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Melissa Arelia Samoilova, 16, never told an adult at her high school when a boy called her a “Jewish bastard” in the hallway. She didn’t think it would make a difference. School Councilor Sara Wettergren (left) wants more youth exposed to racism to dare to trust for support.
Last winter, Melissa Arelia Samoilova traveled to the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in Nazi Germany in the 1940s. There, the genocide of Europe’s Jews took on industrial proportions.
He was part of a group of high school students and educators who, through a collaboration between the city of Malmö and the Swedish Committee against Anti-Semitism, SKMA, visited the Holocaust memorial sites.
On Wednesday, students from the trip participated in the elementary school’s board hearing on anti-Semitism work and values.
Melissa Arelia Samoilova, 16, participated in the Malmö city hearing.
The trip was an important experience, says Melissa Arelia Samoilova when Sydsvenskan interviews her just before the hearing.
– It became something important in my whole school. You really felt like people were getting involved and they were wiser.
Melissa Arelia Samoilova has a personal connection to the persecution that has plagued Jews throughout history. It has a strong Jewish identity and faith, and it has never been a secret. At the same time, you are concerned about attacks.
– Sometimes I’m a little funky to wear my Star of David or show my origins in another way. Because I don’t know how people should react.
She herself has had bad experiences.
– The Jewish bastard has been heard.
The attack came from a boy in the school hallway one day when he was wearing his necklace with a Star of David indicating his Judaism, he says.
– I was very surprised.
She didn’t say anything to the boy.
– I just looked at him suspiciously. And he realized that he had done something.
He did not tell any adults at the school about the incident.
– I do not know why. They don’t seem to know how to act. As if it were a little thing. That they have more serious things to deal with.
She chose to drop it and, as she says, “get it out of my thought bank”, and today she is going to high school.
– It’s hate. But you’ve been brainwashed a bit and you expect to be exposed to worse things than comments. I know that it happens all the time that other Jews are harassed and persecuted.
Melissa Arelia Samoilova spoke with Liberal Political Secretary Adrian Kasperczyk.
During the hearing, the students shared their experiences from the Auschwitz memorial site. SO teacher Heléne Nyrén from Oxievångsskolan clarified that the educational trip was a significant investment.
– It’s not easy being an SO teacher today. We need to be confident in our roles and values. I am almost always the only adult in the classroom. Through the training journey, we received qualified continuous training and an important network of teachers. We were prompted by the fact that our issues are important for democratic development.
School Councilor Sara Wettergren (left) regrets that the municipality’s investment in commemorative trips with SKMA has been halted due to the corona pandemic.
– There has been great interest in the schools.
When Sara Wettergren learns that Melissa Arelia Samoilova was exposed to anti-Semitism in her high school without telling anyone, she is saddened.
– If they call you a bastard Jew in the hallway, you should definitely tell your teacher and there is a reason for the school management to mention it. You have to dare to seize it, otherwise prejudices will flourish. But I understand that it is difficult to get up when you are alone. Not everyone has the strength.
More than 30 students, educators, officials and politicians in scattered locations participated in the elementary school board hearing on anti-Semitism and basic work.
Also read Hate crimes at school are part of the daily lives of the city’s youth
