Critical message of survival

BASYA LAYE

Understanding the Holocaust is more important than ever before, University of British Columbia history professor Chris Friedrichs told an audience of more than 1,000 secondary school students earlier this month. Speaking at the 36th annual Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre symposium, which took place May 4 and 5 at UBC, Friedrichs provided a brief overview of the Holocaust, but his central message to students was the singularity of the Holocaust and its lessons to be applied to other crimes against humanity that have occurred, and continue to occur, since that time.

“There have been many, many cases of mass murder and genocide all over the world in the last 100 years,” Friedrichs told the Independent in an e-mail interview. “All are worthy of study and consideration. But the Holocaust had certain unique features – the mercilessly systematic way in which it was organized, the involvement of so many bureaucrats and professionals in carrying it out, the exceptionally detailed records and eyewitness accounts that have survived, and more. Understanding the Holocaust is a crucial template for understanding other genocides. As it becomes more distant in time, it becomes more important than ever to sustain the memory and knowledge of this event, which, sadly, has so much to teach about the human potential for inhumanity to others.”

Friedrichs has presented on the Holocaust at many other symposia. Speaking to a non-Jewish audience has its challenges, he said, as “they are often confused or baffled by the phenomenon of antisemitism. Jews, sadly, know much about the history of antisemitism. But non-Jews often know little about it and wonder why so many people hated (or still hate) Jews.”

Keith Morgan was this year’s keynote speaker. A longtime columnist for the Province newspaper, he recently published Ruta’s Closet, which relates the story of Ruth Kron Sigal, a local child survivor, with whom Morgan had formed a close relationship. Kron Sigal passed away three years ago, in 2008. Morgan launched Ruta’s Closet at the symposium and shared Kron Sigal’s story with the students and the lessons he hopes to impart through the book about survival and heroism.

“I met Ruth Kron Sigal in 1997 when I interviewed her for a column I was writing at the time in the Province called Your Neighbors, which was about people who make a difference in the lives of others. She was an outgoing, fun person, very warm,” Morgan shared with the Independent.

Though he took on the responsibility of writing Kron Sigal’s story, Morgan admitted he had “a typical British school-boy knowledge” of the Holocaust. “I knew about the major historic events, but my Holocaust knowledge was limited to Hitler’s so-called Final Solution and what happened in the concentration camps,” he said. “Ruth’s story haunted me for two years, so I finally asked her if we could do, what I described as, ‘something of more substance.’ I knew nothing about what happened in the Baltics and was stunned to learn that more than 200,000 Lithuanian Jews were murdered, leaving only 2,000 in the entire country after the war.”

It took Morgan nearly a decade to complete the book, working on it while he continued writing for the newspaper, making time for a few hours of research daily, and using his vacations to travel for additional research and interviews in Europe, North America and Israel. Kron Sigal joined him on a visit to her hometown of Shavl, Lithuania. There, the pair met with her rescuer and visited the site of the Shavl ghetto. “The immediate result was a four-part educational series in the Province called Hidden from the Holocaust ... but writing a book was always our goal,” he said of the visit.

In Ruta’s Closet, Morgan navigates between memory and documentation. He explained, “Most of the book is not based on Ruth’s memory, as she was a child under 10 at the time of the war, but on her father Meyer’s unpublished memoir, a variety of documentation from the time and other survivor interviews I conducted over five or six years of research. All the people appearing in the book are named with only one exception, an alleged collaborator whose name was withheld for legal reasons. The book was finished before Ruth died and she read the final draft.”

A critical aspect of Ruta’s Closet is Morgan’s focus on the non-Jews who heroically rescued Jews and the author is proud of this contribution. “Lithuania has a shameful record in terms of Nazi collaboration but there were some incredible people who rescued and aided Jews,” he stressed. “Their heroic, selfless acts should be recognized and celebrated, as they are an example to others.”

Indeed, in his foreword to Ruta’s Closet, historian and biographer Sir Martin Gilbert writes, “Lithuanians today need to know the story that is told so movingly and so powerfully in these pages. They also need to give honor – as Ruta and Keith Morgan do – to those Lithuanians who, facing the hostility and enmity of their neighbors, risked their own lives to save Jews…. Even as this book tells a harrowing story, shafts of light – of Jewish courage and Christian righteousness – shine through its pages, instructing and inspiring.”

