News Article Release

U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen Participate in American Service Academies Program

May 29, 2012

Courtesy of the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation

Midshipman 1st Class Geoffrey DeSena and Midshipmen 2nd Class Brett Beeson, Polly Kisin, and Clifton Luber are among 14 students from the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy chosen by the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation to participate in the center’s American Service Academies Program.

Through participating in the program, the cadets and midshipmen will learn how to examine history, become an ambassador of ethical behavior, and take responsibility for upholding these values as a future military leader.

“Military leaders must learn to think critically about their situation,” said DeSana, an aerospace major who hopes to become a naval test pilot. “Our actions will impact the lives of many more than those in our command. Exposure to significant monuments of human history can teach us the effects of unlimited power and cold fanaticism.”

Cadets and midshipmen will begin orientation in Washington, D.C., and will visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum.The students will also travel to New York City to attend additional training at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust before going on to Poland for two weeks. During this intensive preparation, participants will learn about the Holocaust and contemporary moral and ethical matters, meet with historians and staff members from the two museums, take part in workshops on military leadership, hear survivor testimony, and tour the institutions.

While in Poland, the participants will learn first-hand about the rich, vibrant life of Jews in pre-war Poland, especially the town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz). Each student will meet with Polish and American leaders, visit historic Jewish sites, attend workshops with Holocaust survivors, and historians, and visit and attend seminars at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps, among other activities. The intensive program in Oswiecim will help future military leaders understand what can happen in the absence of open and democratic governance and the ongoing relevance of the Holocaust to their work and inspire and empower them to share their insights and understanding with others.

The Auschwitz Jewish Center is operated by the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust from the Museum’s New York City campus. The center opened its doors in 2000 and joined with the museum in 2006. Located just three kilometers from the Auschwitz–Birkenau death camps, the center provides a place for individuals and groups from around the world to pray, study, and learn about the vibrancy of Jewish culture before the war and memorialize victims of the Holocaust. The only Jewish presence in the vicinity of Auschwitz, the center’s facilities include Oswiecim’s only surviving synagogue.