Just something to share....
Our 7th grade English teacher requires her students to do a research paper
on the Holocaust (they must choose any aspect of World War II but the
Holocaust is always the central theme). Last year one of the boys in her
class invited his grandmother (a Holocaust survivor) to visit the class and
talk about her experiences. The program was held in the library, so I was
able to share in the experience of hearing her story.
She was about 16 when she and her family were separated and she talked about
the horrors of death camps. She also spoke of walking from Auschwitz to
Bergen-Belsen without any shoes between the months of January-March in
1945-- in the snow. (She explained that later she realized that she was in
the same camp as Anne Frank.) She told the students that she arrived late
in March and was liberated in April by the British. (She even tried to put
some humor into the program by telling the students that she believed she
survived because she was "pretty" and always "flirted" with the younger
soldiers who would share their food with her or give her privileges that
others could not have--- the reality of her cunning behavior was not lost on
our students (I just don't think they realized how close to death each of
those behaviors brought her---I shudder to think.)
The students were extremely interested in her tattooed arm which she shared.
I remember seeing the triangle on her arm with the numbers and realized that
the students probably didn't understand the impact that this woman was
making on our lives at that moment -- especially mine. I was amazed at her
strength and demeanor but I was humbled by the fact that she represented a
living piece of history that I would never truly understand. Her presence
as a speaker and as a survivor was both an honor and a privilege for me---
one that I will never forget.
~Shonda Brisco
Trinity Valley MS / US Librarian
Fort Worth, TX
sbrisco021@charter.net
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