Speaking at the symposium was a powerful experience for Morgan and fit in perfectly with the book’s primary purpose, which is to serve as an educational resource for students and the general public. “It was wonderful to speak to 1,000 members of the generation charged with continuing to spread the important message delivered by survivors such as Ruth. I gave them a glimpse of some of the key events featured in Ruta’s Closet and encouraged them to ponder their relevance today, especially in light of the recent genocides in Rwanda and the Balkans. If I am invited, I will speak again, as I see it as a continuation of Ruth’s work. As a non-Jew, I think I bring a different perspective and I am able to show why genocide and the Holocaust is everybody’s concern. I think the symposium offers students a rich opportunity to learn about the Holocaust and discuss how they might contribute to preventing another Holocaust by participating in a civil society. Those in attendance were very attentive and asked excellent questions. They wanted to play a role and, for me, that was Ruth’s mission, accomplished.

“I want RC to be a very ‘live’ venture,” he continued. “I’ve written it in a very accessible, easy-reading style to encourage people who might not normally stray far from popular novels to read it. I think it contains much for all of us to ponder and discuss – ideal for book clubs. A website has been developed that will offer material to support book clubs and further exploration of the Holocaust. In addition, I am working on what I loosely describe as a youth/student version of the book. It will appear online for free download during the next school year in 12 parts, released at the rate of one chapter per week. A study guide for teachers and parents will accompany it. Students will be invited to contribute their thoughts on talking points raised by each chapter and submit illustrations of events portrayed in each chapter.”

In the book’s epilogue, Morgan describes Kron Sigal’s own presentation at the 2001 VHEC Holocaust symposium. “Her personal story, no matter how many times she told it, never got any easier to tell,” he writes. But she told it. And, over the years, the symposium has given tens of thousands of local students a unique and powerful way to engage with the Holocaust, its survivors and its lessons.

Of this year’s event, VHEC education coordinator Catherine Caughell said, “When discussing the Holocaust, people often tend to focus on statistics – the number of victims or the number of survivors – but Keith Morgan has done a remarkable job in Ruta’s Closet of putting an individual face on the Holocaust. I think this emphasis on the individual is critical when teachers approach the subject of the Holocaust with their students. It allows students to feel a more personal connection to the subject matter, which I believe deepens student understanding, empathy and inquiry.”

To this end, the afternoon sessions with Holocaust survivors, who meet with the students to share their personal stories, are particularly moving. “Student feedback on the symposium overwhelmingly mentioned that the breakout sessions with survivors speakers was the most meaningful, inspiring part of the day’s program,” said Caughell. “As I observed students listening to the survivors speak, it was clear from their body language and the hush in the room that they were actively engaged and hanging on every word. Many of them were visibly moved by their seminar experiences. Many more made a point to stay after the survivor was finished speaking and express admiration for the survivor’s courage and their gratitude for the opportunity to listen to them speak. I’m always amazed at the almost instantaneous bond that can form between a survivor and the group of students that they are sharing their story with. It’s difficult to describe, but incredibly touching to watch.”

Highlighting the value of the annual event, Caughell continued, “The symposium program offers students in British Columbia unparalleled access to historians, experts and eyewitnesses to the Holocaust. I believe this program to be more valuable than ever, as students who attended this year’s symposium are part of the last generation of students that will have this opportunity hear from Holocaust survivors firsthand. It is an incredible privilege, but it’s also an incredible responsibility. It will be up to them to pass on these stories to future generations.”

Friedrichs stressed the integral value of the program. The first goal of the symposium, he said, is “to make the students aware that the Holocaust was only one example – but a uniquely important example – of a form of inhumane behavior that has taken place repeatedly over the last hundred years.” The second goal is straightforward, but just as critical, he said: “to show students the dangers that can ensue when you start to hate people because of the group they belong to. Some individuals are despicable and it is natural to feel negative about them – but when you hate somebody not because of something he or she has done but simply because of the group he or she belongs to, that is the first step on the road to something like the Holocaust.”

Student comments also highlighted the importance of continuing with the symposium in future years.

“It was amazing to hear the story of a survivor,” shared one participant. “It was really brave of her to come and talk to us. Hearing her story about how she felt being Jewish makes me feel really proud of who I am. She inspired me to protect others from any form of bullying or racism.” Two other students posted their impressions on Twitter, writing, “Went to the Holocaust Symposium today for school ... it was so inspirational and sad talking to some of the last survivors of the Holocaust,” and “Amazing day at the Holocaust Symposium today. Heard many amazing stories, and spent the day with amazing people!”

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