PAPER CLIPS

Paper Clips captures how the students of Whitwell Middle School responded to lessons about the Holocaust; they committed to honor every lost soul by collecting one paper clip for each individual exterminated by the Nazis. Despite the fact that they had previously been unaware of and unfamiliar with the Holocaust, their dedication was absolute. Their plan was simple but profound. The amazing result, a memorial railcar filled with 11 million paper clips (representing 6 million Jews and 5 million gypsies, homosexuals and other victims of the Holocaust) which stands permanently in their schoolyard, is an unforgettable lesson of how a committed group of children and educators can change the world one classroom at a time. Here is a poem inspired by the film:

ONE PAPER CLIP AT A TIME
By
Roger A. Davis

One paper clip at a time
A school project that became sublime
A study of the Holocaust
Eleven million souls were lost

One paper clip at a time
Represented each of those who were slew
Prejudice, it was to teach them not to
At Whitwell Middle School

One paper clip at a time
They came accompanied by letters
Some from those who survived the Nazi fetters
Thanking them for keeping alive the memory of the Crime

One paper clip at a time
A documentary was made that was prime
Principal Hooper, staff and students doing their project
And others who were caught up in this retrospect

One paper clip at a time
They were counted out, then placed in the cattle car
The concentration camp hauler of those who wore the Star
You see, it became a memorial in rural Tennessee

One paper clip at a time
Worn on one’s clothes symbolizes tolerance
And a Holocaust victim’s remembrance
Thanks to Whitwell and its Middle School, L’chaim