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A Haverhill High School history teacher will be in attendance for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp next week.
Theodore “Ted” Kempinski attends the observance as an invited witness and the only teacher from the United States to be invited. He, as WHAV reported last year, is honorary consul of memory for the Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial. On his website, Kempinski details the trepidation he experienced while planning for the trip.
“There are no words that can truly capture human understanding or emotion, at those moments. That there are actual survivors voices that will speak at this anniversary, on this ground. Where in the end, a little hope out lasted the hate,” he wrote.
Kempinski will attend the main commemoration Monday, Jan. 27, at 10 a.m., eastern. The ceremony takes place in, what was described as “a specially constructed tent over the iconic gate of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. A freight car, symbolizing the tragic history of deportations, will stand prominently at the gate as part of the commemoration.”
There will be an opportunity at Haverhill High School for students to view the proceedings. Others may also watch online here. Students and others may also follow Kempinski’s activities online at tedaction.org.
Kempinski told WHAV via email that money used to attend the ceremony comprised of individual donations, which paid for his plane tickets and hotel.
According to a news release shared with WHAV, all Auschwitz survivors are invited to the commemoration, with the anniversary of liberation hosting 50 survivors, as well as state and institutional delegations.
As WHAV reported in November, Kempinski brought a virtual, live tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp to students early last year through the educational program “Auschwitz: In Front of Your Eyes.” The program makes Haverhill High School the first in the nation to cooperate with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation on genocide education.
As WHAV previously reported, Kempinski won the Haverhill School Committee’s endorsement for an earlier visit to Poland.