Sarajevo

How many times during our farewells last night did I hear, "See you in Sarajevo!" Centropa inspires teachers to want to return and reconnect with the stories and each other year after year. That's a testament to the films, to your amazing staff, and to the program well balanced between work sessions and moving locations to experience history.  But it was the last day's session, film, and exhibit about the war in former Bosnia that made the biggest personal connection with me. I assume being a frequent presenter at conferences made me an appealing participant because I do reach large audiences. However, just as the films take the unimaginably large numbers down to a single story, so my hope of letting me go from seminars of 100 to being one teacher ignited is acceptable as well.  I will admit: I teach mostly about the Shoah with some other genocides in class,  but never about the Serbs, Croats, Muslims, and Bosniaks. I have 8th graders, the history is complicated, and although I have had students whose parents escaped the war, their voices were never heard in my class. Too complicated, I don't have the time. But I frequently have 5-10 Muslim students in class who have told me they are bullied on a daily basis. How do we show what it means to truly love and stand up for thy neighbor? How do I take a stodgy, lecture-based view of what I used to do with war history in an English class and refocus on story? Easy. This film. It simplifies and personalizes that history, I could see showing the film in conjunction with the work of Carl Wilkens and his colleagues in Kilgali. I see having students prepare letters for an exchange of ideas with the Serbian classes. I want Ed to Skype in to my class to talk about what it meant to be a journalist during the ethnic cleansing (while sharing his haunting photos from the exhibit. I hope those are available, please). I have several ideas about using the Centropa material throughout the year surrounding these events. Will they lead me to Sarajevo, too? The future is uncertain.  My immediate concerns are seeing my girl, preparing for my Chicago summit, and never again not having the confidence to teach about this subject.