Revisiting the Paper Clips Project

Revisiting Whitwell, Tennessee 2012

Whitwell, Tennessee is a rural community of about 1600 people about 25 miles from Chattanooga. If the name doesn’t mean anything to you, it should. For it was here that the ambitious and fantastically successful “Paper Clips Project” was launched by teacher Sandra Roberts and her students at the Whitwell Middle School. The project was designed to teach her students (who all volunteered for this after school program) about the Holocaust. The story gained national attention when investigative reporters Peter Schroeder and Dagmar Schroeder- Hildebrand were able to get the students story on the NBC Nightly News and in the Washington Post.  Roberts’ students were on a mission to collect 6 million paper clips to symbolize all of the Jews who were slaughtered during the Holocaust. The students were inundated with paper clips, memorabilia, and letters from around the world.  Over 11 million paper clips were collected. But the project did not end there. The Schroeders were able to go to Germany and convince a German Railroad club to sell them a cattle car that was used to transport victims of the Holocaust to their deaths at concentration camps.  In September, 2001 the box car was shipped from Bergen to Baltimore. Upon arrival, the car was loaded on a CSX rail freight car and was shipped free of charge. Thus was born the Children’s Holocaust Memorial at Whitwell Middle School. I am leaving a great deal of information out. You need to get the DVD,"Paper Clips" or the book “Six Million Paper Clips” written by the Schroeders.

I had the opportunity to visit Whitwell this summer. Since I had used the DVD in my college class to teach future teachers about engaging students, parents and community in a critical project, I had always wanted to visit the place. A great deal had changed since 1999. Whitwell has a new middle school and a wonderful permanent site for the rail car. The school also created a resource center with hundreds of books about the Holocaust, donated artifacts and pictures, as well as computers to access information.

Our tour guides were former middles school students, now at Whitwell High School. They were quite knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the project. They were quite proud of the Box Car and all of the attention the project had garnered. Admission to the site is free. All that students and staff wish is you buy a post card, book, pin, or other items from the school office. Incidentally, if the school is closed and the box car is locked, you can pick up a key from city hall or the police station and tour yourself.

As you begin the new school year, there are two things that I wish you to gain from this post. One- as appropriate to your students’ grade level, it is imperative to teach them about the Holocaust. Hatred and prejudice should never be allowed to triumph. Second. The “Paper Clips” project is a classic example of how to bring your students, their parents and the community together into something meaningful.

Useful websites:

www.whitwellmiddleschool.org

http://oneclipatatime.org/