Some of our classmates were able to listen to the talk, and those who missed out were able to listen to our reactions. Although we had discussed her visit in What Do You Stand For?, I believe Sonia had a powerful story and message that should be documented.
When Sonia was young she had dreams of becoming a teacher - that never happened because the war broke out when she was only 14 years old. Soon after, she and her family were forced into the Warsaw ghetto in Poland. Almost 400,000 people were shoved in an area where only 50,000 lived previously. She witnessed people dying every day, risked her life just to buy food at the grocery store, and lived in constant fear. In 1943, when Sonia was 17, she and her family were taken from their home to a concentration camp. Upon separation, her mother refused to let go of her young son's hand - it was the last time Sonia would see them.
At the camp, prisoners were no longer considered to be human beings. Sonia's head was shaved immediately after her arrival at Auschwitz. Her name was now a number. For two years Sonia was starved every single day. For two years she worked alongside her sister separating shoes every single day. For two years she attended roll call every single day. From February of 1945 to late March, over 1,000 women were forced into a death march. When the women were liberated by American troops, the shoes Sonia was wearing had to be cut from her feet.
She survived the Warsaw ghetto, four concentration camps, and a death march. Now, at 90 years old she travels to speak about her experiences and talks to New York students on a weekly basis. She is compelled to speak about her past because her generation is aging. In a few years, all the survivors and liberators of the Holocaust will pass. She believes it is important to carry on their story. At the start of her speech, Sonia said "I'm reliving it, but it's a must for everyone to know what happened." While Sonia could simply write a memoir about her past, she likes speaking and connecting with other individuals in person.
Sonia Klein mentioned something that really stuck with me:
"Do I read into hate? Yes. Do I hate? No. Do I forgive... How can I? I should forgive if I want forgiveness but my whole life was taken away."
This horrific event occurred only 70 years ago. 12 million people were murdered - 6 million of whom were Jewish. These innocent people lost their lives simply because of their religion, race, and sexuality. Many of those who were unaffected turned a blind eye - claiming they didn't know what was happening. It is so imperative that we do not forget the story of Sonia and the millions of Holocaust victims. We have to remember and educate about the events of past so that they do not occur in the future. I believe Sonia's story holds an even larger message: Be aware and spread awareness. If we do not discuss and educate about the issues going on in our world today there will never be a resolution to these problems. There are countless injustices that occur every day in our world. Even in the year of 2015 children are being sold in sex trafficking, families are living in poverty, some people of our time don't even have access to clean water. As individuals of this generation it is our responsibility to share our knowledge and spread awareness of the challenges we are facing. To overcome this injustices, we have to work together, sharing and educating for the past, present, and future.
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ReplyDeleteIt is amazing that Sonia Klein is still speaking to audiences regularly at her age - and her brain is still pretty sharp. I was there to hear her speak. She had dates and details for everything, never a metal lapse.
ReplyDeleteIn middle school, we had a holocaust survivor come to speak to us. She would repeat the same story twice because she would forget that she had already told it. Mrs. Klein endured one of the most brutal camps, Auschwitz, and is still to this day sharp as a tack mentally.
I, too, found it memorable when Sonia Klein said that she could hate, but doesn’t. She has so much reason to hate. Of all the people in the world, she should be one of the most hateful ones because of what she had to experience. She cannot forgive, but she does not hate.
There’s another thing that has stuck with after hearing from Sonia Klein. In the front row of the library there were some children, and Mrs. Klein pointed at them and said “they defy the Holocaust.”