BOSTON — Malden High School students came to pay their respects at the New England Holocaust Memorial Wednesday.
Accompanied by Malden Mayor Gary Christenson, School Superintendent John Oteri, Malden High principal Ted Lombardi and other school and city officials, the students learned about the horrors of the Holocaust from a survivor of the Nazi terror.
Several also took part in a ceremonial reading of obituaries of Holocaust victims, with the life stories prepared by the victims’ families and filed with the Memorial archivists.
“It was moving and memorable experience for these students,” Lombardi said. “They wanted to be here and represent their school and community and they did a tremendous job.”
Malden officials arranged the visit in the wake of June and August incidents in which vandals broke the Memorial’s glass panels. A 17-year-old Malden resident was charged with the August 15 vandalism act. The teenager attended Malden High School. A vigil organized at the downtown Boston Memorial on August 16 included Christenson among those in attendance.
At the time he pledged to return to the Memorial after the start of the school year with a contingent of Malden High School students to visit and participate in a positive show of support for the Memorial’s importance.
On Wednesday, Malden students interacted with Holocaust Memorial staff members and were addressed by Holocaust survivor Israel Arbeiter, who described his own experience and that of some of his family members at a Nazi concentration camp.
Following a tour of the Memorial, students and Malden officials took part in a ceremony recalling Holocaust victims through obituary readings.
“Our students are the better for it, by taking part in an event such as this,” Lombardi said. “I think it really hit home for them when they heard about how many families were torn apart and destroyed by the Holocaust.”
