Holocaust survivor Elane Geller told her story to local high school students Wednesday during a visit sponsored by Peru State College officials. Geller was one of many Polish Jews imprisoned by the Nazis in 1939. She was four years old at the time and was liberated by the British in 1945.
Geller told how she was sent to a slave labor camp and contracted typhoid, typhus, Tuberculosis and other ailments. She said prisoners lived on no more than 400 calories a day and she ate any form of sustenance she could find, including toothpaste.
Her two uncles, her grandparents, her mother and her sister, who was sent to Auschwitz at the age of 16, were among the six million Jews lost in the Holocaust.
“Those voices that cannot speak, I don’t want them to be forgotten,” she told the students.
She said she tells her story as a warning against the dangers of bigotry, racism and hatred and urged the students to speak up when they see someone being mistreated.
She closed her message by telling the students to recognize how precious life is and to think about how they are using it. “Life is a gift. You are the architect of how you are remembered,” she said.
Geller’s visit was part of PSC’s observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. She spoke on the campus Tuesday and while in Nebraska City also spoke to the Rotary Club.
Geller lectures as one of a small group of “Survivor” volunteers at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Santa Monica, Calif. and travels extensively throughout the country sharing her message.
|
|
|
Holocaust survivor Elane Geller told her story to local high school students Wednesday during a visit sponsored by Peru State College officials. Geller was one of many Polish Jews imprisoned by the Nazis in 1939. She was four years old at the time and was liberated by the British in 1945.
Geller told how she was sent to a slave labor camp and contracted typhoid, typhus, Tuberculosis and other ailments. She said prisoners lived on no more than 400 calories a day and she ate any form of sustenance she could find, including toothpaste.
Her two uncles, her grandparents, her mother and her sister, who was sent to Auschwitz at the age of 16, were among the six million Jews lost in the Holocaust.
“Those voices that cannot speak, I don’t want them to be forgotten,” she told the students.
She said she tells her story as a warning against the dangers of bigotry, racism and hatred and urged the students to speak up when they see someone being mistreated.
She closed her message by telling the students to recognize how precious life is and to think about how they are using it. “Life is a gift. You are the architect of how you are remembered,” she said.
Geller’s visit was part of PSC’s observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. She spoke on the campus Tuesday and while in Nebraska City also spoke to the Rotary Club.
Geller lectures as one of a small group of “Survivor” volunteers at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Santa Monica, Calif. and travels extensively throughout the country sharing her message.
