Pictures to Come!
You all had an opportunity on Thursday to do something that very few people in your generation have gotten to do, and fewer and fewer people in the future will do. You (Holocaust Lit and English II) got to hear the story of Sonja DuBois, a survivor of the Holocaust. I really don't want to post a bunch of questions on here or put words in your mouths. I mainly want to hear your response to her story.
I will tell you that I was so interested in what she said about the moment that she decided to start sharing her story with others was when she saw the Bible study about Esther and realized that she, too, lived a double life. And just like Esther, there were lots of people involved in saving Sonja. I, as a parent, cannot imagine what her parents must have felt when they left her at the station, her mother who put the necklace around her neck, and then walked away. Even if I KNEW, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Emma and Kelsey would be safer left behind (and her parents didn't KNOW), I cannot fathom what it would feel like to put them in the arms of a stranger to them and walk away, not knowing what would become of them. The pain they must have suffered at that moment probably hurt so much more than the death they encountered later. I also was staggered by how much we take for granted with our own lives, in that we all have people who can tell our life stories, who we look like, act like, and so on. She has no one in her life who can do that for her.
I said I wasn't going to put words in your mouths and I guess I did. I could probably write forever about my response to her story and the feelings it stirred in me. She was so arresting, such a powerful speaker, yet so approachable. But now, the responsibility lies with you and me. We are among the few people who have heard first hand the story of a Holocaust survivor. What, now, will we do with it? Sonja's story lives on with us. Her parents live on in us, because we know the sacrifice they made so that she could live to tell. It is your duty, your obligation, to bear witness when the time comes that no one is alive to say, "I was there. It happened to my family. I saw the camps. I lived it." YOU will have to stand up and say, "I heard the story of a survivor. I saw the necklace her mother left her, saw the one surviving photograph of her parents." It did happen, and we have to make sure that the lessons learned are applied to our daily lives.
I guess that's my sermon for the day.
Lit Terms 2
5 years ago
5 comments:
i completely agree. i find it to be a great privilege to have a surviver of the Holocaust speak to us. I never thought of this generation being the last to have that very honored privilege. Sonja's story was different that most I have read or heard about. It shows you a whole new perspective on what a surviver of the Holocaust was. It was not only those in the camps, but everyone affected by them. The suffering those people had to go through should not be forgotten. It is our civic duty to tell of the Holocaust to future generations so it will not be forgotten and repeated like so much of history is. They say history always repeats its self and i Pray with all my might this is one event that will stay only in history. Ashley P.
I think that it was a very awesome opportunity to hear a real holocaust survivor. I agree with the post that it is important that as survivors becime fewer we stick up for what we heard and tell about how we have heard the stories personally. I enjoyed hearing sonja and think our whole class is opportunity to have an opportunity like that. ____ Trevor Best
There are many things I could say about listening to Sonja's story but I will talk about what I found most interesting of all of the different parts. One part that interested me was how they moved three different times to seal security, so that no one would find out who she was. Although she easily stuck out of the crowd from the rest of the children, they still managed to do this. That was astonishing to me, and more importantly they risked their own lives for it, how amaizing. I also agree with the two previos blogs that its important that make our voice be heard as we are few who were able to hear a first hand account of an experience of a survivor. What a priveledge I think to have that experience and knowledge that not many people will be able to hear.
-Emily-
I am so happy that I am one of the few that will ever get to hear a survivor. I was kind of shocked about how happy she was. I didn't know really know what to expect but I know she went above and beyond. And for her to be able to go around and tell people her story is just amazing. I don't know if I could do that. She is a great lady with an awesome personality. We were very lucky to be able to speak with her.
I have just decided to randomly blog. I think this is completely true and such an obligation and yet an opportunity for us all. To be able to say that we were amoung that last generation to hear from an "actual Holocaust survivor". That will be such a privilage one day and we take it so for granted these days. The Holocaust is so hard to deeply understand. I mean you can sit and hear the one lesson lectures from a history book or English teacher or read a book, but its not until you let it really sink in. The horrors, the murder, the sickness of it all. You have to let it sink into your skin and bones and whole being. Then it all becomes real. I think I finally got that from this class. And it was not until we watched the footage from the movie that last couple of days. I finally let the horror sink in and let it become real to me. I could not even cry. It was like I was hearing about the Holocaust for the first time. So in the rant,I think this class is a wonderful privilage and opportunity, just like keeping this study and story alive for generations to come.
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