What I stand For.

Aside from being a film historian and lover, I seem to have been drawn to Holocaust. This has been a passion since I was 7 years old. Yes, 7. When I was a senior in High school, I managed to track down a few survivors, and submit a few "Page of Testimonies" for Yad Vashem. Their main goal is to identify every person who died in the Holocaust. Trying to keep up with the survivors can be tricky. Because they are getting old and they may not remember me. But, luckily, I spoke to Peter Feigl (Pictured below) and I'm known to him as "Katie" (Which to me, doesn't matter) and he was so sweet to speak to! He was the first survivor that I interviewed over the telephone when I was senior in High school.  He had reccomended me a book entitled "Hidden on the Mountain". I was at the time writing a book called "Lives that Matter" (I'm still working on it, since now I have to try and choose the people I want to fully write about). This book included Peter and the ladies below: Renee and Edith Kann. Renne is now Ms. Renee Kann Silver and Edith Kann Roth had passed away. In 2009, I managed to write this book in a notebook that I still have today , but it needs a ton of work! A lot of work! When I am now 22, I can still write this book and fully get it going. This is also what I stand for, are these people who fully survived and for those who died during the Holocaust. 

Learning about how to Be An Upstander

What is an Upstander? How can we become one? What does it take to be an Upstander? Well these answers are not in your history text books, or in Library books,the answers are in yourselves. An Upstander is someone who stands up and does something about a particular situation or for a person who is in a terrible situation. For example, once upon a time, in a land called Germany, a man by the name of Hitler, decided that one day, Jews and other people that he found to be "Inferior" were to be deported and to be wiped off the face of the Earth (in other words, to be killed and destroyed). Many people fled the country, but unfortunately, 6 million people were demolished because of this man. About 10, 000 people in various places around Western Europe decided to help these poor people, who were being demolished everywhere in Western Europe. These people hid families, and in some way shape or form, converted them to another religion. These people took on the risk of hiding these Jews, which if caught, could lead to horrifying consequences. But, these people are what we call "Upstanders". People that refused to step aside when the Nazis barged into towns, and rounding up Jews. These people were the Upstanders , that refused to join the Nazi party, even if it meant that they would have to face deadly consequences. These people refused to tell where Jews were hiding and they even helped getting their fellow hidden Jews to safety. Nowadays, you can hardly find Upstanders at all, unless if there is a good and legit reason for it. So, if you are asking on how to become an Upstander, the answer is clearly right in front of your face. An Upstander does not have to have certain instructions, they just have to know how to speak up when something is wrong. "Risking your life for another, is the best thing you can do for someone," says survivor Renee Kann Silver, who was a hidden child in the Village of Le-Chambon-Sur-Lingon. With society rampaging, as it is, we can learn how to help one another (even if it is not a Holocaust). We can still help those that are refugees from another country, fleeing because their country because of injustice and indecency, those that need our help, teach those who were poorly brought up around hatred and racial hatred and learn from those who survived events such as the Holocaust. Learn, teach and Live, BE an UPSTANDER.

Upstanders that were Upstood for

Do you know what these four people had in common? They were all upstood for by Upstanders. What? UPSTANDER? Is that even a WORD? Why, yes, it is, you would be surprised that is indeed a word.

-Peter Feigl and Renee Kann Silver and her sister Edith Kann Roth, were all Jewish teens when they were stuck in the middle of the Shoah. The Upstanders for them was the little Village of Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon in France. Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon was a little Village that defied Nazi law in order to protect Jewish children. There, Peter, Renee and Edith were safely protected by the Villagers of Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon.

Susi Hilsenrath (Now Susan Warsinger) was also taken in by an agency. She was one of the thousands of children that were lucky enough to immigrate to the States in 1941, with help of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid (HIAS).If it were not for Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon and HIAS, who knows what could have happened to Peter, Renee, Edith or Susi? They could have been deported and never heard from again. But, it took Upstanders like Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon and HIAS to defy the Nazis and protect Jewish Children.

What is An Upstander Anyway?

Imagine for a moment that you watch your best friend, who is of a different nationality than yourself, getting beat up by another teenager, who is of the same nationality as yourself and you just stand there and do nothing about it. This is what we call a BY-STANDER, one whom does nothing when something in our society is wrong. What you should have done, is take the stand and put an end your best friends bullying and beatings. This is what we call un UPSTANDER, someone who stands up for what is right, even though the circumstances may not always be right. During the Holocaust (or Shoah), Upstanders were very rare and it took people like Miep Gies (the woman who hid Anne Frank) and the Village of Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon (Where people like Renee Kann Silver, Edith Kann Roth Erna Heymann Bernstein and Peter Feigl were hid) to stand up to the Nazis and defy their atrocious regulations. More and more people than began to shelter Jews and hide Jewish Children. People overseas in places like the UK and France were more than willing to take the Jewish refugees from Germany, Czechosolvakia, or any other war-torn country. There is always a time when you can be an Upstander. It begins with you. When you see something that is wrong or that does not seem right, stand up and take a stand.

