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Each one of the millions of
Jewish men, women and
children who lived during the time of World War II and the Holocaust had
their own unique experiences. The majority of them who then lived in
Europe perished, never having the opportunity to tell
their story to anyone after the war and the defeat of Nazi Germany. Those who did
somehow survive the war were forced to bear the scars of their
experiences, to try to come to terms with the horribly evocative memories of the deaths of
family
members and friends, and often the destruction of an entire Jewish
community.
How these traumatic experiences
manifested in those who survived post-war and beyond is an important
question that needs to be addressed when trying to understand the psyche of the
survivor. Some survivors have had the desire or felt the need to tell
others their story, often with the explicit hope that their story
might educate them by raising the consciousness of those who might read or hear their
story, so that another holocaust would never occur again. Of course there are
many, many survivors who prefer to keep these memories suppressed,
and do not wish to talk about this horrible
time in their lives. This is surely understandable. Many
survivors though, have volunteered to talk in front of groups of
interested people, to
both Jews and non-Jews, to children and adults alike, in hopes of
educating them.
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Six-year-old war
orphan with Buchenwald badge on his sleeve waits for his name to be
called at roll call at Buchenwald camp, Germany, for departure for
Switzerland. June 19, 1945. Pfc. G. A. Haynia. (Army)
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Some survivors have chosen to write books about their
experiences during the Holocaust (Shoah.) Others have consented to be interviewed by Holocaust-related
organizations such as the Shoah Foundation, so that their story may be
preserved for present and future generations. Though only in its infancy,
the Museum of Family History has tried
to do as much, conducting a small number of such interviews with
survivors. The results of these interviews will presented on this website,
mostly within this exhibition, with more to follow over time.
This collection of memories is presented here in various forms--some
purely in a narrative or conversational form, between the interviewer and interviewee.
Others are in a summary form, and others yet are presented as excerpts
(with permission of the author) from their own publication. When possible,
short sound clips are presented along with the interviews in the hope that
hearing the voice of the narrator-survivor will affect the viewer/listener in a way that
just reading
a story simply cannot do. Hopefully, video will be included as more
interviews are presented to you in the future. Of course, the Museum welcomes
others who have their own story to tell. Please do contact the museum and
make arrangements for your own unique story to be entered into this
ongoing exhibition.As someone who
has conducted a number of such interviews, I must say that I have been
affected deeply by the people I have interviewed and the stories they had
to tell. There is a certain "human
element" that often escapes many of us when we choose to read a book about the
Holocaust or look at a photo of what life was like in the many
concentration camps. To be able to interact and ask questions of those who actually survived
the Holocaust is an important and unique learning experience, one that could
not be matched, e.g., by taking a college course on Holocaust studies. To get to know
these people and listen attentively to their stories is the best way to
learn and to feel for those who survived such a dark period in human
history, and for me the experience has been truly
worthwhile. I am honored that they believed me worthy, and were willing to
share their stories with me, and
through me with all of you.
As I've previously stated, I have been deeply affected
by the stories I have heard, especially those told about life in the many
concentration camps; about the crimes of man against his fellow man, the
inhumanity that existed. I often can't help but visualize the events described to me
during my conversations with some survivors-- the horror of
prisoners having to run through a
"gauntlet" of nail-laden clubs at Majdanek; the SS guards, the Kapos and others at Auschwitz,
walking side by side every morning, sweeping through the
camp, forcing those who stood in their path toward the hospital where the
death trucks awaited them, ready to take them to the gas chambers. It was sometimes
only by cleverness that many
survived the camps, though often it was just a matter of chance or luck or being on
one line or another or standing on the wrong side of the road.
It is rather a daunting task for someone
like myself who was born into a free and open society to try to be
eloquent about such a dark subject as the Holocaust, to write an introduction to an
exhibition such as this. I can at least tell you that the purpose of this exhibition, for me at least,
is to give voice to those who wish to speak to you, and to make available
to you their recollections as they are made available to me. This is done all with the fervent hope that
the many who will read these stories thoughtfully, will over time, encourage their children and
grandchildren (when suitable) to know these survivors through their words,
to "walk in their shoes," so to speak.
They will see of course the tremendous weakness of character of those who
oppressed the powerless; how so many
could follow such a hateful ideology and impose such cruelties onto a people. They will, however, also see the beauty and
strength of character of the Jewish people; not just how some managed to
survive by their own cunning and guile, but also how so many parents who
had so much
love for their children, were willing to sacrifice themselves so that their children might live.
The stories as told by the Holocaust
survivors displayed here are organized by country, i.e. the country of
their birth. Some are single pages of testimony, while are comprised of
multiple pages organized in chronological order. Some
stories are presented here in part, with more to come in the near future. Whichever the
case, what is presented here currently should be of great interest to many,
and of course will probably be very powerful and emotionally evocative.
That we may in some vicarious way "walk in their shoes" and share in the
telling of their experiences that are so very
personal to them, is an honor and a privilege.
From Shiku Smilovic, who had been
imprisoned in Auschwitz and Buchenwald with his father until one fateful
day:
"Father was very pessimistic about the whole
situation. He told me that all the people from his barrack were being
transferred from Buchenwald in order to make room for other incoming
prisoners. I felt a cold shiver going through my bones. The Americans were
already occupying part of western Germany; in only a few weeks the war
would be over, and we would be free. Father took me around and hugged me
for a while. I could feel his tears running down my neck and he said, "If
you are spared I want you to tell the world about our destruction. And
don't let the world ever forget the murder of the Jews!"
With a
kiss on my forehead, he said goodbye, and walked away waving to me. I was
left sitting on the ground in front of my barrack, dazed. I wanted to cry
out and scream. I just sat and watched while dad was walking away towards
his barrack and kept waving all along. The next day when I returned from
work, I hurried to see father in his barrack, but he was gone. They were
all removed the night before and taken away to a unknown destination."
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