MONROE — Eighth graders at the Monroe Township Middle School spent several hours Tuesday reliving the Holocaust during an assembly presented by two survivors who shared their stories.
By Amy Batista, Special Writer
MONROE — Eighth graders at the Monroe Township Middle School spent several hours Tuesday reliving the Holocaust during an assembly presented by two survivors who shared their stories.
Guest speakers Isle Loeb, who was one of the “Hidden Children” and Sol Lurie, who shared their life experience with more than 400 eighth grade students.
”This is living history that you are experiencing here,” said Dawn Graziano, a Social Studies teacher. “There is no textbook that can express to you the memories that are going to be presented to you today.”
The Language Art teachers Bonnie Crisco, Irene Curan, Eve Solow and Adele Hughes organized the assembly.
Mr. Lurie is a survivor of six different concentration camps including Birkenau, Majdanek, Belzec, Auschwitz, Dachau, and Buchenwald.
”I believe in destiny because it was meant for me to survive because the hell I went through and I am still here to talk about it is just a miracle,” said Mr. Laurie. “God took all the Holocaust survivors, put us through hell, and showed us what hell looks like and he says now go back and educate people to love, not to hate. Remember one thing, it is easier to love than to hate.”
Mr. Lurie said his life became miserable at at age 11 and compared the experience to having nightmares from which most people wake up.
He, however, did not.
According to Mr. Lurie, his life during that time was being treated like an animal.
”I lived through my nightmare through over 1,388 days,” Mr. Lurie said. “My nightmare started on June 22, 1941 and it didn’t end till April 11, 1945.”
On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union. Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union, according to Mr. Lurie.
”The Germans and Lithuanians killed a 138,000 Lithuanian Jews,” Mr. Lurie said adding it occurred during a seven month period between June 22, 1941 and Jan. 1942.
His family name can be traced back to 1492 and is the oldest living name in the Guinness Book of World Records and can be traced back to King David.
According to Mr. Lurie, his father and the family, including three brothers, decided to run “deeper into the Soviet Union.”
His family loaded up a horse and wagon with some of their processions and left.
Mr. Lurie recalled the night that they slept in a small town and woke up to find it occupied by the Germans.
”They gave an order in the town that all the Jews have to assemble in the synagogue in the town,” Mr. Lurie said adding that there were about 600 people there.
He stayed there for a week until another order from the Germans came “that all Jews not from the town had to go back where they came from.”
”Not all Germans were bad,” Mr. Lurie said. “That there were goods ones but not enough of them.””If I were to hate all the Germans, I would be just like them,” Mr. Lurie added.
Mr. Lurie told the story of a German soldier who helped them find horses to help pull the wagon after theirs were stolen so they could travel and how they were advised by him to travel a different road other than the one they were taking which saved their lives.
”The Lithuanians are stopping all the Jews on this road taking everything away from them and killing them,” Mr. Lurie said. “You go on the road where the German soldiers are coming down and nobody is going to bother you.”
According to Mr. Lurie, the family found out later on that all everyone was killed that went on the road where the German soldier stopped them was killed.
Mr. Lurie described another order given by the Germans.
”That all Jews from 6 a.m. till 8 p.m. couldn’t walk on the sidewalk, they had to walk in the gutter,” Mr. Lurie said. “All Jews had to put on the Star of David.”
The Star of David was one on the front on the left side of the chest and on the back, according to Mr. Lurie.
”A lot of Germans when you walked in the gutter you had to bow to them because they were the gods and we were garbage,” Mr. Lurie said.
Mr. Lurie recalled the time that when his father, his uncle and one of his cousins were walking in the gutter and a couple of German soldiers passed by and we bowed to them.
”I’ll never forget it,” Mr. Lurie said. “My cousin didn’t bow low enough to them. So the German soldier came over and with the butt of his rifle he beat him to death. That was the first killing my family and I saw. They were laughing while they were killing him. It was terrible. One day we were human beings and the next day we were animals.”
To this day, the image is still vivid in his mind.
”I can still see it like it is right in front of my eyes right now every time I talk about it,” Mr. Lurie added.
Next, an order was given for all “Jews” to move into a ghetto. They were moved into a suburb area which was around two square miles into old houses with no running water and toilets. Each family received one room to live in.
”We had to put up barbed-wire fencing around the ghetto and put watch towers on,” Mr. Lurie said adding that over 38,000 people moved into the ghetto.
According to Mr. Lurie, the “children didn’t have no use” and one day the Germans came looking for all the children and “get rid of us.”
”My father found out that the Germans were going to come and take the children out of the ghetto to get rid of them,” Mr. Lurie said. “He decided he was going to do something to hide me.”
Mr. Lurie’s father hid him in the stables were the horses were there use to be holes in the ground which were used for refrigeration. He was hidden with his cousin who had the time had a seven month-old baby.
According to Mr. Lurie, they were there for awhile until the one day his cousin moved the boards to get some fresh air for her baby due to its asthma and was noticed by the German soldiers who moved the boards and took the baby away from her and it started crying.
”They threw the baby up in the air, caught the baby on the bayonet and started twirling it around laughing and having fun,” Mr. Lurie said adding he was able to make a run for it and hide inside a outhouse for the rest of the day.
According to Mr. Lurie, he was able to make it home where his family thought he was dead.
His mother was killed two days before they were liberated.
”The British bombed the boat she was on and they knew there were prisoners from concentration camps,” Mr. Lurie said. “They didn’t care. They bombed it.”
His father and three brothers survived. He came to the United States in 1947 where he lived with his aunt and her family.
At one point, Mr. Lurie was separated from his family and reunited again with them in 1969 when he found out they were alive.
Mr. Lurie reminded the students to treat other they way they would want to be treated.
”You put yourself in people’s shoes and see if you would want to be treated like them,” Mr. Lurie said. “We should love one another and respect one another. Not hate one another.”
At the end of the presentation, Mr. Lurie showed photos of concentration camps he was a prisoner in and explained them to students. Sniffles could be heard throughout the room as the images were displayed.
”As difficult as it is for you to remember, we want you to know that we appreciate this life changing moment for all of us,” Chris Cubillas, 14, of Monroe said. “We are children and our grandchildren can stand witness to your story.”
Chris said he found the presentation to be “very motivational.”
”I learned that no one should be bystanders and to help stop anything from happening,” Zack Volkmann, 13, said.
For Kirstyn Mins, 13, of Monroe the presentation was emotional and “made it seem more real.””(My) emotions were all over,” said Kirstyn. “You felt happy that they made it out but then you were sad for what they have been through. Angry that people can be this uncaring.”