Students share family stories of Holocaust survivors

The Holocaust is one of the most tragic and horrific events in modern history, and the impact of the brutal genocide still has lasting and profound effects on survivors and their families. Jan. 27, the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, is known as Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day to remember and honor the memory of the 6 million Jews who suffered and lost their lives during the Holocaust.

Senior Allie Tachner, who is Jewish, remembers celebrating the day annually at her childhood Jewish day school. “We had a whole ceremony throughout the day where we would put up candles and talk about what it was like during the Holocaust,” she said. “Someone would usually present and talk about their family’s story.”

Tachner, like many other Jewish students at Gunn, has relatives who were greatly affected by the Holocaust. Tachner’s great grandmother was sponsored by a cousin living in the United States (U.S.) and was able to emigrate from Poland to America in 1938. “She felt a lot of unrest, and her family was worried for her,” Tachner said. “She was the first person from her family to get sponsored to go to the United States. Once she got there she had to establish herself in order to sponsor other people to come to the United States.”

Tachner’s great-grandmother was able to sponsor her brother and bring him to the U.S. However, others in their family were not as fortunate. “Only a few of them made it to the States, and all the rest died along with her parents and most of their cousins,” Tachner said.

Other relatives in Tachner’s family lived through the war in Poland and came to the U.S. when the Holocaust was over. “My grandmother remembers spending summers when she was a little girl in the early 1950s with her cousins who had survived the war in Europe, and they would still be screaming from nightmares at night,” she said.

To Tachner, it’s important that people don’t forget the stories of Holocaust survivors and to continue to fight injustice in the current world. “I would say that it’s important to educate yourself, and do your best to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she said. “For the genocides that are happening in the world, act against them in whatever way is possible.”

Senior Fae Crane also grew up hearing the stories of her family members who survived the Holocaust. Crane’s relatives, including her great-grandmother, lived in Romania in the 1940s. They were rounded up by the police and lined up for execution. However, on that day, Crane’s great-grandmother was spared. “Right before she was about to get shot in the head, the commander stopped it and let all of them go,” she said. “For whatever reason, she doesn’t know.”

A cousin of Crane’s great-grandmother was sent on the death train to Auschwitz from Romania. However, because of the cold temperatures, he was able to break the train window and jump out. “He broke both of his legs,” she said. “In the end he was found by someone from a farm and was healed. So far, they’ve both lived and had happy lives after they went to Israel.”

For Crane, Holocaust Remembrance Day is an important time to listen to the stories of survivors. “It’s important to try and understand what it means to be Jewish rather than making assumptions based on things said online,” she said. “It’s important to understand what they’ve done instead of just believing what you see on the Internet. Instead, get to know who they are, what their past is and what they’ve truly experienced.”