2008 Woodie Awards
A Dwindling Voice
Holocaust Survivors Speak
Matthew Coyne
Issue date: 10/8/08 Section: Features
The Holocaust ended over 60 years ago. However, the horrors of ethnic cleansing remain in the minds of the survivors even today. With those survivors come their tales of misery, desperation and eventual liberation.
"To understand pain, one must undergo pain. We were constantly tormented by the unknown," Holocaust survivor and friend of the Manhattan College Holocaust Resource Center Martin Spett said in a speech to Introduction to Journalism and Intercultural Communications students.
Stories like these, told by actual survivors, have a value greater than the cost of admission into the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. or any Holocaust exhibit for that matter: They are priceless. The day will not come that the ticket to see Holocaust survivors speak is too expensive, but the day will come when that ticket is no longer available.
"The oral history interviews of Holocaust survivors allow historians to understand how the policies laid out in the documents produced by the Nazis impacted the lives of those who were the most directly effected by these policies-the victims," said Dr. Jamie Wraight, the Curator and Historian of The Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive at The University of Michigan-Dearborn
In a time where memory of the Holocaust seems to fade day by day, its survivors disappear with it. Only 70,000 survivors remain in the United States, according to a 1995 article in The New York Times entitled "Holocaust Survivors' Emphasis Is on Life." These survivors do not try and remember the past and dwell on the pain, they simply celebrate accomplishments and legacies.
Spett mentioned how hard it is for other people to really understand what he had gone through. In particular he spoke of a specific moment during his first months in America when he heard people complaining about having suffered through long lines for meat and bread during the war. He said he would love to have waited on those lines instead.
"It is very difficult to comprehend intellectually, and emotionally to understand," said Spett. "I hope that the message I am trying to convey will leave a lasting effect on you."
Spett told anecdotes of this time about hiding from the Nazis, being taught French, English, and Math by university students, and the random acts of violence and terror perpetrated by the Nazis.
Tour guides and internet search engines can give you stories like those and concrete statistics, but not nearly to the same effect. When Spett spoke in the William J. Scala room in the Leo Engineering Building, he spoke about many of the same things that he had written in his book, Reflections of the Soul: Martin Spett's Holocaust Experiences. His voice and presence give added context and feeling. Although the book is informative and at times can provide more information than an interview, the emotion and sentiment in his voice captures an audience the way text never can.
"To understand pain, one must undergo pain. We were constantly tormented by the unknown," Holocaust survivor and friend of the Manhattan College Holocaust Resource Center Martin Spett said in a speech to Introduction to Journalism and Intercultural Communications students.
Stories like these, told by actual survivors, have a value greater than the cost of admission into the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. or any Holocaust exhibit for that matter: They are priceless. The day will not come that the ticket to see Holocaust survivors speak is too expensive, but the day will come when that ticket is no longer available.
"The oral history interviews of Holocaust survivors allow historians to understand how the policies laid out in the documents produced by the Nazis impacted the lives of those who were the most directly effected by these policies-the victims," said Dr. Jamie Wraight, the Curator and Historian of The Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive at The University of Michigan-Dearborn
In a time where memory of the Holocaust seems to fade day by day, its survivors disappear with it. Only 70,000 survivors remain in the United States, according to a 1995 article in The New York Times entitled "Holocaust Survivors' Emphasis Is on Life." These survivors do not try and remember the past and dwell on the pain, they simply celebrate accomplishments and legacies.
Spett mentioned how hard it is for other people to really understand what he had gone through. In particular he spoke of a specific moment during his first months in America when he heard people complaining about having suffered through long lines for meat and bread during the war. He said he would love to have waited on those lines instead.
"It is very difficult to comprehend intellectually, and emotionally to understand," said Spett. "I hope that the message I am trying to convey will leave a lasting effect on you."
Spett told anecdotes of this time about hiding from the Nazis, being taught French, English, and Math by university students, and the random acts of violence and terror perpetrated by the Nazis.
Tour guides and internet search engines can give you stories like those and concrete statistics, but not nearly to the same effect. When Spett spoke in the William J. Scala room in the Leo Engineering Building, he spoke about many of the same things that he had written in his book, Reflections of the Soul: Martin Spett's Holocaust Experiences. His voice and presence give added context and feeling. Although the book is informative and at times can provide more information than an interview, the emotion and sentiment in his voice captures an audience the way text never can.