Ceremony Guidelines

Approaching the entrance to the ceremony

• We suggest the students will set up an exhibition from the Pages of Testimony: An enlarged image of the child's Page of Testimony will be pasted on one side of a sheet of Bristol paper, and the child's personal details will be recorded on the other side; the Bristol sheets should be hung from the podium. The students can memorize two or three children's names, and when they enter the ceremony, they will light a candle in their memory in the designated place. For a ceremony that involves many classes, several such rooms can be prepared, one for each level or any other distribution of pupils that is acceptable to the school.

• Alternatively, a dark room with candles can be prepared. In this room, children's names, ages and places of origin will be read out. The students can be asked to memorize two or three names and light additional candles in their memory.


Suggestions of ways to read the Pages of Testimony

• Pages of Testimony will be distributed to the pupils in the audience, and they will stand up and read what is written on the page while carrying candles or lighting them. At the end of the reading, the student could put the Page of Testimony in a special place that will serve as an exhibition. It is best that The Pages of Testimony will be given ahead of time so that they can practice reading them - this is because the pages contain names of people and places to which the pupils are not accustomed.

• Screening Pages of Testimony one after the other, while the students read part of them aloud, at the same time lighting a candle for each of the children.


Suggestions for designing the readings of the diaries

• The silhouette of a teenage boy or girl sitting at a desk and writing is displayed. In the background, the testimony from the first diary entries is heard.

• On the stage are several focal points, in accordance with the number of figures that appear in the ceremony. Each focal point features decor that represents the place from which the girl or boy came: photographs of the city before the war, household utensils and so on. The pupil who is reading stands next to the decor that refers to the youth and reads his/her words. As the reading of the testimony progresses, items from the decor are removed one by one. Finally, in the last testimony, or during the reading about the fate of the child and his/her family, the reader is left standing in an empty space.

Alternately, each focal point features representative photographs from the region.

As the reading of the testimony progresses, the photographs are exchanged for photographs from the period of the Nazi occupation, and finally for a photograph of Auschwitz.

• Each figure can be characterized by a prominent item of clothing.

• Scenes from the diaries or memoirs are acted out in pantomime (or in silhouettes behind a white curtain) during the reading of the testimony.


Suggestions for designing the readings of the last testimonies and the fate of the children

Whilst reading about the last testimonies and the fate of the children and their families, it is very important that the telling of the end of the story/testimony must be tactful and sensitive in order not to dull the emotions. How the ending is portrayed will determine how the students look upon the victims. Using softer language will create a sense of understanding and empathy. Minimalism could actually emphasize the loss more acutely.

For instance:
• Screen the photograph of the child and blur it until it disappears.

• Write on a slide or on the photograph of the child that is being screened what happened to the child and his family and play soft music.

• Read about the child's fate while the pupil who played the part lights a candle in his memory and in memory of his family.

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