For more than an hour, Holocaust survivor and now educator Max Eisen shared his experiences growing up in Czechoslovakia before being taken to Auschwitz in 1944 with his father, mother, baby sister and uncle with a captivated crowd of 350 Trent students, faculty, alumni and community members from Peterborough and surrounding cities, on February 9.
Mr. Eisen is the only survivor from his family, and was in Auschwitz for eight months, when he was only 15 years old. He survived, in part, because a Polish doctor (also a prisoner) in the camp protected him. In January 1945 he was forced to march west by the SS, and ended up in Mauthausen, where he was liberated by American troops. Eventually he found a home in Canada.
“For me, what is remarkable about hearing from a Holocaust survivor is the ability to learn -- first-hand –about the history of the Holocaust and thus about the terrible destruction and brutality of Nazism's Final Solution,” said Trent History professor Dr. Carolyn Kay, who organized the talk together with Champlain and Lady Eaton Colleges. “Max is one of the few remaining survivors of Auschwitz, who can speak about the conditions of this deadly camp. Trent's students and visitors were fortunate to hear his story, because there will come a time when all the survivors are gone -- and we will have to carry on the history of the Holocaust without them. It's important to take this opportunity, this moment, to learn as much as we can from Max. The Nazis are history, and yet survivors like Max continue to tell the story of the Holocaust because anti-Semitism, racism, intolerance, hatred are still problems in our world that we cannot ignore. And it is in the courageous words of speakers like Max that we find hope.”
Community members and students in attendance were also moved by Mr. Eisen’s story. Following the talk, one community member said: “It was a fascinating talk… After visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau camps last October, it was amazing to hear of what it was like to actually “live” in such a horrendous place! As I am sure you are aware, most guides at the camps are historians, not survivors, so to hear about what life was like from their perspective was incredible.”
"Hosting a Holocaust survivor was absolutely surreal and it is something I will never ever forget,” added a Trent student.
A dedicated Holocaust educator, Mr. Eisen has travelled throughout Canada, speaking to thousands of high school and university students. He works as a speaker for Toronto's Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre, and speaks to many different groups (Christian, Muslim, Jewish), to schools and to professional groups (military troops, the police). Mr. Eisen has also taken part 13 times in the "March of the Living" -- a program that takes young people to Poland, with a survivor, to see the death camps and to learn more about what happened in the Holocaust. His story has also been the subject of a documentary on CBC radio, in the series called Promised Land.
Posted on Friday, February 13, 2015.