Holocaust Survivor
I was really priviliged today to have a talk from a holocaust survivor. Walter Karmilini (sp?) came to England on KinderTransport during the WW2 at the time of the holocaust.
HEs 86 now, and his story was extremely moving. The freakiest thing was when he showed his parents passports and the day they had the "J" stamped in it for the sign of a jew was 27/02/39 exactly 70 years ago from today. He talked about the joining of Germany and Hitler and how some austrians feared it while others welcomed it.
Walter talked about how Jews were humilating by being made to scrub pavements ect, and how Jews would get beaten up by Nazi thugs for no reason while others watched and laughed. He said one time his father nearly got taken away by the Nazi's but was allowed to stay because he was ill and had a doctor note.
He told us that his parents died in Auschwitz and so did one of his sisters however, one of his sisters got out of Austria and came to this country on a domestic visa. It was really moving when he talked about his parents because he never saw them again after they sent him to England. He told us that he visited Auschwitz to see where his folks last moments were and saw rooms full of shoes and suitcases untouched for over 70 years of all these victims.
He was lucky though because he met his wife on the Kindertransport and they've been togther for 65 years and he said it definitely made life worth living and he's eternally greatful for letting in those 10.000 jewish children during the holocaust otherwise, they would have been dead either. Also, when he went back t re-trace his history he found his parents and sister with her husband listed in the book of dead holocaust victims and thier passports ect.
Its just really sad that the holocaust happen and most of the people in the class were on the verge of tears hearing his story and its scary that people with authority or just normal people just stepped back to save themselves. AND its scarier that sometimes in looks likely that it will happen again just maybe to another large group people.
HEs 86 now, and his story was extremely moving. The freakiest thing was when he showed his parents passports and the day they had the "J" stamped in it for the sign of a jew was 27/02/39 exactly 70 years ago from today. He talked about the joining of Germany and Hitler and how some austrians feared it while others welcomed it.
Walter talked about how Jews were humilating by being made to scrub pavements ect, and how Jews would get beaten up by Nazi thugs for no reason while others watched and laughed. He said one time his father nearly got taken away by the Nazi's but was allowed to stay because he was ill and had a doctor note.
He told us that his parents died in Auschwitz and so did one of his sisters however, one of his sisters got out of Austria and came to this country on a domestic visa. It was really moving when he talked about his parents because he never saw them again after they sent him to England. He told us that he visited Auschwitz to see where his folks last moments were and saw rooms full of shoes and suitcases untouched for over 70 years of all these victims.
He was lucky though because he met his wife on the Kindertransport and they've been togther for 65 years and he said it definitely made life worth living and he's eternally greatful for letting in those 10.000 jewish children during the holocaust otherwise, they would have been dead either. Also, when he went back t re-trace his history he found his parents and sister with her husband listed in the book of dead holocaust victims and thier passports ect.
Its just really sad that the holocaust happen and most of the people in the class were on the verge of tears hearing his story and its scary that people with authority or just normal people just stepped back to save themselves. AND its scarier that sometimes in looks likely that it will happen again just maybe to another large group people.
Labels: death, family, history, holocaust, humans, love, racism, religion, school
posted by Janny | 16:26
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