RICHMOND, Va. — Hundreds of painted butterflies filled the foyer of the Virginia Holocaust Museum on Thursday, symbolizing the lives of children lost during the Holocaust.
“We didn’t paint nearly as many butterflies as the many children who died, but I think it’s a good reminder of what happened,” said Alyssa Powel, a 10th grader at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake. Powel painted an estimated 20 to 30 butterflies for the event.
Nearly 300 butterflies were installed on the Maizels Memorial Butterfly Garden mural to honor the 1.5 million children who died during the Holocaust. This installation is part of the Butterfly Project, an initiative created to educate and raise awareness about the Holocaust.
Founded in 2006 in San Diego by Cheryl Rattner Price and Jan Landau, the project has installed nearly 400,000 butterflies globally. Thursday's ceremony marked the first installation in Virginia.
“This could be a mural like here, could be a sculpture, could be a bench, but that year over year becomes a legacy for the students that they remember those children,” Price said.
Organizers hope the ceramic art can educate people about the Holocaust in a way that is less traumatic.
“The survivors in our community really got behind this work and they said, 'You have to do this and never ever stop, because young people need to find and remember our stories,'” Price added.
While painting, students were given the biographies of children who died in the Holocaust.
“Through that portion of our programming, they’re really able to foster a connection with the stories of the Holocaust that they might not get otherwise,” Riley Martinez, Program & Operations Coordinator for The Butterfly Project, said.
The butterflies carry the painful legacy of over a million children.
“I hope they take away that these were real human beings—children—who died and suffered, and realize we never want that to happen again,” Martinez said.
This installation is just the first of several planned at the museum. Over time, students from across the state will come to paint and install butterflies, with a goal of nearly 10,000 ceramic butterflies eventually filling the museum.
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