Schindler's List Child Survivor

Last night, I went to see a Schindler's List Holocaust Survivor speak. It was a very moving and memorable event, especially after having seen the film Schindler's List. What struck me most was how unabashedly grateful Leon Leyson and all of the Schindler's List survivors seemed to be for Oscar Schindler. While we have been reading lots of reports that critics have written saying that Spielberg elevated the man to a very high pedestal, Leon and the other Survivors there couldn't put Schindler on a high enough pedestal. What Leon kept repeating was that we couldn't think of Schindler in today's terms. Today he would just be a good CEO who was good to his workers. But we had to think of Schindler within the context of the time. In his time, it was against the law to be a good CEO to Jews. The law was to kill Jews, not save them. Yet Schindler saved thirteen hundren of the Jews he affectionately called "his children." Not only did he save them, but he at all times recognized their humanity.

I guess that I tend to be the forgiving type when it comes to history. Most of the time when I think of a Nazi, I think that that person was caught up in the times, and that war brings out the absolute worst in a person. I assume that people would choose to live peacefully with one another if given the choice. But I now realize that the fact of the matter is that every individual has a choice, if in nothing else, then at least in living morally right. War did not bring out the worst in Oscar Schindler, it brought out the very best. He put himself at great risk to do what he knew was the right thing to do. I guess what most saddens me is that something as horrible as the Holocaust could ever happen. Thousands of people were presented moral choices on doing the right thing, or the morally repugnant one, and so many people chose to forgo their consciences. I realize now that this is something that we cannot allow to happen, because we make moral choices every day. We choose to ignore the horrors that are occurring to others because it makes us more comfortable to live in our own peaceful space. I think to the moment in the movie when Schindler cries out that he could have saved one more. One more human being is worth all the effort of saving.

Another thing that Leon talked about that really resonated with me was how he wanted to speak so that people could put a face to the number. He said that Hitler didn't kill millions, he killed human beings. I think that this is why things such as our interactions with the Survivors we have been interviewing are so important. To hear that six million Jews were murdered can sometimes go over our heads. But to hear the horrific story of a little girl forced to watch her father hanged - that stays with us. Each of the six million Jews was once a child, and each person murdered had hopes and loves and fears that were taken away.

What the Holocaust robbed Frieda of was her identity. Imagine growing up with little to no knowledge of who you are - at least the early pieces that often are the building blocks for who we become. Being born in the privilege of a peaceful environment, I don't think I'll ever truly be able to understand the Child Survivors such as Leon and Frieda; all I can hope is that I can learn from them.

-Posted by Ariana Quiñónez