Joanne's StarTeacher Blog

In my Monday Jewish Ladies Bible study, someone mentioned a book that they had been reading called, “The Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust”. It’s not what you’d call a good book to read; it’s more like a must book to read. Why do I say this, having just finished it? The story of the Holocaust wiping out six million mostly Jews in Europe but also handicapped and other unfortunates who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in a crazy time, needs to be remembered. The author of this particular book has captured many of the individual accounts of people that either lived through the ordeal of the Holocaust, or recounts the stories of those who didn’t make it. All the stories are of faith, of the horrors of war, of hatred of a people who just happened to be Jewish and thus of massive antisemitism and in the end, of how far people can go believing that it’s ok to do harm to others of another belief system than they hold. I’m writing this article as a reminder to not forget so that it doesn’t happen again.

During the late 1930’s, in Eastern Europe, people lost their jobs because they were Jewish; thus, their livelihood was gone. Regardless of their initial financial status, this situation caused hardship on most. Those that saw what was coming, got on a boat to other places. In some cases, the other places weren’t much safer. Those that were lucky enough to get on a boat to Israel or to the US and were allowed into this country, since there were limited VISAS given to Jews, were able to make a new life. Eventually, Jews were rounded up and put into Ghettos. Then they were deported to concentration camps or worse, taken out in the fields and shot.

When the Germans decided that using bullets wasn’t efficient, they started using gas chambers to take care of THE JEWISH PROBLEM.

This book tells of many who lived through the atrocities of the Holocaust, of man doing harm to man in the most horrific ways, including starvation, rape, intimidation, experimentation on their physical bodies, while working them from dawn to dusk. Many didn’t make it and died. Those that were able to hold onto their beliefs, some “merit” from doing a good deed somewhere else, from a blessing they had received from a Rabbi in their home town before being sent off in cattle cars to the concentration camps, seemed to live on day by day.

I was amazed by each story. At first, reading the survivor accounts made me very sad; then I realized that each story of someone who made it through all the adversity was a symbol of what is possible. It made me realize that nothing that I’m dealing with could ever equal what these people dealt with, thus I need to stand tall and keep moving.

If you want to know the specifics of these stories, please get the book and read them, since the stories are too sad, horrible, and in some cases, earth shattering for me to repeat; one must read the actual account to get the full effect. The author has done a good job of putting each tale together so that the reader can feel what it was like during this awful time in history.

I know that my family came over from Eastern Europe in the early part of the 20^th century – perhaps 20 years before the events that shook Europe happened. Had it not been for their desire for a better life, they would have died. Those of the family that didn’t leave when my grandfather and his sisters and brothers left didn’t make it through the war. This is why I have very little family left. Now that my parents are gone and that entire family is gone, there is just me and a few cousins left. The Holocaust wiped out my distant family. My mother was born in 1927, just 10 years before things fell apart in her ancestral land. It was lucky for her and for me that her father came to America.

We need to keep ideas flowing and not restrict them; we need to allow people who think differently and who practice religions different than ours to do so in peace. If we don’t remember what happened “OVER THERE”, it could HAPPEN HERE”. Remembering is the way to not repeat the mistakes of the past.