Holocaust Survivors Speak At Springdale Conference

STAFF PHOTO ANTHONY REYES • @NWATONYR Eva Unterman gives a speech Friday at the annual Holocaust Conference by the Arkansas Holocaust Education Committee at the Jones Center in Springdale. Unterman spoke about her experiences in Nazi-occupied Germany and how her family survived the Holocaust.
STAFF PHOTO ANTHONY REYES • @NWATONYR Eva Unterman gives a speech Friday at the annual Holocaust Conference by the Arkansas Holocaust Education Committee at the Jones Center in Springdale. Unterman spoke about her experiences in Nazi-occupied Germany and how her family survived the Holocaust.

SPRINGDALE -- She couldn't speak after her ordeal during the Holocaust, Aniko Diamant, Little Rock resident and childhood survivor of the Hungarian Holocaust told students Friday.

She spoke before more than 400 attendees at the annual Arkansas Holocaust Education Committee conference at The Jones Center. It was the first time she told her story to such a large group, she said.

At A Glance

Holocaust Lessons

Conference organizers and keynote speaker Sol Factor, cited Elie Wiesel, saying students must learn about the Holocaust to remember to stand up for others.

“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borers and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion or political views, that place must — at that moment — become the center of the universe.” — Elie Wiesel, “Night”

Source: Staff Report

Diamant was one of two Holocaust survivors who joined experts from around the country during the conference.

Diamant and her parents were housed in 1944 under protection of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat.

They had fled the Budapest Ghetto when they heard it would be closed, removing their yellow stars and dodging soldiers to cross the city to a friend's house. He hid them for a couple days in an office building, locking them in a broom closet during the day. When they reached the Swedish house they were protected from deportation, but soldiers still came and claimed the need for Jews to clear rubble. Those who left seldom came back, she said.

One day they came for her. Twenty children were called out and members of the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian Nazi party, took them away. When they reached the banks of the Danube there were two cars idling on the bank. Men argued with the soldiers and they called off a list of names. Diamant stepped forward. One of the men grabbed her and threw her in the waiting car.

"We were about three or four blocks away when we heard the machine guns," she said.

It was late in the war. Deportations were difficult. The other children were shot and pushed into the river.

Diamant asked students to remember history so it never happens again.

The early war years weren't terrible in Budapest, she said. Not all the Nazis were really terrible.

Her mother spoke German and worked in an office during the occupation. One of the officers chatted with Diamant and brought her unheard of wartime treats, chocolate or a cookie.

"We didn't know what happened in the countryside," she said.

During her few days in the ghetto there were 65 people in a single apartment, Diamant said. During the night there was no way to lie down.

But on the long, quiet walk to the ghetto a girl her own age brought her an apple, Diamant said.

After Diamant was nearly killed, her parents arranged for her to live with a non-Jewish family under an assumed name. She kept part of her bread and gave it to her mother during weekly visits. Near Christmas 1944 she asked to return to the crowded Swedish house. It was good she did, Diamant said. Those living there had to line up for food and before the end her parents were too weak.

"I was the only one who could stand in line," she said.

They ate cabbage soup, perhaps with potatoes. The first week in the Swedish house there was a 500 gram loaf of brown bread.

"Every week it was less and less and by the end it was a thin slice," she said.

Today she can't tolerate standing in line for food because it reminds her of those days, Diamant said.

Students said they were strongly affected by Diamant's story and her delivery.

"It's not anything that somebody should have to go through," said Kirsten Olson, junior at Fayetteville High School.

"It's a very big difference to get that firsthand account," said Coty Nichols, history teacher at Fayetteville High School.

Students need to learn about the Holocaust from survivors because they are the last generation that will have that opportunity, said Tad Sours, social sciences teacher at Haas Hall in Fayetteville.

World War II can be a few lines about battles fought and the 13 million people who died in the Holocaust can be almost a footnote to the struggle, he said.

When one group of people is named a scapegoat it opens the door for genocide, Sours said, pointing to the Yazidis of Iraq, Rohingya of Myanmar and Tutsi of Rwanda. Doing nothing is silent permission for persecution.

"The work's not done yet," he said.

There was no one force or event that precipitated the Holocaust, said Sol Factor, keynote speaker.

Bystanders and collaborators allowed terrible things to happen, but some of those same players became rescuers. He hopes students take home the lesson that their actions can make a difference for others.

"When you have a chance to prevent terrible circumstances take it. Don't assume somebody else is going to do it," Factor said.

It is important to learn from history, students said, and the lessons broke through their misconceptions.

"The Holocaust is much more complex than what you learn in class," said Hailey Stark, junior at Fayetteville High School.

Students said they learned not everyone was bad, that there have been other instances of genocide and contemplated how they'd react in the live or die situations people faced during World War II.

"People did lots of things just to survive," said Anthony Rodriguez, an eighth-grade student from Oakdale Middle School in Rogers.

No one can say "it'll never happen to me," said Jose Romero, junior at Fayetteville High School.

"That's the big elephant in the room," said Breeland Bryant, junior, Fayetteville High School. "Would I risk my life to help somebody else? You don't know until you're put in that situation."

NW News on 11/15/2014

Upcoming Events