Angelus News | January 26, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 2

our faith and how do we enter the
conversation.
“I wanted to receive what I was there
for.”
Herrera visited Poland in 2016 for
World Youth Day, but the mood of
this trip was quite different. As soon
as she arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau,
she felt a “heaviness” in the air. Rain
and gray skies added to the gloominess.
The fellows, accompanied by
representatives like Sarah Klein from
Holocaust Museum LA, toured prisoner
barracks and what remains of the
deadly gas chambers. Herrera had no
words for the latter except to say she is
now a “witness” to atrocity.
Especially chilling, she said, were the
exhibits of personal items seized from
prisoners — including shoes, eyeglasses,
and even a collection of hair that
had been removed to curb the spread
of lice.
“Seeing the amount of hair that was
shaved off people’s heads — that alone
got me,” said Herrera. “I just had to
walk out alone under my umbrella.
I just needed a moment to gather
myself.”
Although nothing could erase those
cruelties from her mind, Herrera
said she found solace in the courage
shown by prisoners like St. Maximilian
Kolbe. In 1941, the Catholic priest
was arrested for hiding Jews from the
Nazis, and while serving his sentence
in Auschwitz-Birkenau, he willingly
accepted another prisoner’s death sentence
so that man could live. Decades
later, Polish-born St. Pope John Paul II
placed a paschal candle in St. Kolbe’s
prison cell.
“That was cool to get to see with my
own eyes,” Herrera said. “I didn’t know
the candle was still there. I think I
needed that in the midst of so much
darkness and intensity.”
The Montebello native said even
though the experience was deeply
emotional, she never forgot why she
was there: her students.
“My teacher hat was definitely on,”
Herrera said. “I took notes, tried to put
it all together for myself, and think
about how I’m going to teach this.”
After the tour, Auschwitz Legacy
Fellows were given school lesson plans
on how to explain the Nazis’ brutality
and the antisemitism that led to it.
Herrera takes on those difficult topics
in her theology classes and allows her
students to weigh in.
“That’s what stuck out to me, how
things evolve over time,” said Iana Anikalumibao,
a sophomore at Ramona.
“(Bias) doesn’t just drop out of the sky.
We should be spreading peace instead
of blind hate.”
Herrera also shares with her students
how imprisoned Jews secretly drew
pictures, wrote poems, and documented
what was happening to them. The
students say hearing those accounts
made the Holocaust more real.
“You could really connect with their
stories,” said Madelyn Macias, a sophomore
at Ramona. “It wasn’t just numbers
you would read in a textbook. You
could tell they were real people.”
Herrera, a product of Catholic
schools herself, has been teaching for
about five years at Ramona, an all-girls
high school sponsored by the Sisters
of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
She’s also the campus minister.
Ramona officials say by participating
in the Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship,
Herrera is opening her students’ eyes,
and others’ too.
“Michelle is very committed to what
she’s doing here, particularly in the
theology department,” said Sister
Kathleen Callaway, SNJM, president
of Ramona. “She took the initiative to
do this, to enrich her experience as a
teacher. I also hope some of the other
participants were enriched by having
her Catholic perspective.”
Herrera and others involved with
the Auschwitz Legacy Fellowship
are closely following
the ongoing conflict
between Israel and
Hamas militants in
Gaza.
The Oct. 7 attack on
Israel and the retaliatory
strikes in Gaza
have given rise to hate
crimes in the United
States with both Jews
and Muslims being
targeted. Klein noted
the current crisis and
its fallout are exactly
why the fellowship
program exists.
“I want to make it
clear that hatred for American Jews is
never OK and blaming them for the
activity of the Israeli government is an
old anti-Jewish trope,” said Klein, senior
manager of museum education at
Holocaust Museum LA. “The Jewish
people persevere, not only persevere
but thrive. A lot of that, I think, comes
from remembering who we are, our
past, and then using that to create a
better future so we can live in peace
and safety.”
As an Auschwitz Legacy Fellow and a
Catholic, Herrera feels called to help
with that effort.
“I feel a change and a transition from
the experience,” Herrera said. “As
people of faith, we are called to be
witnesses, allies, and advocates when
we see hate rising, especially with
our Jewish brothers and sisters with
whom we share a common spiritual
heritage.”
Herrera also wants to empower her
students to act as “bridge builders”
who can change the world for the
better.
“I feel called to invest into this next
generation of faith leaders and particularly
here at Ramona, young female
faith leaders,” said Herrera. “I really
love my students.”
Natalie Romano is a freelance writer
for Angelus and the Inland Catholic
Byte, the news website of the Diocese of
San Bernardino.
Madelyn Macias, left, and Iana Anikalumibao are both
sophomores at Ramona Convent Secondary School
in Alhambra, where Michelle Herrera is helping teach
her students about the Holocaust and antisemitism. |
VERONICA FERNANDEZ
January 26, 2024 • ANGELUS • 15