Holocaust survivors share their stories with UA students

Chris Richards Arizona Daily Wildcat Holocaust survivor Rachel Senor speaks to students about her experiences in the Dachow concentration camp during World War II at the Meyer Agron Student Center yesterday.

Fifteen students gathered at the University of Arizona Meyer Agron Student Center to speak on-on-one with three survivors.

Claude Spingarin and Irving and Rachel Senor sat with the students and answered questions about their experiences.

Staci Tiras, a family studies senior and chairwoman for the Hillel committee for the fifth annual Conference on the Holocaust, said the luncheon was organized because of feedback from other students who had been able to ask questions of the survivors.

"There is something special about talking one-on-one with survivors," Tiras said. "Reading (about the Holocaust) is good too, but when you meet a person who has been through it, it makes it so much more real."

The event was sponsored by the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation.

Spingarin shared his experiences of being placed in a Shang-Hai, China ghetto by the Japanese in the spring of 1939. He shared a different perspective of the events of World War II, as he and his family had moved from Germany to Shang-Hai in 1938.

Spingarin said he lost all of his family, with the exception of his parents, in German concentration camps.

Spingarin felt that it was important to speak with students and people who wanted to become more informed about the Holocaust.

"I'm always curious about what they (the students) are curious about," Spingarin said. "Having adult children, I don't give advice, I only listen. I cannot tell people how to feel and what to think. I will tell them what they want to know."

Spingarin said he does not view himself as a presenter of wisdom and the knowledge of the ages.

"As far as pearls of wisdom, I have none," Spingarin said. "During Passover there is a line in the Sadder that says that every generation should consider themselves liberated from Egyptian slavery. But how to do that I don't know."

Senor told students of his time in labor and concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau. Senor and his wife Rachel were liberated from a camp 20 kilometers from Dachau in May of 1945.

Senor said he sees himself as living proof of the Holocaust.

"The main reason that I tell my story is because there are some people, revisionists, that say the Holocaust never happened. Today I am here to tell them that it did," Senor said. "If I can reach a couple of kids, that is good enough for me."

The students and survivors agreed on the importance of discussing the Holocaust.

"I think it's most important because every year it (the Holocaust) gets further and further away and when the survivors become fewer and fewer it becomes more important to pass the stories down," said Michael Jesser, a psychology junior.

Jesser related the purpose of the week's events, particularly yesterday's luncheon, to a quote from a sign posted in the barracks of one of the concentration camps.

"'The people who forget their history are bound to repeat it.' That's what this week is for, to not forget it," Jesser said.

Senor said it was very important to pass his story on so that people will not forget the events that took place in World War II.

"The idea is to tell people what happened," Senor said. "I want civilized people to know what civilized people can do to other people. You have to remember that the Germans were among the most civilized people."

The survivors told their stories of the events that surrounded them, rather than speaking of blame and a desire for vengeance.

"For me to take vengeance, it would make me a killer too. They (the Nazis) have no place to run, even if it takes 50 years to find them" Senor said.

Tiras expressed her appreciation for those who were willing to tell their stories.

"It takes a special group to be so open about their experiences," Tiras said. "I think it's fantastic that they are willing to tell about something so terrible."