During World War II, citizens of Norway wore paper clips on their lapels, symbolizing their patriotism and resistance against Nazi oppression. This simple act, meaningful six decades ago, gained renewed significance with a seemingly simple middle school project; one that changed the students involved, as well as the small homogenous town in which the project took place.
Prosperous until a coal-mining accident shut down business thirty years ago, the small town of Whitwell, Tennessee is one that has been called a “depressed community” by outside sources. With a population of 1,600 people, a group that includes virtually no diversity, Linda Hooper and David Smith, the principal and vice-principal of Whitwell Middle School, decided to add a program about tolerance to the school’s curriculum.
Choosing the Holocaust as the basis for the program, Smith said about the town: “This area isn’t known for its tolerance … there are no Jews here. These kids don’t know any Germans. It was easier to teach them tolerance by teaching them about people they don’t know anything about.”
The idea to collect paper clips as a part of the program came about when students asked how big six million, the estimated number of people lost in the Holocaust, was. After doing some research, the students discovered the significance of paper clips during World War II and decided to collect six million of the objects. In 1998, the Paper Clip Project was born.
The project initially flourished, but lulls in which the endeavor garnered only a few letters with small numbers of paper clips included contributed to the students’ diminishing lack of optimism. It was not until an article featuring Whitwell Middle School’s undertaking appeared in publications around the world that the project received the boost it was lacking. One such article, appearing in the Washington Post in April of 2001, captured the attention of Virginia-based The Johnson Group and marked the start of what would be a “life-altering commitment” in the form of a feature length documentary simply called “Paper Clips.”
Explaining one of the major problems of embarking on the journey of creating the documentary, producer/writer/director Joe Fab said, “We loved it [the story]. But the question became, can you make a film out of it? At that point Whitwell had been working on the project for years … We needed to find a filmable aspect of the story that showed that it wasn’t confined to the town and it wasn’t just about letters coming in.”
The “filmable aspect” described by Fab was found when four Holocaust survivors planned a visit to Whitwell in support of the project. Members from The Johnson Group headed to Tennessee to begin filming and the shots from the survivors’ visit proved to be some of the most poignant and unforgettable moments of the film.
“Paper Clips,” from initiation to completion, took over two years to create. Marked by difficulty in choosing what to include in the film and an overwhelming sense of personal growth and discovery in those involved on both sides of the camera, the documentary attracted the support of entities interested in getting involved. Based in New York City, Ergo Entertainment joined with The Johnson Group and served as a bridge for the film to gain support from Miramax. Elie Landau of Ergo Entertainment said, “We all agreed the movie needed to be seen by as many people as possible. A partnership with Miramax was our dream scenario to accomplish that goal.” The involvement of Miramax allowed for “Paper Clips” to gain extensive recognition among the film world and proved to be a vital component of the film’s success.
Matthew Hiltzik, a senior vice president of corporate communications at Miramax, said about the documentary, “The beauty of the film is that it isn’t just a memorial to those who died in the Holocaust. It’s a celebration of tolerance, respect, pride, commitment, the public school system — everything that’s good about America that you don’t hear enough about.”
Fab agreed, saying that the purpose of “Paper Clips” is to bring people together and to break down stereotypes, including those directed toward the town of Whitwell. Referring to the town’s predominantly white, Christian and poor demographics, Fab stated, “A lot of media coverage said, ‘Whitwell is such an unlikely place’ for this to happen. But these people live their values. If you lived their values, you would react the way they reacted to this. It’s not an unlikely place at all.”
Fab hopes the documentary is shown to as many people as possible, emphasizing the importance of showing it to other students, in hopes that they might be prompted to change the world in their own way. Latosha Worley, a Whitwell student involved in the Paper Clip Project, reflected this idea the best by saying, “If people from Whitwell can make such a big difference, imagine what the rest of the world could do if they tried.”
The documentary, winner of numerous awards, will be screened Tuesday, March 8 in Tripp Commons at the Memorial Union. The screening follows a lecture by Professor Peter Hayes of Northwestern University at 7:00 p.m. Co-sponsored by Hillel and the Jewish Cultural Collective, the event is free and open to the public. The Jewish Cultural Collective, a newly formed, independent, student-run organization on campus, is also sponsoring the appearance of “Good in Bed” author Jennifer Weiner Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Union, among other events throughout second semester.