Anne Frank + Schools Systems

Today, if we even consider about talking about Anne Frank in our school systems, it is briefly discussed. WHY?? Anne Frank and the 6 million others deserve so much more attention than just a day or two. They deserve a week, two weeks, or at least three weeks. The school systems should be taking on the subject of the Shoah and embracing it with integrity. How?? Well, the Shoah is something that everyone should have at least learned about in school (Or shall we put the commonly used word, "Holocaust"). Everyone should at least know who Anne Frank was and what kind of world she lived in. Why is the Holocaust taught only for a day in history classes? Why?? Is it too serious to even consider? Yes, millions of people lost their lives, but not only in the WWII battles, but in Gas Chambers and Ghettos as well. Millions of Jews and other forms of "Inferior" people lost their lives because of these Gas Chambers and Ghettos. Many of them starved to death, shot to death ( and then buried by the millions in mass graves), and tortured to death as well. Do we not even consider the damage that has been done to the world of humanity because of the Shoah? Why is Anti-Semetism and Racial Hatred still present? Why?? Is it because God did not create us all to have the same beliefs? That is the dumbest excuse that has ever crossed the line. Why do we hate people that may seem different to us? So, in class, when you are only studying the Shoah for a day, please, be an Upstander and speak for those who could not speak during the Shoah. Let your fellow classmates know what kind of atrocities the Nazis caused. Let your fellow classmates know that no matter what the cost, those six million people that perished, have a voice, and it may not always be theirs, it will be yours! You voice matters, and ONLY YOU, can help make the Shoah more important to learn in the School Systems. So, let your voice be heard and make it loud and clear.

What good does NOT REMEMBERING DO?

In this world, we tend to forget the Shoah. Why? Because it is consistant that we quote "have to". No, we do not have to at all! Take the USHMM, for an example, do you honestly think that they would just be the only ones to forget about the Shoah. No, they do not. It takes people like me and you to make the difference in this world. The Jews that died cannot do it, unless if you believe that they can be with you in spirit, like some people do. It is the duty of ourselves, that we cannot forget! In a way, we are all some what affected by the Shoah, whether we realize it or not. We all can have a connection to people like Petr Ginz, Moshe Flinker and others. What can we do to make sure that their memories stay alive? What can we do to make sure that their lives are not forgotten? What can we do, in order to preserve their memories? It is up to us, folks. We have a choice to make sure that these people that perished are still with us in memory or we can just forget them, which I would strongly not recomend. But, it is up to us.

Upstander Profile-Erna Heymann Bernstein

Name: Erna Heymann Bernstein

DOB: December 21^st, 1925

DOD (date of death): December 2^nd, 2009

Age: 83

Erna Heymann was born in the city of Nurnberg in Germany on December 21^st, 1925. She was the baby of the family; she had an older sister that became a US citizen in 1944. Erna and her mother would remain constantly together and Erna would help her mother, who became ill and was sent to many hospitals, due to the horrifying conditions of the internment camps that Erna and her mother were placed at.

After Erna was released from Riversaltes, Erna stayed in a home run by the Jewish Scouts of France. After two months of staying in the Jewish Scouts home, a French family took her in. While Erna resided with the French family, they gave her a false identification card, which had her new name. She was now “Eveline Herbert”. That does not even sound like Erna. But, in order to be safe from the Nazis, Erna had to endure the burden of changing her name to “Eveline”. The card also said that she was residing in Alsace, a region in France. Erna found this very difficult to comprehend, because she had no idea where that was and not to mention that she spoke very little French. Upset and striving to see her mother again at the hospital, the hospital where her mother was staying, the employees let Erna stay for a few months and Erna found content there. Now, what was little Erna suppose to do all day long? She could not just wonder off, she would be caught and then she probably would have been deported. Luckily, she found a job in taking care of the newborn infants and babysitting the little toddlers. When Erna was lucky enough to be sent to Le-Chambon in 1943, she was taken in by August Bohny and Friedel Reiter. She was only 16 when she was sent to live in Le-Chambon. She was hired as a laundry woman. She did not mind this kind of work, as long as she had a place to sleep, food to eat and clothes to wear, she was more than content. Erna was also required to help children learn English, and lucky for Erna, she had learned English in Germany for four years. In fact, she even was clever enough to teach herself French by using her second language, English. She would borrow the English textbooks of the children, telling them that she wanted to prepare for the next the day’s lessons.

After the war, Erna continued to reside in Le-Chambon. She was later re-united with her mother, and the two of them joined Erna’s sister, Hannah in the States in 1946.Hannah had already become a US citizen in 1944. Later on in life, Erna would meet the love of her life, Hans Bernstein in Cincinnati, Ohio. The two married in 1948 and settled in Ohio. They had three children and she was a proud grandmother to six wonderful grandchildren, who brought her such joy to her life. Unfortunately, Erna passed away on December 2^nd, 2009 of cancer. She was 83 three years old.