David Baras begins his story with a family photo. In it, his mom, at 95 years old, is smiling with her children and 12 great-grandchildren. If she had been part of the six million Jews that were killed, Baras said, “that photo doesn’t exist, and I’m not here.”
Baras’s mother is among the 245,000 Jewish survivors that still live around the world. Most, like her, are in their 80s or 90s, making it more urgent than ever to preserve their first-person accounts of history, said Baras.
“The impact of having a real-life person there, versus reading it in a book or watching on TV or video, it makes a tremendous difference,” said Baras, “I feel compelled to tell her story … What worries me is that it will be forgotten.”
Baras’s fear is accompanied by research that shows knowledge of the Holocaust is fading, especially among younger generations. About 11% of U.S. adults and over 22% of millennials haven’t heard or aren’t sure if they’ve heard of the Holocaust, according to a survey conducted by The Claims Conference.
That reality is alarming to Baras, who is a docent at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg and a member of their Generations After group, which works to document the memories of their parents and grandparents.
Recalling mother's experience at Auschwitz
His mother’s family was among thousands who were displaced from their Jewish community in Munkatsh, now a region of Ukraine. Baras recounts his mother’s experience in Auschwitz, the largest of the Nazi concentration and death camps. There, she witnessed the deaths of thousands.
In 1945, as Allied forces closed in on Nazi camps, the remaining prisoners were sent on “death marches” or forced evacuations.
“Many of them were very sick, and it’s winter time and they’re marching for the next several days. If you slowed down you were shot, if you fell to the side you were shot,” described Baras. “At times, my mom and her sister had to help lift up their mother so she would not fall behind.”
“The Holocaust was not a statistic. It was human beings … and every person had a life. I think it’s important for people to understand that this happened and that it was worse than anybody that hasn’t been through it can ever imagine.”Sandy Mermelstein
Liberation came after his mother and her family arrived at another concentration camp. Their home in Munkatsh was taken, so they immigrated to the U.S. in 1948 amid tight restrictions.
About 50,000 plus kids come through the museum every year, said Baras.
“I can’t reach all those kids, but if I reach one, that one kid might be the one that makes a big difference in the world,” he said.
Sandy Mermelstein, whose father is a Jewish refugee from Germany, said it’s important to keep teaching this history because “it can happen again.”
“The Holocaust was not a statistic. It was human beings … and every person had a life,” said Mermelstein. “I think it’s important for people to understand that this happened and that it was worse than anybody that hasn’t been through it can ever imagine.”
Keeping the memories alive in schools
Sarah Peacock, who helped organize the event as a volunteer with the nonprofit Families for Strong Public Schools, agreed that these personal histories need to be memorialized.
“We’re seeing Florida legislation carving out pieces of American history and African American history,” said Peacock, who is a parent to a child in the Pinellas County school district. “Just overall in Florida education, I think we have a hard time covering everything we need to get covered.”
“Even in my lifetime, we’ve seen Holocaust denialism and misrepresentation of international conflicts and American history and its place in international conflict."Sarah Peacock
Peacock referred to the state’s Department of Education’s Black history standards published last year, which critics accused of rewriting or omitting “key historical facts about the Black experience.” Last year, the state also tussled with the College Board over what can be taught in its AP African American History and AP Psychology courses.
Legislation including the Parental Rights in Education Law and other bills expanding upon it have increased scrutiny on classroom instruction. In Miami-Dade, schools, in an effort to comply with the new state laws, required parent permission slips for students to attend speaker events related to Black history and the Holocaust.
Peacock said the trend of increased censorship is deeply unsettling, but not entirely new, unfortunately.
“Even in my lifetime, we’ve seen Holocaust denialism and misrepresentation of international conflicts and American history and its place in international conflict,” said Peacock.
Throughout Monday night’s discussion, both Mermelstein and Baras pushed against the misconception that the Holocaust “happened overnight” and iterated that the eventual killing of Jews happened systemically and legally.
“The Nuremberg Laws — it basically said that if you’re a Jew in Germany, you’re no longer a citizen,” said Baras, “that you’re a foreigner in your own home.”
That’s why it’s crucial to tell an accurate portrayal of what happened, said Peacock.
“Talking about these narratives and people's experiences, that's a good way to recognize history repeating itself in front of you,” she said. “We need to make a concerted effort to stay aware.”
