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-Tomas Kulka

Name: Tomas Kulka

DOB: May 25^th, 1934

DOD (date of death): May 8^th, 1942

Age : 7

Tomas Kulka was born on May 25^th, 1934 in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia (which is now the Czech Republic). He was the only child born to Robert Kulka and Elsa Skutezka. On the 15^th of March in 1939 just before Tomas turned 5, the Germans occupied the cities of Bohemia and Moravia, which also included the city of Brno. After New Year’s Day in 1940, Tomas and his family were taken from their home, but Robert Kulka remained in Brno, in order to save his business. Later on, Tomas’s family was forced to sell their house. They were taken to the Terezin Ghetto on March 31^st, 1942. Unfortunately, on May the 9^th, 1942, he and his maternal grandmother were deported to Sobibor Death Camp in Lublin, Poland where they were both gassed upon their arrival. Tomas was only 7 years of age when he was put into a chamber full of people, where he would suffocate on Zyklon B Gas. He is now ash mixed in with dirt that people now walk on if they visit Sobibor. His parents, however, were deported to the Ossowa forced-labor camp for Jews. His parents died there.

Upstander Profile-Elisabeth Kaufmann

Name: Elisabeth Kaufmann

DOB: March 7,1924

DOD (date of death): April 5^th, 2003

Age:79

Elisabeth Kaufmann was born on March 7, 1924 in Vienna, Austria. She was youngest of two children. She had an older brother named Peter, who she adored and loved very much. He became an American soldier and was killed at the age of 24, fighting against the Nazis. Elisabeth (later changed to Elizabeth) took care of the children at Le-Chambon-sur-Lingon, a village in France that defied Nazi law in order to protect Jewish children. She taught the children French and she cared for them, if they were having a terrible time adjusting. Elisabeth Kaufmann married Ernst Koenig (hence where Koenig comes from) and they had just one daughter.

Elisabeth Kaufmann Koenig established the USHMM Library in 1993. She died on Saturday, April 5, 2003 of a tumor that was cancerous, along with kidney problems. She was 79 years of age. Elizabeth was last known to be living in Alexandria, Virginia.

Upstander Profile-Otto Wolf

Name: Otto Wolf

DOB: June 5^th, 1927

DOD (date of death): April 18^th, 1945

Age: 17

Otto Wolf was born on June 5^th, 1927 in Mohlenice, Czechoslovakia. He was the youngest of three children. He had an older brother named Kurt, who was killed as a soldier fighting against the Nazi’s. He also had an older sister, named Felicitas “Licka” in the diary. Otto received his diary as a birthday present on his fifteenth birthday. In his diary, Otto wrote about the places that the family hid, and how they strive to survive. Otto’s fate caught up with him, he was captured by the Nazis, then tortured (he refused to give up his name, and who assisted him) and was then shot with 18 other men, and then burned to death. He was only 17 years old. Fortunately, his sister, and parents survived the war and then, Felicitas; married a man named Otto Garda and donated her brother, Otto’s diary and photographs to the USHMM in 1995. Felicitas Garda died on June 6, 2006.

Upstander Profile-Dawid Rubinowicz

Name: Dawid Rubinowicz

DOB: July 27,1927

DOD (date of death): September 22, 1942

Age: 15

Dawid Rubinowicz was born on July 27^th 1927 in Kielce, Poland. He was the older son of two sons born to Josek and Tauba Rubinowicz. Dawid also kept a diary that was unfortunately incomplete. Dawid’s recollects the horrors of everyday life under the Nazi Persecutions. He describes all these horrific events in the diary. He tells us about the Nazis shooting three Jews for absolutely no reason at all and then he tells us about the family that was shot to death and buried in their own backyard, because someone turned them in for hiding fur coats (a law stated that all Jews must hand in fur coats, anyone that does not, will receive the death penalty). Dawid’s diary was first published in Polish. Then, it was later translated into English. Dawid was only 12 when he began the diary and unfortunately, it ends in the middle of a sentence. Unfortunately, Dawid and his family were deported to Treblinka in 1942, where it is said that all of them perished in the gas chamber. Dawid was only 15 years of age when he perished.