Visiting Jackson-Milton was a travelling educational piece detailing the horrors Henry Kinast, a Polish man, faced when he was forced into labor in a German camp during the occupation of Poland (1939-1945).

During Henry’s time in the Nazi labor camp he was forced into working for the German war machine, He later used the skills he learned in the concentration camp to start his steel business, becoming a successful CEO of his own company, PSK Steel in Youngstown, Ohio.

These details of his life are portrayed in the exhibit currently on display at the school. The exhibit is constructed in a tri-fold manner, with 3 “sides” each detailing a piece of Henry Kinast’s early life, his time in the camp, and the successes he later met in life as a steelworker.

The exhibit also has pictures and a short video which gives insight to the horrors that one could witness as a victim of the Holocaust. Many students of Jackson-Milton also got the privilege of hearing Jesse McClain, a professor and member of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, speak on Kinast’s experience and the lessons they could learn from his life. McClain wanted students to understand that the Holocaust wasn’t just a matter of history, but a social issue that needs to be remembered so as not to repeat those mistakes in our own lives.

McClain likened the Holocaust to Bullying in schools, describing his opinion on how the holocaust should be treated. “I’ve never thought of the Holocaust as a Jewish issue, but as a human issue,” McClain said.