Barbara Jaffe, El Camino College, Torrance, CA

Graduate of USC Shoah Foundation’s

2011 Master Teacher Workshop

What are some choices you have made today?

What is an example of a choice you made that affected another person?

Klara Aardewerk (b. 1915 in Amsterdam, Holland)•2 sisters and 3 brothers; only one sister survived•Father & mother murdered, Sobibór death camp, 1943•Taken to Westerbork camp, then to Teresienstadt•Sent to Birkenau in 1944 and then to Mauthausen •Liberated by Americans on May 5, 1945•2 children and no grandchildren

•Interview— 5/26/98; clip: 1 minute and 23 seconds

From the interview of Klara Aardewerk, USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive

From the interview of Klara Aardewerk, USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive

In this clip of Klara Aardewerk’s interview:

•Interviewer asks Klara how her neighbors and the non-Jewish population reacted in Amsterdam during the war and the beginning of the Jews being deported.

•Klara explains that her husband was going to a work camp in Westerbork and she was already in Westerbork.

Klara Aardewerk (1998)“The Furniture”

Respond to the following question:

Within Klara’s testimony, she spoke about choices that others made? What were these choices?

Agnes Sereni (b. 1935, Budapest, Hungary)

•When Germans marched into Budapest, in 1944, she was taken to a labor camp to work 12-hours a day, carrying heavy sacks of flour

•Beaten numerous times, resulting in spinal damage

•1944, Arrow Cross took over Hungary; she remembered many Jews committing suicide; the streets covered with bodies

•Miracle: Agnes and her mother were included in Raoul Wallenberg’s list of ‘Swedish citizens’ and were saved from deportation to Auschwitz

•Liberated by Russians in January 1945

•Father shot by the Nazis and buried in mass grave

•Mother and brother survived; she has 2 children and 3 grandchildren

•Interview: 8/24/95; Clip: 3 minutes and 11 seconds

From the interview of Agnes Sereni, USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive

From the interview of Agnes Sereni, USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive

In this clip of Agnes Sereni’s interview:

• The interviewer asks whether any of the non-Jewish people surrounding the Jewish houses had any contact with her or her family.

•She also asks if Agnes was able to get food at that time.

Respond to the following questions:

What choices were made by those whom Agnes mentions in her testimony?

Why was Agnes not helped by her neighbors?

Were Agnes and her family helped by anyone else? Why or why not?

Lisa Derman (b. 12/25/26) in Raczki, Poland

•Mother & sister massacred by Nazis, 1941

•Father survived

•Survived 3 ghettos during war (Slonim, Grodno, Vilno)

•Resistance fighter in Vilno

•Liberated by Russians in June 1944

•After war lived in Italy for 2 years

•Moved to US in 1947

•3 sons and 8 grandchildren

•interview 11/24/96; clip: 6 minutes and 28 seconds

From the interview of Lisa Derman, USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive

From the interview of Lisa Derman, USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive

From the interview of Lisa Derman, USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive

In this clip of Lisa Derman’s interview:

She describes what happens during the massacre of the Jews in the forest near a meadow. She and her sister are trying to find someone to help them escape the massacre.

Respond to the following questions:

Who chose not to help Lisa and her sister? Why?

Who chose to help Lisa and her sister? Why?

Philip (Fajwel) Markowicz (b. 3/15/24) in Lódz, Poland

•In Lódz Ghetto, 1940-44

•3 months in Auschwitz; then to Flossenbürg Camp (Munich); then to Regensburg, Germany on death march

•Repaired railroad tracks

•Liberated from Lauffen camp in Germany 5/5/45

•After war was in displaced persons camp (DP camp) until 1950

•Father murdered in Lódz Ghetto; mother, older brother, sister killed in Chelmno extermination camp, Lódz, Poland

•Philip and his younger brother were only survivors in family

•3 children and 6 grandchildren

•Interview: 1/29/98; clip: 2 minutes and 24 seconds

From the interview of Philip Markowicz, USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive

In this clip of Philip Markowicz’s interview:

He describes how he made a knife so he could cut a hole in the wooden door of the cattle car.

Respond to the following questions:

What are the implications of this simple act of kindness and personal choice with regards to other survivors?

Have you ever made a decision to help someone when you thought your act was ‘not really important’?

Martin Niemöller (1892-1984)Nationalist and well-known Protestant pastor and very outspoken against Hitler. Niemöller spent last 7 years of the Nazi rule in concentration camps.

First they came for the Socialists, and IDid not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists,and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didnot speak out—Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there wasno one left to speak for me.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Martin Niemöller: ‘First They Came For The Socialists...’” Holocaust Encyclopedia. http://Www.Ushmm.Org/Wlc/En/Article.Php?Moduleid=10007392.

Respond to the following question:

How does the quotation from Niemöller relate to the testimonies you have just heard? Explain.

Reflections

•How do each of these clips of testimonies relate to the theme of “Daily Choices, Lasting Effects”?

•What are the most powerful comments within the four clips of testimonies? Why?