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| You are here: 2000 / Workshops, Panels and Seminars / Panel 1: Holocaust Education - Where Are We Going? / Presentation by Mrs. Hédi Fried | |||||||||
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Report from Panel 1 on Holocaust Education - Where Are We Going? Presentation by Mr. Ben Helfgott Presentation by Dr. Samuel Pisar Presentation by Mrs. Hédi Fried Presentation by Dr. Dalia Ofer Presentation by Dr. William L. Shulman Presentation by Mr. Stuart E. Eizenstat Presentation by Mrs. Hédi Fried Fried, Hédi Presentation by Mrs. Hédi Fried I was born in Romania 1924, and thus I was not affected by nazism until Sep. 1940, when the Hungarian annexed Transylvania, and introduced some of the Nurenberg laws. Although it became more and more difficult to make ends meet, we went on living in our homes, and we children continued our education in Jewish Schools.
The 19th of March 1944 the Nazis marched in, and that was when it all started. One month later we were in the ghetto, two month later on the train to Auschwitz. What happened there is well known to you all. After the liberation in Bergen Belsen we were taken to Sweden for convalescence and my sister and I stayed on here in the conviction, that the democracy in Sweden will never allow antisemitism. We started a new life, to begin with earning our living by household work, later through factory work, still later by secretarial work. We both married started new families, and after a few years I went to the University to study psychology. The first 35 years I had to fight to make money and sustain a family, as my husband died, but soon I decided that I have to work on, that the evil we experienced should never occur again. The lessons we learned during the Holocaust must be transferred to coming generations. I started to write and to give lectures to both children and adults, where I combine giving evidence with examples of what can be learned of it. What is it that we have learned, what do we want to transfer to coming generations, and how do we transfer this knowledge? During the years 1939-1944 in Transylvania, we lived more or less in a fool´s paradise. We knew that there was a war going on in Europe, that Jews were persecuted. There was the threat of Hitler occupying also our country, and still we did not even think of acting, of doing anything in any way. Deep in our hearts we hoped that nothing will happen to us - we could never imagine that "it could happen to me". We have to make people aware, young and old, that we are all vulnerable, and that we all have a responsability also for what is going on elsewhere in the world. We should not rely upon our leaders to change the world, we all have to do whatever we can, small as it may be, in order to keep this world a better place to live in. When things started to go from bad to worse we always kept saying - yes, it´s bad, but you can live with it. It will pass. Now we know, that injustice does not pass. It accumulates. So nobody should accept injustice, everybody has to speak up as soon as the least injustice crops up. You should never let yourself get used to it. The Wehrmacht soldier that was good to us and even gave us an apple made us understand that not all Germans were evil. Evil was a choice that the nazis opted for. When the kids ask me if I met the monster I try to explain that the monster could exist within everyone of us. The way in which we act, good or evil, is always our own choice. It goes without saying that this is not easy, but it must also go without saying that life consists of dillemas, of paradoxes, and we must live with them. This taught us also to understand the hazards of thinking "all are alike". People are never alike. We all must also learn not to generalize. To be aware, of prejudices, including our own, as very often these are the root of evil. Prejudice was one of the roots of the Holocaust, and prejudice is the root of bullying in schools. To be aware that traits we do not like within ourselves are easily externalized, projected into others, and subjectively experienced as if they came from outside ourselves, rather than from their true source within. Instead of being aware of our own shortcomings, we accuse the stranger of harbouring them. Fear from the unknown makes us aggressive. This will connect to the present situation, both on the micro and macro level. How do we handle bullying in schools, and in society, how do we look at the refugees and immigrants in our countries? We know, that the Holocaust could never have happened in the same extent, if the participating countries in the Conference of Evian 1938, would have allowed the persecuted jews to enter their countries. The whole world ought to learn of this, and open their borders for to-days refugees so we do not need another Conference in 50 years time. >> Back to top |
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Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Workshops, Panels and Seminars
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| For information about this production and the Stockholm International Forum Conference Series please go to www.humanrights.gov.se or contact Information Rosenbad, SE-103 33 Stockholm, Sweden | |||||||||