50p
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Below is a copy of an address to the school at last Thursday's Assembly.
January 27 marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum released a video of quotes from Holocaust survivors which I would like to share with you.
“Being a sole survivor is the responsibility to tell you what it means to lose everyone.”
“Not only were my parents killed, but three of my sisters.”
“She was 19 months old and just learning to walk and she was murdered.”
“32 of my family members - most of them starved or gassed to death.”
“What haunts me is why did I survive.”
“Surviving had a purpose and that purpose was to remember.”
I am speaking to you today because my Bubbie - which is Yiddish for Grandmother - was born in Poland when World War II started. The photo above was the first taken once she was free from the Nazi regime. She's the girl on the right. After harsh Anti-Jewish, or Anti-Semitic, laws were implemented, she went into hiding with her brother, sister, mother and father. They were the only ones from their family who survived the Holocaust. The rest of the family was murdered in the Nazi death camps.
My Bubbie was very lucky to have survived; when they first went into hiding they hid in a pit in a field, covered in bugs and dirt, day and night, and only ventured out to get food. If you think the lice that has recently gone around Brentwood is bad, imagine hundreds of bugs, including lice, in your hair, for years. This was not even the worst of what they experienced during this time. They eventually crossed the war zone in Poland and into the Soviet Union and hid. Eventually, they were sent to a slave labour camp and they were some of the fortunate few who survived. After the war, when they returned to Poland, their property was gone and all of their family was murdered by the Nazis in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.
Six million Jews and approximately five million non-Jewish people such as Romani, Jehovah's Witnesses, people who identified within the LQBTQIA2S+ community, people who were black, the physically and mentally disabled, political opponents of the Nazis, prisoners of war, and Slavic peoples were murdered, some in mass executions. Those who were sent to the death camps were told that these were labour camps. When they arrived at the death camps the Jews were separated from their family. Men on one side, women and children on the other. A Nazi doctor would select which Jews would be sent to the work camps where they were starved and worked to death. Those that were deemed too weak or old or young were sent to the gas chambers. The Nazis were devious and told the Jews selected to be gassed that they were going to take a shower and that they would soon rejoin their families. These individuals went into the showers thinking that water would come out. They were fooled until the end. Water never came out. It was Zyklon B gas. And it killed everyone in the shower.
My Bubbie and her family survived the war and came to Canada. They built a new life in our great country. They came with nothing in their pockets. They had no money and no family, just a will to survive in a new country.
My Bubbie was always troubled by what she saw happening around the world today. With the rise of hate groups, Neo-Nazism, and racism, it’s sad to say that the Holocaust is a reminder of how dangerous hatred can be. She also taught me that democracy is fragile “because the world I lived in turned upside down overnight” and it can happen here even in Canada. My Bubbie passed away this December from pancreatic cancer, and as she fought hard to stay with us, I tried to absorb the unfair reality that she survived the Holocaust, but cancer was taking her. I will always honour my Bubbie and the 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust and we can do this by always standing “On guard for thee”, standing on guard for Canada, standing against hate and racism and saying “NOT IN MY COUNTRY.”
Hannah P, Alexandra ‘21
January 27 marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum released a video of quotes from Holocaust survivors which I would like to share with you.
“Being a sole survivor is the responsibility to tell you what it means to lose everyone.”
“Not only were my parents killed, but three of my sisters.”
“She was 19 months old and just learning to walk and she was murdered.”
“32 of my family members - most of them starved or gassed to death.”
“What haunts me is why did I survive.”
“Surviving had a purpose and that purpose was to remember.”
I am speaking to you today because my Bubbie - which is Yiddish for Grandmother - was born in Poland when World War II started. The photo above was the first taken once she was free from the Nazi regime. She's the girl on the right. After harsh Anti-Jewish, or Anti-Semitic, laws were implemented, she went into hiding with her brother, sister, mother and father. They were the only ones from their family who survived the Holocaust. The rest of the family was murdered in the Nazi death camps.
My Bubbie was very lucky to have survived; when they first went into hiding they hid in a pit in a field, covered in bugs and dirt, day and night, and only ventured out to get food. If you think the lice that has recently gone around Brentwood is bad, imagine hundreds of bugs, including lice, in your hair, for years. This was not even the worst of what they experienced during this time. They eventually crossed the war zone in Poland and into the Soviet Union and hid. Eventually, they were sent to a slave labour camp and they were some of the fortunate few who survived. After the war, when they returned to Poland, their property was gone and all of their family was murdered by the Nazis in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.
Six million Jews and approximately five million non-Jewish people such as Romani, Jehovah's Witnesses, people who identified within the LQBTQIA2S+ community, people who were black, the physically and mentally disabled, political opponents of the Nazis, prisoners of war, and Slavic peoples were murdered, some in mass executions. Those who were sent to the death camps were told that these were labour camps. When they arrived at the death camps the Jews were separated from their family. Men on one side, women and children on the other. A Nazi doctor would select which Jews would be sent to the work camps where they were starved and worked to death. Those that were deemed too weak or old or young were sent to the gas chambers. The Nazis were devious and told the Jews selected to be gassed that they were going to take a shower and that they would soon rejoin their families. These individuals went into the showers thinking that water would come out. They were fooled until the end. Water never came out. It was Zyklon B gas. And it killed everyone in the shower.
My Bubbie and her family survived the war and came to Canada. They built a new life in our great country. They came with nothing in their pockets. They had no money and no family, just a will to survive in a new country.
My Bubbie was always troubled by what she saw happening around the world today. With the rise of hate groups, Neo-Nazism, and racism, it’s sad to say that the Holocaust is a reminder of how dangerous hatred can be. She also taught me that democracy is fragile “because the world I lived in turned upside down overnight” and it can happen here even in Canada. My Bubbie passed away this December from pancreatic cancer, and as she fought hard to stay with us, I tried to absorb the unfair reality that she survived the Holocaust, but cancer was taking her. I will always honour my Bubbie and the 6 million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust and we can do this by always standing “On guard for thee”, standing on guard for Canada, standing against hate and racism and saying “NOT IN MY COUNTRY.”
Hannah P, Alexandra ‘21