Upstander Stone Project - Remembering the Holocaust

The Upstander Stone Project includes elementary and secondary curriculum as well 20 stones, with paint, markers and a list of 20 names of children who perished in the Holocaust and who are being memorialized a unique way. This activity will help to sensitize hearts to the issues of the Holocaust and teach students that we need to stand up for what is right, particularly in situations where others are stereotyped, bullied, persecuted, or victimized.

In this activity, you will use acrylic markers and paints to decorate a stone by painting on one side and writing the name, age and place of death of the child that was murdered on the other side. Once the stones have been painted, you will mail them (in a paid postage box) to the Holocaust Garden of Hope to be displayed.

*After purchasing, please check your messages to provide your mailing address for the stones.

Stones have long been and continue to be used as historic grave markers; Jewish people bring small stones to leave on their loved ones' grave sites as stones are permanent (as opposed to flowers) and serve as a reminder of the concrete loss of a loved one and the true eternity of their existence. According to Habakkuk 2:11 (CJB), “the very stones will cry out.”

The Upstander Stone Project's goals is to place 1.5 million stones, with the names of the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered in the Holocaust, in a special area of the Holocaust Garden of Hope in Northeast Houston, Texas commemorating Holocaust victims, survivors, rescuers, WWII veterans, liberators, and descendants.

The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators. German authorities also targeted other groups because of their perceived racial and biological inferiority: Roma (Gypsies), people with disabilities, some of the Slavic peoples, Soviet prisoners of war, and blacks. Others were persecuted on political, ideological, and behavioral grounds: Communists, Socialists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and homosexuals. In all, over 11 million people were murdered, including 1.5 million Jewish children.