The History of the Banat Jews in the Years of the Second World War

Zina Aspazia Marincu

 

During the project, students were brought into contact with Jewish culture, history and religion, and were guided to conduct research about the Holocaust. The activities involved viewing of the feature films The Diary of Anne Frank and Schindler’s List, followed by discussions and debates on them; visits to the Synagogue in Lugoj and the Jewish cemetery in Timisoara; role plays; exhibitions of students’ drawings and photographs on the Jewish culture and civilization. A literary circle was initiated, in which each student chose to inform themselves and tell their colleagues the life story of a famous Jewish person who lived during World War II, e.g. Olga Lengyel, Eva Heyman, Miriam Korber, Oliver Lustig, Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel, Leopold (Lazar) Schobel, Pavel Friedmann, Iancu Tucarman, Hannah Gofrit, Leo Bretholz, Yoram Friedman, Michael Kutz, Thomas Blatt, Liviu Beris. Another film watched by the students was A class divided, a film about the immediate effects of discrimination. During the visit to the Synagogue in Lugoj, they were warmly received by the President of the Jewish Community of Lugoj, Ivan Eric Bloch. At the Jewish cemetery in Timisoara, the students found out that the oldest grave, that of doctor’s doctor Azriel Assiel, dated from late 17th century.