Last updated: April 18, 2026
- Started: 1998
- Location: Whitwell Middle School, Whitwell, TN
- Memorial unveiled: November 9, 2001
- Paper clips collected: 11 million housed in the memorial; over 30 million received overall
The Paper Clips Project is a Holocaust-education project carried out at Whitwell Middle School in Whitwell, Marion County. Started in 1998, it grew into an international effort in remembrance and became the subject of a 2004 documentary film.
Origin (1998)
In 1998, Whitwell Middle School principal Linda Hooper asked teachers to launch a Holocaust-education class. When eighth-grade students struggled to grasp the scale of six million murdered Jews, a student suggested they collect six million of something.
Students learned that Norwegians had worn paper clips on their lapels during World War II as a silent protest against the Nazi occupation, a small, unassuming symbol of resistance. The class chose paper clips as the item to collect.
The memorial (2001)
An authentic German railway transport car, of the kind used to carry prisoners to Nazi camps, was brought to Whitwell and turned into the Children's Holocaust Memorial. It houses 11 million paper clips: six million for Jewish victims and five million for Roma, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, LGBT people, the disabled, and other groups targeted by the Nazis.
The memorial was unveiled on November 9, 2001, the anniversary of Kristallnacht.
Scope
The school has received more than 30 million paper clips and over 30,000 letters from around the world, along with countless artifacts and remembrances. Visitors continue to come to the memorial from across the United States and internationally.
The Paper Clips film (2004)
The 2004 documentary film Paper Clips, directed by Elliot Berlin and Joe Fab, brought the project to a national audience and established the Whitwell memorial as a stop on many Holocaust-education itineraries.