Carmel Catholic High School has partnered with the Spungen Family Foundation ever since now-retired Carmel Catholic history teacher Jim Schuster met Danny Spungen in 2008. The first event was held at Carmel Catholic on February 6, 2009. This February 2024 marks 15 years of collaboration, and in that time, the Foundation has exhibited its Holocaust Postal Collection nineteen times at Carmel Catholic.
Over the years, students and teachers have also had the unique experience meeting privately with Holocaust survivors and others associated with genocide studies at the Foundation’s annual “Survivors Week” dinner events at the Spungen home.
Friday, January 26 marked another unique collaborative experience when the Spungen Foundation brought the theatrical play Letters from Anne and Martin to Carmel. Students from Jacob Solarz’s Holocaust and U.S. History classes, along with Jack Waddle’s Criminal Law class got to see the performance, followed by a Q&A with the actors.
About Letters from Anne and Martin
Letters from Anne and Martin is a unique production that combines the iconic voices of Anne Frank and Martin Luther King, Jr., both of whom were born in 1929 yet seemingly represent drastically different times and cultures. Developed from excerpts from Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” this piece evokes the important messages from these legendary figures, as they write of their hopes and plans for a peaceful and unified world. This is currently our most-requested program, as it touches both students and adults of various backgrounds and demonstrates the universality of the human experience.