Korean-American Christian Teeanger Teaches About the Holocaust

Summary of Article: Christopher Huh, a 14 year old from Maryland, has created a graphic novel about the Holocaust geared at kids his age. Keeping My Hope was published earlier this year. In 170 pages, it tells the story of Ari Kolodiejski, a Polish-born Jewish grandfather, relaying his experiences to his granddaughter Sarah. It starts when he is 18 years old, living in Lomza Poland, shortly before the Nazi takeover. It continues through the Holocaust until his escape from a death march and rescue by farmers in 1945. Huh became interested in the subject during a 7th grade lesson on "Voice From the Past." He hopes to raise enough money from the book's publication to visit the camps in Poland. His father hopes to translate the graphic novel into Asian languages because most people in Asia do not know much about the Holocaust.

Click here to view Huh's novel on a tablet. Click here for a hard copy. 

Discussion With Kids:

• How to bring up the Holocaust: this depends on the age of the kids. For my kids (ages 5 and 7), I'll ask if they've heard of the Holocaust and ask what they know about it. If they can't recall anything, I'll say it was a terrible war that happened long ago when their great-grandparents were young (they are Holocaust survivors). A bad man named Hitler, like Haman, tried to get rid of all the Jews but he did not succeed. He is now dead. We are safe and have the State of Israel, which Jews then did not have. 
• Tell above story about Christopher. You can show his picture by clicking on the article, and show his book by clicking on that link above.
• When you are really interested in something you learn in school, how do you express it after school? (Find books about it at the library; look it up on the computer; look up a relevant app; talk about it at home, etc.) What did Christopher do? 
• How did Christopher get the information for his book? (He researched on the Holocaust Museum website; he visited the Holocaust museum twice; he read books).  
• How could his book help people understand what happened to Jews in the Holocaust? 
• What is something you would like to learn more about, the way Christopher did with the Holocaust?