A Furtive Thing
When you are five and a half years old, at what point do you start crying because you haven’t seen your mother?
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Read reflections and testimonies written by Holocaust survivors in their own words.
Page 44 of 46
An Image that Brings Back a Memory
It was the sixth year of the German occupation of Prague—on a Sunday afternoon in June of 1944. On most Sundays, my mother, Zdenka, and I and my mother’s sister, Olga, and her two children, Gerti, age 12, and Robert, age eight, would visit my Catholic grandparents’ apartment in downtown Prague. The two fathers were missing—both were on “business trips.”
History, Religion, Ignorance
The greatest injustice in history happened to the Jews. Jews found God and the ways to pray. They used music and singing to praise God. They designated a place, then a building, then buildings for worship. Christians and Muslims pray to the same God that the Jews found. They also built places for worship. There is music and singing in churches. So Jews should have been appreciated, since the other two religions originated from Judaism. Instead Jews got hate.
My Complicated College Career
My two best subjects in high school in Poland were biology and chemistry, so it is no wonder that I decided to study pharmacy, a profession that would combine my scientific abilities and my desire to help people.
Three Words That Saved Two Lives
A few years ago, I donated a German passport to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, along with a description explaining the meaning of each entry.
Why Tell Our Stories
Wrapped in history Hearing our words go out in the world.
Monuments
As a Holocaust survivor and volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, I think much of the work we do here qualifies as building a kind of monument.
Have I Changed Over Time?
My best remembered early days were unfortunately my years in Nazi Germany.
Searching for a Father
For chunks of time during my childhood, my dad, Victor, was missing from my life. During the German occupation, he was forced into manual labor.
A Mother’s Lesson for Life
Six months ago, in mid-2023, I suddenly lost much of my hearing. Thanks to the care of my physicians and audiologists, the condition has improved. Still, it has been a life-changing event, which at times has left me anxious and sometimes almost despondent.
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Survivor Reflections and Testimonies
Listen to or read Holocaust survivors’ experiences, told in their own words through oral histories, written testimony, and public programs.