Last night John and I went to the Discovery Center here where a survivor of the Holocaust came and told her story. It didn’t hit me until later that night that her story wasn’t just a story, it had really happened to her. Hearing it firsthand was incredible. She answered questions afterwards and it really was an amazing experience. She works with the U.S. Holocaust Museum and was invited here by a teacher from another town. I wrote up a short version of her story. Just as a warning it isn't G-rated so only continue if you won't be offended. Thanks.
Charlene was a Jewish nine year-old in Poland when WWII started. Her father, a professor in the university and civic leader was taken the day the Germans took over. How did they know to take him? Their friends and neighbors told the Germans. She never saw him again. A while later soldiers came and took everything of value; the pictures off of the walls, instruments, the radio, gold, silver, clocks and etc. all were taken. They slowly stripped them of everything they owned and her sister and mother were soon living in the ghetto with the rest of the Jews in the small town. There were 5,000 living in fenced-in filthy, decrepit conditions. They lived in a house with 100 people, a two or three story house with one primitive bathroom. Her older sister and mother were forced to work as slaves, were beaten and given little food rations. She was too young to work and was left with the rest of the children with no food rations in the fenced and guarded ghetto. Her mother and sister would share what little food they got with her.
A time later her mother realized they would soon “liquidate” the ghetto and she had contact with two farmers who could help keep their little family alive. One farmer would take in one person, the other would take two. Her mother had to decide how to split up their family. The older sister was to go alone and escaped after work and they didn’t ever hear anything about her, which probably meant good news. Later she and her mother were escaping. In the river near the ghetto they heard gunshots and soldiers’ shouting. Other Jews were escaping and getting shot down intermittently. For four or five days they stood in the river hiding, the water was up to Charlene’s chin and she was dozing in and out while her mother crouched behind her. She woke up and her mother was gone. She made it out of the river and into the forest. She reached the farmer, but her mother was not there. He said she had to leave the next day or he would report her (which meant her death). She left the next day with an apple and a piece of bread to look for her mother. She searched for months living in the forest. She found a few other children like herself and they banded together.
One day they were too close to a village. Some children spotted them and started shouting "Jews! Jews!" and ran to tell someone. There was a small monetary reward for finding Jews. Charlene and the others all hid under a haystack (which was the size of a small barn and loosely packed). It was obvious they had hidden there and the village children were laughing as they started stabbing pitchforks into the haystack over and over. It was a game to them. Charlene said she was trying so hard not to sneeze or cough so they wouldn't find where she was. All of her friends were killed. At night she ran back to the forest.
She was alone. Winter. For years she lived walking from one forest to another, eating worms and bugs to survive when she could not find food. At night she would walk and search for food and always hoping to find her mother. During the day she would sleep in a grave she would dig for herself. She was alone. Everything and everyone was her enemy.
After the war she was in a displaced persons camp. She took her first shower in five years and felt human again. She received “human gifts” of soap and a toothbrush, clean underwear.
Her father either died in a concentration camp or forced to dig a mass grave with the other Jewish leaders and murdered the day they took him. Her sister was found not long after she went into hiding and was forced to walk naked through her hometown and was murdered. She never found out what happened to her mother. Of the 5,000 Jews in her village, she and one other lady survived the war. They were no longer welcome in their village, even after the war.
Eventually she made it to America. Today she tells her story to inspire others and hopes that someday we will have peace on earth. She is an optimist and holds great hope in our youth.
