Friends called last night and invited us out to Sterling, IL to hear a Holocaust survivor speak. I’d never heard a Holocaust survivor speak in person before so we were looking forward to the evening. But I really didn’t know what to expect. To be honest, I half expected to listen to a rickety old lady squawking something that I couldn’t hear. Instead, we were greatly surprised to hear a very fluent, very entertaining, very enthralling presentation from a very distinguished and accomplished lady, Marion Blumenthal. As my wife said afterwards, we couldn’t get enough of her words and could have listened to her all night. Our boys had a rare and distinct honor of hearing something that their children will not get to hear, a first-hand account of the Holocaust nightmare. It was incredible! Marion had so many stories and painted such a vivid picture of what happened there. It was so alive! Throughout her presentation, she challenged kids young and old to respect others, honor parents and elders, give without thought of getting, and so much more.
I’ve gotten a chance to listen to an actual Holocaust survivor as well - I went in with the same misconceptions you did. He was actually a very enthralling speaker with a lot of touching stories to tell.
One of my teachers in high school had survived a camp during the Holocaust era. I don’t believe it was a Nazi concentration camp, but a labor camp set up by some other not-so-nice government in eastern europe. She told us her own story, and also presented Holocaust survivor art, as well as Holocaust photos.
Following the presentation, one kid in my class had the audacity to raise his hand and say “the Holocaust never happened, and labor camps never existed.”
It is always good to hear different perspectives and experiences regarding these kinds of things.
As a Jew and one who grew up in an area with a high concentration of Jews, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know someone who was a holocaust survivor. We’ve had friends of the family and neighbors who were survivors. My grandparents had family killed.
And while what exactly it means to be Jewish has never been clear to me personally, the one thing that always is, is that those who hate Jews, hate me.
For me an analogous experience has been hearing accounts from friends who have the personal accounts of their slave ancestors available in their family. Very moving.
I suspect this kid was trying to be provocative in a way that teens are. Although it is a good thing to be reminded that people who believe this are around.
My teacher kind of stared at him in disbelief, and not knowing what to say. She eventually said something to the effect of “I’m very sorry you feel that way,” and moved on.
I don’t think he was only trying to be provocative. He actually DID believe that, along with a lot of other wacko things. For example, he believed that Iraq “is not a country, just a huge band of terrorists that deserve to die,” and that you’ll go to hell if you aren’t Catholic. Everyone knew he had an alcohol problem which he refused to admit, but nobody did anything because he was the only guy who knew how to work the stage lights/sound for the school musical (a BIG deal at my school).
Check out this website.
I know the film makers. It is going to be an incredible portrayal of several families in Poland/Ukraine during the Holocaust. Of 30 Jews that survived in Sokul, 15 were saved by one Catholic woman and her son.
I heard a speaker back in middle school and the guy was willing to show us the tattoo that they put on his arm as an ID number. His whole speech was inspiring and when I was in seventh grade I had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz and go on a tour. That is one trip that I will never forget.
