Holocaust Survivor Recounts His Story

YVONNE LEE

Co-Editor in Chief

Most history lessons include a lecture of some sort, usually followed by a homework assignment and then a test. However, on March 11, students from Jose Sanchez’s History and Debi Kuperberg’s English classes had the chance to interact with Sasha Erlich, a Holocaust survivor who gave a presentation in the school library.

Erlich was 14 years old when the Nazi occupation of his country Czechoslovakia began. He was shipped off to work camps and later to the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp. As a young man, he worked in the kitchens and later in a health office. He admits that he had been extraordinarily lucky in being able to survive many of the circumstances he was faced with.

He described how hungry and cold everyone was in the camp. They were given a daily meal of soup and a loaf of bread every week. However, the meals were hardly enough to stave off starvation.

“They were the saddest human beings you could ever see,” said Erlich.

At one point, Erlich stored his weekly bread in his pants, only eating a little bit each day to make it last the entire week. However, despite the conditions Jews were faced with, Erlich’s worst memory was saying good-bye to his mother on the train as he was being shipped off to Auschwitz.

“I was very sad because I knew it was the last time I was ever going to see her again,” said Erlich.

After the war, he discovered that his mother had died at the Bergen-Belsen camp two weeks before its liberation.

After the presentation, students and administrators were encouraged to ask Erlich questions about his experience in the concentration camps.

“I’ve done many of these presentations, but I never joined any Holocaust survivor groups because I think it’s important to move forward. But I come here to talk because I never want the world to forget what happened,” said Erlich.

The experience of getting to meet a Holocaust survivor was enlightening, according to Principal Brad Walsh.

“He’s 84 years old and few [people] survive to tell a firsthand story about history,” said Walsh.

Kuperberg agreed that this was a rare opportunity and expressed appreciation to the survivor for providing this experience.

“Kids ten years from now are not going to be able to hear this type of story,” Kuperberg said. “They’re dying out.”

Kuperberg’s father is actually a close personal friend of Erlich’s and arranged for his visit here while her husband helped to record the presentation, which they hope to distribute out to other teachers to show their students.

Students agreed that this was very different from other history lessons.

“I feel like I appreciate my life more and that we should value what we have,” said junior Lily Zhong.