Ceremony: Liberation and Survival

Because this year, 2005, marks the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camps, this ceremony explores the experiences of Holocaust survivors, during and after liberation.

We recommend prefacing this ceremony with the classroom activity about survival and liberation. You can, however, use the ceremony on its own, if you choose.
The ceremony and the classroom activity are designed for students in Grades 7-9.

The narration and testimonies should be divided among the students presenting the ceremony.

Structure of the Ceremony:
Introduction
Part I: Liberation of the Nazi Camps
Part II: The Displaced Persons' Camps
Part III: Emigration from Europe
Conclusion


Introduction
"I woke up that day, just as on the day before, and all the previous days - very, very hungry…
I don't remember who was the first that morning to look out the window. I well remember his cry of joy: 'Boys, the Russians are here.' Thus, we were liberated."
Source: Kleiman Yehudit and Springer-Aharoni Nina, The Anguish of Liberation, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1995, 13.

This year, 2005, marks sixty years since the liberation of the Nazi camps. During this ceremony, we will highlight the experience of liberation.

We begin with two testimonies that were delivered by individuals who took part in liberating Nazi camps.
In this testimony, Colonel Lewis Weinstein describes the first camp liberated by the American Army:

"We had heard all kinds of rumors and stories, but they were so horrible that they were indescribable; we just couldn't believe them. I had a great guilt feeling when I actually found out about what happened in these camps. I had talked in terms of possibly a few thousand having been murdered, but thinking in terms of six million, 20 million murdered - I was obviously very much taken aback."
Source: Chamberlin, Brewster and Feldman, Marcia, The Liberation of the Nazi Concentration Camps 1945: Eyewitness Accounts of the Liberators. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Washington D.C., 1987, pp. 75-76.

In this testimony, Father Edward P. Doyle, who was a chaplain in the American army, describes liberation:

"I was there. I was present. I saw the sights. I will never forget…. On that morning in Nordhausen, I knew why I was there. I found the reason for it - man's inhumanity to man. What has happened to that beautiful commandment of the Decalogue, the commandment of God to love one another?"
Source: Chamberlin, Brewster and Feldman, Marcia, The Liberation of the Nazi Concentration Camps 1945: Eyewitness Accounts of the Liberators. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Washington D.C., 1987, p. 103.

For the poem "Nothing Prepared the Liberators," click here.

Part I: Liberation of the Nazi camps
A Holocaust survivor, Nehama Baruchson-Kaufman, describes being liberated by the Red Army, at the age of twenty:

"I remember that I picked up a flower in the garden and gave it to the first Russian soldier I saw as a mark of appreciation for the liberation. We were so happy, and we thought: this is the start of a new life!…"
Source: Kleiman Yehudit and Springer-Aharoni Nina, The Anguish of Liberation, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1995, p. 18.

Here is how Ephraim Poremba, who was also twenty years old, describes liberation:

"It was a dream. As much hot water as you want, to wash with soap, with soap! You could even wash your head, your body, it was heaven, it was heaven on earth!"
Source: Kleiman Yehudit and Springer-Aharoni Nina, The Anguish of Liberation, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1995, p. 53.

Pictures that can be screened at this point:
•  Female survivors holding bread, Bergen-Belsen, Germany
•  Survivors and liberators watching the camp burning, Bergen-Belsen, Germany
•  Jewish children who survived Buchenwald, Germany
•  Soviet soldiers escorting two prisoners on the day of liberation, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland

Liberation was not an entirely happy experience for most Holocaust survivors. In the following testimony, Yehoshua Buchler describes searching for family members after liberation. Yehoshua was fifteen years old when he was liberated:

"Dr. Winter tried to persuade me to go with the rest of the children to a convalescent home in Sweden. But I wanted only to return home, I was positive that someone in my family had survived, that my father was alive, because he was a strong man.
…When I arrived in my town, I met a few relatives and there was great excitement. I asked, 'Where is father?' I was certain he was at home. 'We do not know where your father is.' 'What, isn't father at home?'
…Then I learned that no one had come back, that I was alone, that alone I had returned."
Source: Kleiman Yehudit and Springer-Aharoni Nina, The Anguish of Liberation, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1995, p. 38.

In this testimony, Shmuel Krakowski reflects on what was painful for him, in his experience of liberation:

"Although we had seen a lot and experienced the worst, we still had hoped, still had dreamed. All those days we had struggled to survive, hour after hour, day after day, there had been no time to grasp the enormity of our tragedy. Now everything became clear. No longer were our families waiting for us; no homes to go back to."
Source: Kleiman Yehudit and Springer-Aharoni Nina, The Anguish of Liberation, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1995, p. 16.

For the poem, "The Jewish Shtetl," click here.

