American Education Week 2019: Educating Through Theater of the Dangerous Consequences of Anti-Semitism and Racism

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

— Nelson Mandela

On November 10, 2019, the anniversary of Kristallnacht — the night of November 9-10, 1938, during which the Nazis burned synagogues and Jewish businesses in Germany and Austria, arresting many Jews and sending them to concentration camps — my co-producer Susan Chodakiewitz and I launched our free theater project THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE for schools to combat anti-Semitism and racism.

Definition of “thin edge of the wedge”:

A minor change that starts a chain of more and more changes resulting in dangerous consequences.

The THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE project has two main goals:

1. Educate students about the history of the Holocaust, including how the majority of people in Germany and Austria did not protest the first curtailment of civil rights by the Nazis, nor the second, nor the next, nor the next until it was too late. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, starting WWII and murdering 6 million Jews and millions of other innocents considered “undesirable.”


2. Utilize role play to encourage students in acquiring the skills of critical thinking. These skills can assist them today in taking an active role in resisting the wrongs around them before it is too late.

While the slogan NEVER AGAIN has been used since the end of WWII in connection to the Nazis’ mass genocide of the Jews, recent events in the U.S. and Europe have demonstrated a dramatic increase in anti-Semitic and racial hate crimes. This is more than the thin edge of the wedge inserted into the fabric of democratic societies. The widening of the wedge has already reached levels that may be very difficult to turn back.

As individuals it may seem that we have very little power to stop anti-Semitic and racial hate crimes. Yet if we all ignore what is happening around us, we may be subjecting our children and grandchildren to a world too horrid to contemplate.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

— Martin Niemoeller, German Lutheran pastor

If you want to utilize education to change the world, share the information about our free theater project for schools. Questions? Email thinedgeofthewedgeproject@gmail.com