Whitwell, Tennessee - Holocaust Box Car with 11 Million Paper Clips

This stop on our trip at the Holocaust Train Car was interesting. One thing to note about this attraction. It is under lock and key. If you visit during the school year and during school hours, you can get an audio tour from the office. If you are there after school hours or during the summer, you need to go to the police station to pick up a key. [Alecia Johnson, 07/19/2007]

Led by two faculty members, in 1998 Whitwell Middle School students started collecting paper clips to represent the six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust. They eventually accumulated over 29 million paper clips donated from companies and individuals. An extremely rare, original railroad cattle car that transported victims to the camps was procured from Germany and set up in Whitewell.

Half of the car was filled with eleven million paper clips, now representing 11 million WWII casualties. The Children's Holocaust Memorial Rail Car was dedicated in 2001, and "Paper Clips," a documentary film about the project, aired on HBO in 2005. [Roadsideamerica.com Team, 11/25/2005]