The last, the very last, so richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow. Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing against a white stone. Such, such a yellow is carried lightly ’way up high It went away I’m sure because it wished to kiss the world good-bye. For seven weeks, I’ve lived in here, Penned up inside this ghetto. But I have found what I love here. The dandelions call to me And the white chestnut branches in the court. Only I never saw another butterfly. That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.
The poem above, written by Pavel Friedman, embodies the inspiration for the Butterfly Project created by the Houston Holocaust Museum in memory of Holocaust victims. Straight off the heels of No Place for Hate week and ‘Pay it Forward’ week, No Place for Hate plans to create and design paper butterflies for the project. The Holocaust Museum of Houston is collecting over a million paper butterflies to place on a wall in remembrance of the victims of the World War II event. Senior Brooke Hitchcock said the project affects the school in many ways, promoting both Holocaust remembrance and anti-bullying.
“The butterfly project connects for No Place for Hate because it is anti-defamation and bullying,” she said. “This project uplifts something that was a horrible time in history and the butterflies make something good out of it. I think the school will be amazed and get so involved. It makes a difference.”
Freshman Tawny Jones participated in the Butterfly project last year at Schindewolf. Like Hitchcock, she hopes the students appreciate the project.
“I did the butterfly project after reading the ‘Diary of Anne Frank’,” she said. “We got paper butterflies and designed them. When we did this project at Schindewolf I noticed that people became a lot happier. After they were hung up, the vents make the butterflies move and it created a really peaceful environment. I think that this project will get people to care about others.”
The club plans to start the project in Art, History and English classes by letting students name and design a paper butterfly. Counselor and club sponsor Charlye Ivy said she is excited to see the outcome of the project.
“I hope students will be kinder to each other and more understanding of one another.” Ivy said. “The [Nazis were] one group of people who felt that they were better than another group. Over 1.5 million children died during that time. I want students to create as many butterflies as they can and for the students to understand that events like this can be prevented if they can only understand one another.”
The Holocaust Museum of Houston already has over 900,000 butterflies and hopes to reach their goal of 1.5 million by the end of the year. The museum plans to exhibit the butterflies in the spring of 2014.