Part II: The Displaced Persons' Camps
By the end of 1945, many Jews did not want to go home, or had no homes left. Thus, many survivors congregated in Displaced Persons' (DP) camps. Many people in the DP camps married and had children. They set up schools, published Jewish newspapers, established theaters and orchestras, and searched for ways to commemorate their loved ones.

In this testimony, Eliezer Adler reflects on the three years he spent in DP camps:

"People got married; they would take a hut and divide it into ten tiny rooms for ten couples. The desire for life overcame everything - in spite of everything I am alive, and even living with intensity… After such a destruction to build a new life, to get married, to bring children into the world? In forgetfulness lay the ability to create a new life...somehow, the desire for life was so strong that it kept us alive…"
Source: Yad Vashem Archive, 03/5426, pp. 41-42 (Hebrew).

Pictures that can be screened at this point:
•  The DP camp orchestra, with Moshe Abramovitz (left) playing trumpet, Rivoli,Torino, Italy, 1948
•  A reading room in the 'Beit Bialik' Camp, Salzburg, Austria
•  The camp's boxing team, Landsberg, Germany, 1947
•  The joint wedding of ten couples at a Zionist Hachshara (Aliya training camp), Athens, Greece, 1946
•  A child bathing in a tub at the Franz Joseph Kaserne DP Camp, Salzburg, Austria
•  A kindergarten at the DP camp, Bergen-Belsen, Germany, 1946
•  A kindergarten in a DP camp, Salzburg, Austria


Part III: Emigration from Europe
In the DP camps, survivors contemplated how to begin building new and productive lives. Many of the DP camp residents became interested in building a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and later Israel.

In this testimony, Avraham Sadeh asks the question that many liberated survivors asked themselves:

"I was demobilized from the army. I walked around the streets and didn't know where to go. It was obvious to me that I had to get to Israel, but how?"
Source: Yad Vashem Archive O3/3975 (Hebrew).


Two thirds of liberated survivors emigrated to British Mandatory Palestine, which became Israel in 1948. Many had to overcome serious barriers in moving to Palestine, before 1948, since British authorities limited Jewish immigration.
The other third of Holocaust survivors moved, by and large, to the United States, Canada and other Western countries.
The following testimonies were given by survivors who emigrated from Europe to Australia and South Africa:

"We were in Paris for some months and we couldn't be taken to Israel because they weren't taking children under a certain age […] I think under twelve or whatever it was […] and hence, we had an uncle in Australia, an uncle and a cousin in Australia, and we had passports to Australia, so we went to Australia."
Source: Yad Vashem Archives 0.3/10333.

"We tried to leave for Israel, always my dreamland, but the British in occupation there would not allow us entry. When my husband's relatives in South Africa sent us immigration papers for entry there we applied for permission and eventually, at the end of 1948, were allowed to immigrate there. So we arrived in Johannesburg."
Source: Yad Vashem Archives 0.69/58.

Conclusion
Although survivors were liberated, they were not always free. Until this day, they are still not free from their memories, even though most have managed to rebuild their lives.

In the following quotation, Holocaust survivor Miriam Akavia describes how her family helped her to bring meaning into her life after the Holocaust:

"Our daughter was born seven years after we were married. She brought much joy into our lives. […]. All of a sudden, I saw my mother's eyes. The next day, I saw that she looked like my father. So I realized that despite it all, there is continuation."
Source: Miriam Akavia, Return to Life, Beth Hatefutsoth, Beit Lohamei Haghetaot, Yad Vashem (Hebrew).
 

Holocaust survivor Erika Amariglio describes how bearing testimony about the Holocaust is meaningful for her:

"Today I have seven grandchildren: Lior, Iris, Tomer and Omri, Charles, Erika and David.
For my grandchildren and all the children of the world of any religion, I have written my testimony 50 years later so that they will be able to reply to anyone who dares to deny there was a Holocaust and so that they will always be on guard to make sure that there will never again be another Holocaust."
Source: Erika Amariglio, From Thessaloniki to Auschwitz and Back, translated to English by: Theresa Sundt, Vallentine Mitchell: London and Portland OR, 2000, p. 157.

Holocaust survivor Judith Rubinstein finds comfort and strength in knowing that people around the world are educated about the Holocaust, and that future generations will learn its lessons:
 

" …I feel very strongly that we should warn and educate our youth; they should be aware […] what could happen to people who are innocent and so little informed as we were, because antisemitism is always somewhere and we have to be on guard and this is the only thing, is education."
Source: Yad Vashem Archive O.3/4483, Jerusalem 1984, p. 68.

For Psalm XXIII, "The Lord is My Shepherd," click here.
For Hebrew prayers, click here.

Follow-up Discussion

We recommend using this follow-up discussion in class after the ceremony.

•  Think about the different testimonies you heard in this ceremony. Is there one that sticks out in your mind?
•  How did you feel when you heard the personal stories of Holocaust survivors during the ceremony?
•  What can we learn from survivor testimonies that we cannot learn from other historical sources?