One in particular stood out in my mind. Ralph Berets was two or three years old when he and his
family were forced to leave their home in Amersfoort, Holland and go into
hiding. They lived for several months in
a cottage that was owned by one of his father’s friends. The Germans were informed of their presence
and the family hid in a ditch until the soldiers left. The family was forced to split up. Ralph and his mother were hiding in an ice
cream shop, where he always had something to eat.
Other memories were of his parents’ playing cards
with German soldiers and a grenade that was thrown into a window but did not
explode. They lived in a chicken coop
with 12 other people and Ralph remembered the strong odor of the chickens. Maybe his young age made his testimony so
compelling to me.
It was interesting to study the different perspectives
of the four survivors, not only in their ages but where they lived. Margalith Clarenberg was 15 when she went
into hiding in Holland. When Ann Walters was 13 years old, she was left with a
farmer in Poland. Maria Devinki lived in Wodzislaw, Poland. She was a slave
laborer. She was released from the camp
through the efforts of a Polish soldier who was a friend of a high school
acquaintance. He would be their
protector for the next two years. She
was 23 years old when she, her husband, 2 brothers and her mother went into
hiding. She was 25 when the Soviets
liberated Poland.
I plan to use these four testimonies with my
students as a lesson in perseverance as part of my Holocaust unit. You can find the documentary at the MCHE Resource Center and later this summer you can find the lesson plans we are teaching tonight on the MCHE website!
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