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| You are here: 2000 / Workshops, Panels and Seminars / Panel 1: Holocaust Education - Where Are We Going? / Presentation by Mr. Ben Helfgott | |||||||||
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Participants Countries and organizations Conference documentation Conference programme 
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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 Mr. Ben Helfgott Helfgott, Ben Presentation by Mr. Ben Helfgott I stand before you, and you see a man of seventy. What you may not know is that between the ages of nine and fifteen I had to endure, and to witness, what Winston Churchill referred to in the Gathering Storm as ‘horrors and miseries beyond comparison in human experience’. As a youngster I was repelled by this evil. Like many others of my friends I did not think of revenge, but I dreamed of the day when I would once again be free, and would be able to tell how human beings are capable to behave with appalling cruelty towards each other: how they are also capable of supreme sacrifice in helping and saving those in danger at the risk of their own life. I also resolved that I would do my utmost to help to create greater harmony, mutual respect and understanding amongst people of different races, colour and creed. It was a resolution from which I never wavered. I am fortunate to have lived a full and meaningful life. Apart from my business career, it included wide social, cultural and sporting activities. Above all, my family has been a great source of pride to me. Much of my time, however, has also been devoted to trying to teach the lessons of the Holocaust - and persuading others to take on the principles of tolerance, understanding, generosity and sensitivity to the needs of others, which can only be inculcated by education and example. I know how effective example can be. As a young boy of twelve I was sent to work in a glass factory in my home town, Piotrkow, in Poland. The man in charge of my work unit was called Mr. Janota, he was merciless. He beat me constantly on the first day when I started work. Three weeks later my father was in the house of one of the Poles who helped him smuggle flour into the ghetto, when Janota came in. He was known to my father’s friend, as every year around this time he used to borrow from him a horse and cart to transport the produce from his allotment. When my father recognized his name he asked him why he behaved so beastly towards me. My father’s Polish friend, overhearing the conversation, refused to loan Janota the horse and cart. But my father, who had always been liberal-minded and generous of spirit, persuaded him to let Janota have the horse and cart for the day. Five weeks later, on the 14th of October 1942, the deportation of the Jews from my home town to Treblinka extermination camp began. Within on week out of 24,500 Jews, 22,000 were deported. On the last day of the deportation, the cattle trains were not filled to capacity with human cargo. As the glass factory was near the railway station, SS guards marched into the factory and rounded up anyone whom they thought was Jewish. When I was stopped, I insisted that I was a Pole. The SS continued to question me. At that moment Janota came to my rescue, confirming that I was a Pole. He saved my life - Or was it my father’s example of tolerance and understanding towards him that saved my life? Alas, my father was shot a few days before the end of the war, when he tried to escape to freedom from one of the death marches. He was thirty-eight years old, thirty-two years younger than I am today. As we have just entered the new Millennium, and we reflect on the 20th century, it is important not to delude ourselves that the mental processes, racial hatred, suspicion, prejudice, ignorance, and intolerance which made the Holocaust possible are likely to vanish. However, we have become much more conscious of them. We are also more aware that frightening errors are constantly repeated. Lessons which are painfully learned are forgotten in the space of one generation. The accumulated wisdom of the past is heedlessly ignored in every generation. Our vulnerability requires eternal vigilance. The Holocaust should be studied like the germs of a deadly disease. It is a lesson that many world leaders have taken on board. That is why you are here for this conference. It is crucial that you are successful in your efforts to redress the wide gap that exists between our state of morality, and the accelerating progress of technology. >> Back to top |
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Introduction Opening Session: Messages and speeches Plenary Sessions: Messages and speeches Workshops, Panels and Seminars
Other Activities |
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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 | |||||||||