Butterflies of Brundibar: In poignant ceremony, Cape Cod students unveil mural honoring child victims of the Holocaust
In front of an audience of classmates and families, two seventh graders at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School are standing at a podium, singing a solemn song in Hebrew.
On the wall behind them is a mural in two parts.
At the top, ceramic butterflies have been installed — each painted by a student in remembrance of a child who died in the Holocaust.
The bottom is a scene, concealed behind paper until later in the ceremony.
Learning about the Holocaust — and its social justice lessons for today’s world — has become part of the seventh-grade experience at Lighthouse. The school in East Harwich is participating in The Butterfly Project, a national Holocaust education program.
The Butterfly Project uses the arts and the making of memorials to honor the 1.5 million children who perished.
After four years with the project, Lighthouse students unveiled a new mural last week.