04/14/2026
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is the perfect time to recognize Girl Scout, Lily Sassani, for creating the Holocaust Education Patch for Girl Scouts, which honors the vital and courageous roles Girl Scouts and Girl Guides played during World War II. Girls Empowered is proud to be offering programs designed to complete this badge requirements starting next school year. If your troop is interested in completing this badge, please contact us at dawn@girlsempowered.org to let us know.
Lily Sassani has just unveiled a Holocaust Education Patch she created for Girl Scouts, honoring the vital and courageous roles Girl Scouts and Girl Guides played during World War II. The 18-year-old Girl Scout from Upper Burrell, Pennsylvania spent two years developing the patch and accompanying curriculum as her project for the Gold Award, the Girl Scouts' top honor. Partnering with the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, Lily set out to teach Scouts about a chapter of history that's been largely overlooked: "There's a side of the Holocaust that a lot of people don't typically hear. This project is a great way to shed light on these women's stories and honor the sacrifices made."
The curriculum tells the stories of girls whose wartime contributions have been largely forgotten. In the United States, Girl Scouts mobilized on the home front -- selling war bonds, growing victory gardens, collecting scrap metal for weapons and silk hosiery for parachutes, serving as hospital aides, farm workers, and bicycle couriers, and aiding war refugees. In Europe, Girl Guides took on even greater risks, often practicing active resistance. They rescued children during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and extinguished incendiary bombs during the London Blitz. In Ravensbrück concentration camp, a secret Girl Guide unit kept one of the few records chronicling which inmates lived and died -- documenting history even as the N***s tried to erase it.
The project holds deep personal significance for Lily, who grew up as the only Jewish student she knew in her community. She took inspiration from Janie Hampton's book "How the Girl Guides Won the War," and the Holocaust Center connected her with Hampton during the project's development. Through her research, she discovered stories that filled her with pride in both her Jewish identity and her connection to Girl Scouting. "I hope my patch touches a lot of people," Lily said. "It tells stories of the Holocaust specific to the experiences of women, children and affected civilians across the world as a whole, which I don't think a lot of schools talk about."
The two-year journey to create the patch, which was supported with a grant from the Jewish Women's Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh, was intensive. Lily met weekly with Pittsburgh Holocaust Center staff for two years, learning to navigate the Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania's design and production standards while developing educational content appropriate for young audiences. The patch design alone went through multiple drafts over ten months. The curriculum guides Scouts through a three-part process -- Discover, Connect, and Take Action -- and culminates in opportunities to volunteer at the Holocaust Center, support refugees, or assist women's and children's organizations. "It's a sensitive topic," Lily observed, so the curriculum is designed to give troop leaders flexibility to adapt it for their groups.
Lily officially unveiled the patch on December 7 at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, and she will begin making the curricula available to other Girl Scouts with hopes of the program expanding nationwide. As she prepares to graduate from high school this spring and pursue studies in art, history, or writing, Lily is thrilled to leave behind a lasting educational resource. "I want people to take this information and share it with others, to make the world a more tolerant and more accepting place," she said.
Emily Loeb, director of programs and education at the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, emphasized the program's lasting impact: "There is so much I hope Girl Scouts take away from earning this patch. I hope they learn how much power they have and how they can use their voices to make the world better." She added, "This program is timeless, and its lessons are deeply relevant today. I'm incredibly proud to be part of something that can help a generation of young women see themselves as upstanders and changemakers."
For Girl Scouts troops interested in the patch, the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh will administer the program at https://hcofpgh.org/patch-project/
To learn more about "How The Girl Guides Won The War” for ages 13 and up, visit https://www.amightygirl.com/how-the-girl-guides-won-the-war
For an inspiring picture book about a Girl Scout who organizes a peach pit drive in her community during WWI, we highly recommend "The Peach Pit Parade" for ages 5 to 9 at https://www.amightygirl.com/the-peach-pit-parade
For books to inspire children to follow the Girl Scouts' commitment to service, visit our blog post “Making an Impact: 40 Mighty Girl Books about Charity and Community Service” at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=10983
For books for children and teens about girls and women who lived during the Holocaust period, including stories of heroic resisters and rescuers, visit our blog post "60 Mighty Girl Books About the Holocaust" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11586
