-So you can tell them about your...
-You know, it's a whole story, you know?
-And we're close on the end of time,
but his poems are actually featured also in this book,
in addition to the one about the butterfly, so...
-"The last, the very last,
so richly, brightly, dazzling yellow.
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing against a white stone,
such, such a yellow is carried highly away, up high.
It went away, I am sure,
because it wished to kiss the world goodbye.
For seven weeks, I lived in here,
pent up inside the ghetto,
but I have found what I love most here.
The dandelions call to me,
and the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only, I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live in here, in the ghetto."
-And I think, with that, I think that's...
We're right here at 1:00.
I think, actually, that's the perfect way to end this program.
I want to thank everybody for being with us today,
and I'm going to kind of transition into one more area,
so Ela and I, you won't see us anymore,
so wave bye to everybody. [ Chuckles ]
-Oh. -And yes, thank you.
And any final words for any of the students out here?
-You know, everything what you want to be in your life,
listen to your heart and follow your heart.
Don't let nobody discourage you.
It will pay back one day.
Be good to each other, and especially,
I always say to mothers, there is only one mother
that I made something for Mother's Day for her.
And it's the only original thing that she was able to keep.
And she used to tell me, until her death,
"Elanka, this was the best-ever present for Mother's Day.
Please keep it. Don't give it to them."
-[ Chuckles ] Yeah. Hang on to it.
-And that's what I -- hang on to it.
I have it with me, but I will not give it.
-I understand that, yeah. That's a very beautiful memory.
And so, with that,
I'm going to kind of turn this over
to one last little area I want to share with students.
Well, first, I have one more poll question
for students out there, and you'll see that up here.
And so we talked about how can we remember the Holocaust,
but I want to hear from you all why.
Why should we remember the Holocaust?
And please fill in your answers there,
and we'll broadcast the results. Teachers, you can see...
You can actually -- I'm going to pause it here.
You can purchase both books that we mentioned today
from the museum store,
both Ela's book and "I Never Saw Another Butterfly."
You also get a discount from us if you use that code, "webinar."
20% off, which you can see right there.
The links, in addition to being on this rolling slide show,
you'll see on the left-hand side,
where it says "Web links,"
the Butterfly Project, as we mentioned.
Here are more details about the project itself.
So, as I said, we purchased the licensing,
so you just purchase the kit.
That will be sent to you with the butterflies
and, of course, the paint that you'll put on it.
And it's a really beautiful way to commemorate
what we've been talking about today.
And then, as I mentioned earlier,
if there is anybody here in the New Orleans area,
here is the performance schedule for "Brundibár,"
and we hope you can join us.
And it's meant for people of all ages.
And of course, children and students
are most welcome to attend our sessions today --
this weekend -- excuse me.
And I guess, finally, I'll say that we've had
a wonderful schedule of student webinars this year,
and this is our last one for the school year.
And so I just want to say thank you all so much
for participating in these programs.
We've launched multiple programs.
We love connecting with students all across the country
and even all across the world.
And we'll have...