Eyewitness Experience
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
In towns that once served as a hub for immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe who survived the death camps of the Shoah, chances once were many for younger generations to hear eyewitness accounts of this terrible chapter in human history.
Over the years, such personal exchanges helped thousands of young people comprehend the horrors of the Holocaust in which, by the end of World War II, 6 million Jews were deliberately killed by the Nazis. By way of such eye-witness accounts, those born after the Holocaust came to understand why genocide – “the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial or religious group” – must never be tolerated.
Click HERE to view a photo gallery
With the passing of time, opportunities to hear directly from survivors are becoming increasingly rare. So when a convergence recently occurred in Georgian Court University, Lakewood, between survivor Manfred “Manny” Lindenbaum, of Jackson, and sixth-grade students from St. Catharine School, Spring Lake, it seemed that time both stood still and then moved forward in the very best way.
The St. Catharine students, who were studying the Holocaust as part of their curriculum, had come to Georgian Court to participate in the university’s observation of Holocaust Remembrance Week, offering their own performance of a Holocaust-related play entitled “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” by Celeste Raspanti.
The overall program included a major multimedia exhibit on the Holocaust and a performance of music once played by the musicians in the Terezin Concentration Camp where thousands of Jewish artists and performers from throughout Nazi-held territories were held captive before being sent on to death camps such as Auschwitz.
The keynote address was given by Lindenbaum, now 80, who shared his lingering remembrances of how life began changing utterly for his family when he was just six, a few years younger than the St. Catharine students.
Lindenbaum,a Jackson resident, who has shared the story many times over the years, spoke of the dark, enveloping cloud that engulfed the Jews of Europe, decimating his family. His parents, grandfather and sister would perish in the Shoah.
Of his immediate family, only he and his brother survived. They had managed to join a “kindertransport” train nine months before the beginning of World War II, which helped 10,000 Jewish children reach refuge in Britain.
His compelling story moved many in the audience, including the young students, to tears.
When it came time for the kids to take their place on the stage in the Little Theater of the Arts and Sciences Building, members of Lindenbaum’s family and others in the audience wept as well.
In the play, the students portrayed children and parents from Terezin, drawn from life, all but one of whom perished. It depicted how the children and their families strove to maintain life in as normal a fashion as possible, keeping the Sabbath, nurturing each other, painting pictures and writing poems. In one touching instance, a teenage couple even married.
The play had been but one component in a full day program entitled “Terezin – Creativity in the Face of Adversity” which had been held earlier in St. Catharine School. That program was inspired by interaction almost a year earlier between St. Catharine School and Georgian Court University on the study of the Holocaust, said art teacher Karen Massamillo.
The students were invited to Georgian Court to perform the play by Georgian Court professors Lisa Festa and Kathleen Froriep who had been to see the program at St. Catharine School.
“We thought it would be wonderful to bring the kids here as part of our Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations,” said Festa, who teaches art history. “They did a wonderful job and putting a survivor with the children was so significant.”
Festa said the children were asked to write something to document their day at Georgian Court and in general, she said. “They all commented about meeting Mr. Lindenbaum and what a life-changing experience it was for them.
“We are losing survivors. That has been an issue for years and now, even the youngest are elderly. It’s a pressing concern,” Festa said. “It is nice to know that the stories are still important and that a person came here and was able to share them with these young kids.”
She recalled, “At the end of the morning, they surrounded him and looked at him like he was a rock star. They so appreciated meeting him and learning from him.”
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In towns that once served as a hub for immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe who survived the death camps of the Shoah, chances once were many for younger generations to hear eyewitness accounts of this terrible chapter in human history.
Over the years, such personal exchanges helped thousands of young people comprehend the horrors of the Holocaust in which, by the end of World War II, 6 million Jews were deliberately killed by the Nazis. By way of such eye-witness accounts, those born after the Holocaust came to understand why genocide – “the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic, racial or religious group” – must never be tolerated.
Click HERE to view a photo gallery
With the passing of time, opportunities to hear directly from survivors are becoming increasingly rare. So when a convergence recently occurred in Georgian Court University, Lakewood, between survivor Manfred “Manny” Lindenbaum, of Jackson, and sixth-grade students from St. Catharine School, Spring Lake, it seemed that time both stood still and then moved forward in the very best way.
The St. Catharine students, who were studying the Holocaust as part of their curriculum, had come to Georgian Court to participate in the university’s observation of Holocaust Remembrance Week, offering their own performance of a Holocaust-related play entitled “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” by Celeste Raspanti.
The overall program included a major multimedia exhibit on the Holocaust and a performance of music once played by the musicians in the Terezin Concentration Camp where thousands of Jewish artists and performers from throughout Nazi-held territories were held captive before being sent on to death camps such as Auschwitz.
The keynote address was given by Lindenbaum, now 80, who shared his lingering remembrances of how life began changing utterly for his family when he was just six, a few years younger than the St. Catharine students.
Lindenbaum,a Jackson resident, who has shared the story many times over the years, spoke of the dark, enveloping cloud that engulfed the Jews of Europe, decimating his family. His parents, grandfather and sister would perish in the Shoah.
Of his immediate family, only he and his brother survived. They had managed to join a “kindertransport” train nine months before the beginning of World War II, which helped 10,000 Jewish children reach refuge in Britain.
His compelling story moved many in the audience, including the young students, to tears.
When it came time for the kids to take their place on the stage in the Little Theater of the Arts and Sciences Building, members of Lindenbaum’s family and others in the audience wept as well.
In the play, the students portrayed children and parents from Terezin, drawn from life, all but one of whom perished. It depicted how the children and their families strove to maintain life in as normal a fashion as possible, keeping the Sabbath, nurturing each other, painting pictures and writing poems. In one touching instance, a teenage couple even married.
The play had been but one component in a full day program entitled “Terezin – Creativity in the Face of Adversity” which had been held earlier in St. Catharine School. That program was inspired by interaction almost a year earlier between St. Catharine School and Georgian Court University on the study of the Holocaust, said art teacher Karen Massamillo.
The students were invited to Georgian Court to perform the play by Georgian Court professors Lisa Festa and Kathleen Froriep who had been to see the program at St. Catharine School.
“We thought it would be wonderful to bring the kids here as part of our Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations,” said Festa, who teaches art history. “They did a wonderful job and putting a survivor with the children was so significant.”
Festa said the children were asked to write something to document their day at Georgian Court and in general, she said. “They all commented about meeting Mr. Lindenbaum and what a life-changing experience it was for them.
“We are losing survivors. That has been an issue for years and now, even the youngest are elderly. It’s a pressing concern,” Festa said. “It is nice to know that the stories are still important and that a person came here and was able to share them with these young kids.”
She recalled, “At the end of the morning, they surrounded him and looked at him like he was a rock star. They so appreciated meeting him and learning from him.”
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