Bordentown college student earns internship at Holocaust museum

As she wiped tears away, Caitlin Moynihan had to know: How could people do this to their fellow men, women and children?

The degradation, dehumanization and flat-out crimes against humanity didn?t make sense.

?It was almost unbelievable that anyone could do this to other people. I was crying when I saw it,? Moynihan said of her reaction to a documentary on the Holocaust that she viewed during a class at Bordentown Regional High School several years ago.

The film disturbed her on many levels. It showed the brutality of millions of Jews being killed during World War II and also demonstrated that, decades later, the subject seems to have faded away into the history books.

?There?s so much more that the people should know about it,? Moynihan said. ?It?s such a horrible thing that we should not forget about.?

Several years after that high school class, Moynihan will get a chance to further educate the public about that horrific chapter and tell some of the survivors' stories at a New York City museum.

The 21-year-old Ramapo College senior has been selected to participate in the prestigious Lipper Internship Program at the Museum of Jewish Heritage ? A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan this fall.

?I kind of freaked out when they called to say I had been selected,? Moynihan said. ?I was extremely elated. I couldn?t wait to start.?

She is one of 15 interns who will learn how to teach Jewish history and the Holocaust to young people.

?We do it to educate the public school students about the Holocaust and the implications of the Holocaust in the modern world,? museum educator Loren Filber said. ?We hope everyone walks away with a deeper understanding of the subject.?

Since the Lipper program started in 1998, interns have worked with more than 50,000 students from the Northeast.

Moynihan, who is pursuing a degree in history with minors in genocide and human rights along with Judaic studies, began training earlier this month.

As part of her training, she studied the museum?s exhibitions, heard testimony from Holocaust survivors, and attended seminars led by scholars.

She even met three Holocaust survivors and one from the genocide in Rwanda in the mid-1990s.

?When you hear it from a survivor, you gain a lot more compassion,? she said.

In the coming weeks, Moynihan and the other interns will share what they?ve learned with schoolchildren throughout the region.

After introductory sessions, the interns bring groups of middle and high school students to the museum, where lessons are complemented by tours of the museum?s core exhibition. They return to the schools at a later date to discuss the material and encourage the students to share their reactions and insights.

Moynihan said she?s been forewarned that there will be tough questions.

?I heard someone asked, ?Why would God let this happen?? ? she said. ?How do you answer that??

Moynihan said she doesn?t know if she?ll ever have a good answer to that question, but she'll do her best.

?We as a generation are lucky enough to be able to speak to the survivors of the Holocaust,? she said. ?We have a responsibility to pass on their knowledge. If we forfeit that responsibility, these individuals? stories will be lost forever.?

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48783926/ns/local_news-delaware_valley_pa_nj/

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