Holocaust Survivor Shares Story Former Choate Parent Remembers Experience
By Neelesh Jain ’10
News Reporter
On Thursday, May 8th, Eva Bendes, a Holocaust survivor, spoke about her experiences during World War II to interested students in the Getz Auditorium.
Marla Spivack ’08 and Aryeh Stein-Azen ’09 planned the event in commemoration of Yom-Ha’Shoa, a Jewish holiday which remembers the Holocaust. The goal of the program was to draw the community together and increase awareness about Holocaust survivors.
In December, Spivack joined a program in New Haven, called “Adopt a Survivor,” in which high school students are paired up with Holocaust survivors in the area. The high school student records the experiences of the Holocaust survivor and turns the story into art. Spivack was paired with Bendes, whose daughter graduated from Choate. In 2045, Spivack is obligated to retell the story that has been passed onto her. Spivack proposed that Bendes make a speech at Choate. Eva was thrilled about the opportunity.
Bendes addressed the crowded auditorium in a soft voice, recounting her experiences in concentration camps. She lived in constant fear. At the outbreak of the war, she was only twelve years old, living in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Her first recollection of the war was on March 15, 1939, when she saw a Nazi tank while walking to the post office. Bendes’s father died when she was a young girl, and Bendes and her mother stayed together throughout the war, a unification that she said helped her to survive. Five months after the outbreak of the war, she and her mother were forced to move into a small apartment with another family. In 1942, they were sent a postcard telling them to take a train to the East. With one suitcase, she and her mother boarded train and were taken to Poland, where she worked as a switchboard operator. In 1944, she received another postcard ordering her and her mother to move again. She and her mother were driven in a Kettle car to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Bendes lived, naked, in a room with two hundred other women, all of whom were given no food. Bendes said that only luck saved her from being gassed. After about a week at the camp, she and her mother were transported to a munitions factory where they worked until the end of the war.
Many students were required to attend to the event; many more were recommended to go. Two AP European History classes, two World History classes, and two Religion classes were required to go. Many students, however, chose to go without being required to do so. Jin Ha ’08, who attended the event out of interest, said, “I didn’t want to give up the chance to hear a firsthand experience. Sadly, that generation won’t be around too much longer and this was just an amazing opportunity.”
The organizers were pleased with Eva’s talk. “It was really hard for her to remember those hard times,” said Marla. “She did a good job though, and hearing her story has definitely really affected me.” Aryeh said, “It was very meaningful for me, and it’s great that she is retelling her story and teaching people about what happened. I think she did a great job at connecting with the audience.”
“Bringing a Holocaust survivor to Choate every year for Yom-Ha’Shoa would be great,” said Spivack. She says, “It’s difficult to tell if we will be able to continue this as a tradition, but it would be really nice.”
“We often read books about the Holocaust, but it is hard to imagine what it was really like,” said Amy Foster, a World Religions teacher who attended the event. “It is always interesting to hear personal experiences, and they are much more powerful than words on a page. Passing down these stories is really important.”
