The night before last we had the rare opportunity of attending a speech given by a holocaust survivor. It was a very special evening. Charlene Schiff was born in Poland. Her father was a Professor at the University and her Mother also a teacher. They had a beautiful home with a piano that was used for entertainment and parties that her parents would throw. Her father also had a huge library with 1st edition books that he collected. When she was 10 yrs. old the war broke out and soon troops were in her town. Shortly after, her father was arrested along with 300 other jewish leaders in her community. She never saw him again. Several months later her mother, herself, and her sister were kicked out of their home and sent to the ghetto. They were thrown into homes with 100 people each. The women and children over 14 years of age were forced to go work every day. For their work they were given one small meal each day. No food was given to the children under 14 who were left in the ghetto while everyone was at work. The mothers would have to come home and share what little food they got with their children. Her sister was 15 and so her sister and mother were gone everyday working. She and a friend dug a hole under the fence that surrounded the ghetto. Starvation drove them to take chances like that. They would sneak out in search for food. One day she got caught, but fortunately she was caught by a "nice" guard who only smashed her eggs on the ground and rubbed her face in it. A few days later her friend was caught and shot to death and then laid as public display for several weeks. Rumors were starting that they all were going to be taken out of the ghettos and sent to concentration camps so her Mother while away at work started networking to find farmers that would take her and her daughters into hiding. She found two farmers, one would take only 1 and the other only 2, so she was left having to make the horrible decision of how to divide them up. She chose to send her 15 year old sister by herself to the one and her and her Mother would stay together. She sent her sister away with directions to the farm. They waited a few days and then they left. They had to stay in hiding for several days down by the river. They would hide in the brush and in the water. One moment she was sleeping and when she awoke her Mother was gone. She never saw her again. She knew how to get to the farm house because it was one of her fathers friends. So without her Mother she made her way at night time to the farmers house. When she got there they wouldn't let her into the home. They sent her to the barn and told her she could stay one night and then she better be gone. (They either chickened out or lied to her mother--her mother had given the farmer some gold to agree to take them in.) The farmers wife came out to the barn and gave her an apple and a slice of bread and told her that her husband meant business and that she better be gone in the morning or she would be turned in.
I can't even imagine the horror and loneliness this little 10 yr. old felt. She didn't know where to go except into the forest. She spent the next 3 years living in the forest. She dug a grave and camouflaged it with limbs and brush. She would lay in there during the day and go out at night in search of food. Most often she ended up eating worms and insects that she could find in the forest. One day she heard soldiers and she was unable to get to her grave. She climbed a tree and sat in the tree not moving for 2 days until they were gone. They were right below her and she knew if she moved it would be the end of her life. At one point, after roughly 3 years of living in the forest she got very ill. She was laying in her grave vomiting. She said she was too weak to even lift her head. She closed her eyes and knew her time had come to die. Soviet Union soldiers found her. Little did she know that the war had ended. They brought her to a hospital and attached a note to her clothes that said, "Please take care of this child of the forest and give her what she needs." After she was better she was sent from the hospital to a deplacement camp. It was there that she was given her first shower and change of clothes in 5 years. After talking with other survivors she was told two stories about her father. She doesn't know which is the truth, but that 1) he was lined up with the other 300 men. They were stripped naked in front of the town and then shot and killed the same day he was taken and 2) that all 300 were sent to a concentration camp and then gassed. She was told that her sister never made it to the farmers house and that she was paraded nude down the main street before being shot to death as public display. No one ever knew anything of her mother.
I can't even begin to imagine the horror this little girl went through. It is unimaginable what that would have been like. Charlene's message to us was that it could happen again. She explained how they did try to resist and that it makes her angry and hurt when people ask why the Jews were like lambs going to the slaughter, why they didn't resist. She told a lot of resistant stories and told how it didn't happen to the poor and needy that it happened to all. Your social economic status didn't save you. Many people were well educated, wealthy people that I'm sure never believed that there freedoms and possessions could be taken away and especially not in the manner that they were.
Anyway, Charlene had spoken to the high school students earlier that day so Travis stayed home and babysat Jaden and Sam while the rest of us went. It was definitely an evening full of gratitude and humility.
This is my friends little girl. It's such a cute picture I had to include it. I had so much fun that when I came home at 3:30 I picked the kids up and headed back out there until 6:30. Sandy, my friend was walking past my house and I told her how great the day was at the beach and that I was tempted to go back out with the rest of the kids. She said, lets do it and so that's how I ended back out there. It was so fun. And the cool part is that the weather forecast is still showing SUN.
On the ferry you can either camp out or purchase a berth. On the way up to Juneau we opted to "camp out" with the rest of the team. You literally lay out your sleeping bags and sleep on the floor in the lounges. It's such a cool experience. On the way home we were on the Kennicott. It's a huge ship and there were so many restrictions on where you could sleep so we bought a berth. The Kennicott is the only ship that has sleeping restrictions. I guess it's a "political" thing because the ship was built and/or named after a politician. Something like that.
