Misa's Fugue Comes Full Circle at USHMM Belfer Conference
Post date: Jul 16, 2013 5:37:58 PM
As many close to the project know, Director Sean Gaston met Frank Grunwald at the Belfer "Next Step" Conference in Indianapolis. That conference was organized in part by Fishers (IN) Middle School Teacher and USHMM Regional Education Corps Member, Kelly Watson. This past week, Watson was a member of the teaching team at USHMM's Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Conference for Educators, an annual conference for teachers to learn about effective strategies for Holocaust education. Participants at the conference received a copy of Misa's Fugue on behalf of Frank. Watson shares her thoughts on the project coming full circle below:
In 2010 I was a coordinator for the USHMM Belfer Next Step Conference in Indianapolis, which was to provide further scholarship to those who attended the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for Educators. Sean was a participant and listened one evening to Frank share his story. Immediately his enthusiasm for telling his story was unparalleled: something incredible began at that moment.
Misa's Fugue is a remarkable testament to the power of Frank's story, Sean and Jen, and all the students involved, and the importance of first person testimony.
I was honored to share Misa's Fugue to two audiences this summer. In June, I was the featured
presenter at the Anne Frank Institute at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. Because I felt it important that the participants were able to hear the account of a survivor first hand, Frank closed our session on the first day, changing the lives of all who heard him. Then this past week, I was one of the English facilitators for the Belfer Nation Conference at USHMM. With the generosity of the Misa's Fugue production team, over 100 teachers received a copy of the film and we shared clips throughout the week. Master teacher Laurie Schaefer integrated Frank's story into a lesson about Terezin. You can find this lesson and many others on teaching the Holocaust and genocide athttps://sites.google.com/site/belferconference/.
It's difficult to express what knowing Frank has meant to me and how my life is richer because of that relationship. Nor can I fully describe the pride I take in bringing together Frank and Sean that June day. But what I can easily say is Misa's Fugue honors the memory of not only the Grunwald family but all families who experienced the Holocaust and for that I feel extremely grateful to its teachers and student creators.