Students hear Holocaust survivors’ stories

By: William Greenwood
   MONROE — Fred Spiegel believes in authentic, firsthand experiences, especially when it comes to history.
   "It makes all the difference," he said. "Today, you can no longer call someone who had been in the Civil War or even the First World War. You can hardly call soldiers in the Second World War. They’re still around, but they’re very old."
   It’s for that reason that Mr. Spiegel — a Holocaust survivor who was sent to the Vught, Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps — and four others who lived through the tragedy felt the need to share their stories with eighth-grade students at Applegarth Middle School on March 23.
   "I always tell the kids that when they grow up and get married and have children, their children will no longer have the privilege of hearing any survivors," Mr. Spiegel, of Howell, said. "So, it is important for them to know what happened and tell it to their children."
   The visit was coordinated by eighth-grade language-arts teacher Bonnie Crisco, who came up with the idea after speaking with Regina Goudsmith, one of the day’s speakers and a personal friend of Ms. Crisco’s.
   "Her husband was a Holocaust survivor, actually a hidden child, given away at the age of 4 to another family, a Catholic family, to raise him," Ms. Crisco said. "He got very sick, and I dedicated a unit I wrote in graduate school to him, and the idea came out of that."
   The speakers — Mr. Spiegel, Ms. Goudsmith, Ilse Loeb, Judith Sherman and Frida Herskovits, all of whom live in or around Monroe — spoke to one eighth-grade class each in separate classrooms.
   "We do it in a small-classroom setting because we feel it really reaches more students because it’s very personal, and they really can focus in on the one speaker and those experiences," Ms. Crisco said.
   Mr. Spiegel’s experiences began when he was arrested with his sister, Edith, and his Uncle Max’s family in Holland in April 1943. They were taken to Vught, a slave-labor camp, and Mr. Spiegel was transferred with his sister to Westerbork in May 1943 and to Bergen-Belsen in January 1944. He was rescued by American soldiers in April 1945 near the River Elbe.
   Mr. Spiegel said the class he talked to was very well behaved and receptive. He said he visits close to 80 schools a year, and most children are deeply affected by his story.
   "I sometimes go to schools where they tell me, ‘You have no idea. The kids are terrible, they’re from terrible neighborhoods or whatever.’ No problem," he said. "They sit and listen and ask good questions. They’re fascinated really because they’ve never heard anything like it."
   Based on their reactions, it seems as if Applegarth children have taken the survivors’ messages to heart. For some, the speeches were an eye-opening look into the reality of the Holocaust.
   "I found (Mr. Spiegel’s speech) interesting because I found out what it was like being at a camp, how scary it really is," eighth-grader Kyle Ball said.
   For others, the speeches were a call to action in their daily lives.
   "If I ever see someone getting bullied or anything happening, I’ll just tell people or I’ll try to stop it," eighth-grader Alyssa Fagan said.
   Still others seem determined to carry the survivors’ stories on to the next generation.
   "I will probably pass this on to my kids because we’re going to be the last generation to hear it from people," eighth-grader Shelby Simon said.
   For Mr. Spiegel, that’s good progress. He said his purpose is to help those standing on the sidelines become active participants in the battle against racism and prejudice.
   "Most people are bystanders, basically," Mr. Spiegel said. "They don’t care. It didn’t happen to them, so they don’t care.
   "Stuff like this can happen if you’re not alert of what’s going on," he said. "That’s the problem."
   It seems as if that problem just got a little smaller.