The paper clip project.

To the students of Whitwell Middle School in Whitwell, Tennessee, a paper clip is no ordinary object. It is a symbol of a precious individual--someone's mother, husband, or son, perhaps, who was murdered by Nazi Germans in the Holocaust.

Why paper clips? When students began work on a Holocaust project in the fall of 1998, they found it difficult to comprehend the staggering number of people--including six million Jews--who had been killed.

School administrators suggested that the students find an object to collect, to help them visualize the number. After doing research, they decided on paper clips, which Norwegians wore to protest anti-Semitism (prejudice against Jewish people) during World War II.

The project started small, with a letter-writing campaign asking for donations of paper clips. Only a handful came in.

But when two German journalists learned of the students' efforts, they wrote about the project in Europe. That was enough to spark international attention. Soon, truckloads of boxes and letters began to arrive in Whitwell, a small town tucked into the Tennessee mountains.

Some of the most touching letters came from relatives of Holocaust victims who shared stories of their loved ones.

In 2001, a rail car that had once transported Jews to the death camps was dedicated as a museum in Whitwell's schoolyard. It holds 11 million paper clips, one estimate of the Holocaust's total victims. "You cannot go into that car and touch one of those paper clips," says principal Linda Hooper, "without seeing those people and feeling their souls."

To learn more about the Holocaust project, check out Paper Clips, a remarkable documentary that just opened nationwide. You can also log onto Whitwells Web site: www.marionschools.org/holocaust