Never Forget: Preserving the Voices of Holocaust Survivors

By Dr. Avi Marcovitz, Director of Holocaust Education

 

Last week, we honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his words: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I reflect on the powerful words of Holocaust Survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, who said, “The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.” Wiesel’s life and testimony remind us that we all have the ability to make a difference by refusing to be indifferent. His words challenge us to confront hate with love, stand up against cruelty with courage, and make the world a better place in every way we can. 

Today, we honor the six million lives lost during the Holocaust and the Survivors whose strength and resilience are examples for us all. We can honor them by simply being a little better each day—by living with kindness, compassion, and integrity. This is what so many children of Survivors were told during their parents’ final moments: Be a mensch. Live a life that honors others and reflects the values of love and respect. 

Six months ago, one of the first people I met at Jewish Federation of San Diego was Donor Operations Associate Joey Schindler. Right away, Joey proudly shared the legacy of his Holocaust Survivor grandparents, Rose and Max Schindler. His passion for their memory is a reminder that we all carry the responsibility to preserve their stories. 

In recognition of today, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I am honored to share with you a brief interview I had with Joey about his grandparents. May their memory a blessing and may we all strive to live with purpose and compassion, being better every day. 

Interview with Joey Schindler 

 

What lessons did Rose and Max Schindler most hope to pass down to future generations about resilience and the value of life after surviving the Holocaust? 

“Keep moving forward. As to life’s problems, issues, and conflicts… resolve them, solve them, and don’t allow them to fester. Never give up and never give up hope. Every new day brings with it a new opportunity to keep moving forward and to continue building the life you want to live.” 

How did Rose and Max find the strength to rebuild their lives and create a family after enduring unimaginable loss and trauma? 

“They found strength within each other. Meeting so soon after such an immense loss and being able to connect and support each other through that shared experience, created an unimaginably strong bond between them. They persevered for each other and to honor the memories of the ones they lost.” 

In what ways did Rose and Max preserve and share their memories to ensure the world never forgets the horrors of the Holocaust? 

“After arriving in Auschwitz and losing much of their family that first day, my great-grandfather, my grandma’s father, told her to ‘stay alive so you can tell the world what they’re doing to us.’ She told her story countless times throughout her life, and even though it always took an emotional toll on her, she kept going because she knew the importance of telling the world what she went through. She knew the weight of the words her dad told her, but she also felt the significance of who told it to her she told her story, in part, out of her love for her family, for her father.  

My grandpa, naturally more reserved than she was, started speaking more about his story when my grandma was unable to. He spoke not only because he, too, knew the importance of having his story heard, but also out of love for his family, for his wife. They may have been unique in that sense, but they shared the same underlying motivation as so many other Survivors – to tell their stories in the hopes that the atrocities they endured would never happen again. 

How did their experiences during the Holocaust shape their understanding of love, family, and community? 

I’ll speak here on family. Both my grandparents survived alongside one of their siblings – my grandma with her sister and my grandpa with his brother. Although family ended up being associated with such an immense loss for them, family also meant survival. Without their siblings, they might not have survived. Family was not something to take for granted, and they were so proud to grow their own family and have four children and nine grandchildren. Although most of their family was taken from them, that wouldn’t stop them from creating a beautiful, loving family of their own. It motivated them to do so even more. 

What message do you believe Max and Rose would share today about standing up against hatred and injustice in the world? 

The message my grandparents would share would be one of empathy and compassion. The best way to defend your own minority is to defend all minorities. Support good people, no matter what kind of people they are. An attack against them is an attack against us. Stand up against hate to create a life where we are all free to be ourselves. 

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