On Monday, I went to hear the Holocaust Speaker, Philip Zans. Philip started out with a normal life. He had a brother, sister, mother, father, and a grandmother that lived with him. His parents ran a small business and lived in the same building. When the Nazis first broke into houses to find Jews, they skipped Philip’s house because they thought it was only a business.
But soon, the Nazis found out that Philip’s family lived above the business. Their family was hidden. Philip was sent many places to keep him safe: an orchard, orphanage, and later on in a haystack with his family. Sadly, his family was caught.
They were all taken to Auschwitz. Men who could work were sent one way, and women and children were sent the other way to be given “showers.” Philip was on the border of being a child or man, but luckily he was sent with the men to work, giving him a chance to live. He no longer was known as Philip, but instead 139755, which was tattooed on his forearm for him to remember forever.
Philip told the audience that the only way he survived was hope. Without his hope, he wouldn’t have lasted twenty one months at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Philip lost his mother, sisters, and grandmother right away and later lost his brother and father. I remember most of the important details of his experience during the Holocaust, but towards the end I started to concentrate more on his emotions and what he went through.
I felt so lucky to be able to sit in front of a man who was actually alive during the Holocaust, and experienced the torture that the Nazi Germans put Jews through. I think Philip had so much courage to stand up in front of a crowd and retell the terrible things he went through. If it were me, I would never want to think about the Holocaust again, or ever wear the uniforms they had to wear every single day. Philip did an amazing thing though, and shared his story so we can prevent genocides from happening again.Thank you so much Philip. I have learned so much more than I could ever learn sitting in a history class (no offense Mr. Bruns) and I will treasure your story forever. As Philip said, our children will never get to meet a Holocaust survivor, and I am so thankful he had tapes made. I plan to share Philip’s story with my kids when I am older.~Cora
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