Kids Meet a Holocaust Survivor | Kids Meet | HiHo Kids

- You were in an attic and I heard the following conversation. "I don't want us to die like those Jews died today. "So the only way out of this mess I got you into is "we'll have to poison them." - And they were talking about you. - Good. (upbeat instrumental music) So what's your name? -Talbot. What's yours? - Talbot, good name. My name is Henry. - Nice to

meet

you, Henry. - Hello. - I'm Zera. - Hello Zera. What is your name? -Look. Nice to

meet

you. - I heard that you are a Holocaust

survivor

. - Yes I am.

How much do you know about the Holocaust? - I think I know a lot. I am Jewish. - I see. - So it is very relevant. - We have been trying to trace our family tree and our family was greatly affected. None of our immediate grandparents, but it's still shocking. - Where were you born? And at what time? - I was born in 1928 in Pettanko Brody, Poland. Which had a Jewish population of 10,000 and when I was liberated, there were 88 of us who survived. - Oh my. - Do you talk a lot about the Holocaust? - I started probably in 1983.

I read an article. He said the Holocaust never happened. - Good. - And I said if the Holocaust didn't happen, what happened to all my relatives? I decided I couldn't stay silent anymore. - What was the first time you experienced anti-Semitism? - The children came out of school and started shouting: "Jesus murderer!" Just wait until Hitler arrives. "He will take care of you." And this is the first time I've heard anti-Semitism. - What were your first and most vivid memories of the war? - It was September 1939. I was about 11 years old then. Germany attacked Poland. Every time a bomb fell, the Earth shook.

I saw my city burning. But what caught my attention, right across the street, I saw a horse lying down. - Oh no. - With a wound in the stomach. And it was kind of bubbling. I have never forgotten that view. I still see those big eyes looking at me so helplessly. - Did they put you in a concentration camp? - No, I was never in a concentration camp. I was very lucky. When the Germans started ghettoizing, we had a farm and my father took us there. A young girl, her name is Julia Simchuk. She overhears a conversation between the Gestapo that they are about to pick up my father to take him to a concentration camp.

He runs through the deep snow to warn my father to run to save his life. She found two Christian families to take us in. So that night we disappeared from existence. - Did you hide in a house? - I hid in a barn in the attic. My father was maybe half a kilometer away, in a barn in the attic above a chicken coop. - Can you tell us more about the family that hid you? -A woman who took in my father did not tell her husband and she continued bringing him food that she brought for the pigs.

Leftovers. Right here, the rope, four people were lying in this space. - Wow. - Without being able to get up. -So how did you fit four people into this small space? - Ah, very simple. Put your head this way, and then the next person from here, head this way. - Wow. - I can't imagine this. - How long did you have to stay in the place? - 18 months. -How did you live each day during those 18 months that you were hidden? - It was very boring. We had a thatched roof, so I was up there counting straws.

The only exterior I got was a hole over the opening of a silver dollar. I could look towards the town. And I always saw boys playing soccer. Screaming. Laugh. I used to think many times that I was going to escape, but then there were gunshots at night and that scared me. -If he were not Jewish, would he have taken the leap of hiding a Jewish family in his own house? - This is an excelent question. I don't know. In an emergency, if someone came to you and needed help, but if you help them, you put your own life in danger, would you do it? - I think I would. - Well, that's very noble of you.

If you ask me, yes, I want to help people. But I don't think I would want to endanger my own life. In some ways, I don't think they realized the danger they were getting into. -Was the Christian family that was hiding them ever caught or were they ever in trouble? - They panicked. In September 1943, a Jewish couple with an 8-year-old daughter is found hiding in the woods. About 500 people from one village were asked to come and see what would happen to anyone who hid a Jew. And when all the people returned, I heard the following conversation. "I don't want us to die like those Jews died today. "So the only way out of this mess I got you into is "we'll have to poison them." - And they were talking about you. - Good.

I didn't blame them. I mean, I don't blame them now. Because their lives were in danger and they wanted to save their own lives. But at that moment they wanted to poison us. So we rolled and ran into the night. And when we got to my dad's house, the lady never knew, only she knew that she was feeding my dad. He received one meal a day. The five of us shared the food. - Wow. - And the only food would be a pot of soup and at night they would send us a piece of bread. Lady Mary never had to wash the pot, because I had the privilege of licking every little drop of food that was still in that pot.

I can't describe to you what it's like to be so, so hungry. - Have you ever felt like giving up? - No. I just wanted to know what it feels like to have a full stomach. - Yes. - Was there ever a time when the Nazis or the Gestapo were in the house that... - In the barn? - Did you stay in the barn or in it? - Oh yes, just before liberation. Right in the courtyard where we were hiding, one of the German soldiers was pointing his bayonet at him and the lady came out and said, "What do you want?" He said, "I'm looking for some eggs." She said, "Come, I'll give you some eggs." We were so, so close to being caught.

If they hadn't released me in a week, I probably wouldn't be here. - Believe in God? - I believe in God. I don't believe in God like my grandmother and dad did. But I do believe that there is some power that was watching over me. - Do you think it's luck or God? - What do you think? - I believe that people can create their own luck and good things can happen to everyone. - But do you believe in God? - Not precisely. - No, I respect your thoughts. Don't misunderstand. I didn't believe in God either.

I'm being honest with you. Because I couldn't believe that our God, how could he allow them to kill all my grandmother, all my cousins, all those people? So I had a very difficult time. But if I hadn't believed in God, I don't think I would have survived, because he gave me hope. - At what moment did you feel safe from religious persecution? - Good question. I've never felt that. I'll be honest with you. Even living in the United States. We still have hatred in this country; It hasn't disappeared. - Do you think something like the Holocaust could ever happen again? - You do not have to wait.

Look, we've had a lot of genocides since the Holocaust. Yes, it can happen. It is up to us to avoid it. It's not just the perpetrators who are bad. It's the people who stand by and let it happen. - That's very true. - I'm very proud of you. You two. That you study a topic that I personally had a hard time talking about for many, many years. Well? Good luck for you. - Thank you. - Keep smiling. You have a beautiful smile. Thank you. - Thank you. - If you would like more information about the Holocaust, visit Henry Friedman, Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle, Washington.

There are many, many other Holocaust stories and each one is unique in its own way.