CANOGA PARK : Actress’s Lesson in Tolerance Moves Students

Separated by time and geography, students at Christopher Columbus Middle School nonetheless learned lessons in tolerance Tuesday as they listened to what it was like to be a young Jewish girl in Europe before and during the Holocaust.

A one-woman performance, supplemented by slides and a recorded soundtrack, told the story of Sarah, a character based on an actual friend of Anne Frank. It followed the girls from their early, happy childhood to a time when their families hid from the Nazis. The Franks lived for years in an Amsterdam attic until they were discovered and sent to death camps. “Sarah” went into hiding in a store basement, and survived the ordeal.

Equal parts performance art and informational lecture, the presentation has been given dozens of times during the last two weeks at Southern California schools. It is offered by Living Voices, a Washington-based nonprofit group that designs educational programs about diversity and tolerance.

“You get two choices in your life--you can hurt people or you can help,” actress and educator Warner Munroe told the students. “There are lots of hate groups waiting for you to decide how you feel about people that aren’t like you.”

Speaking as Sarah, Munroe told of how her freedoms disappeared. She could no longer go to certain places, had to wear a yellow star on all of her clothing to identify her as a Jew and even lost the simple privilege of owning a bicycle. One day, Sarah’s history teacher was taken away and never returned.

Students were hushed as Munroe told them that similar persecution has taken place in the United States and has been directed at various times against Native Americans, African Americans and Japanese Americans. “I think the most important thing people need to know is that Hitler didn’t invent racism, and it didn’t die with him,” Munroe said.

All of Columbus Middle School’s 1,100 students were invited to attend the program. Many were visibly moved by the presentations.

“That was so sad,” said a seventh-grader, crying as she walked out of the school’s auditorium. Immediately after one performance, three girls stood in the aisle and shared a group hug. One was black, the other two were white.

“We have to multiply this story by millions of stories that no one is alive to tell,” Munroe told students, referring to victims of the Holocaust. “Eleven million stories.”

Teachers Fern Somoza and Lisa Hanasab, who suggested bringing the program to Columbus Middle School, said the program’s message is especially important because of its diverse student population.

“We have over 13 languages spoken here at this school, including English and Spanish,” said Somoza. “This is a big part of what the school is about.”