George J. Elbaum, a Holocaust survivor, told his story to students at the San Jose State Mosaic Cross Cultural Center Tuesday through a Zoom call in honor of Holocaust Rememberance Day.
The remembrance day, or Yom Hashoah in Hebrew, is observed annually on the 27th day in the month of Nisan, the month of barley in the Hebrew calendar, a week after the end of Passover, said Mitch Reitman, assistant director of Hillel of Silicon Valley.
Hillel of Silicon Valley is a multi-campus organization for Jewish students, according to its website.
“We want people to hear testimony of people who survived the Holocaust. We're not going to have them around much longer,” Reitman said.
Elbaum was born in Warsaw, Poland, one year before Adolf Hitler invaded in 1939.
At the event, Elbaum discussed his childhood experiences of the Holocaust, his emmigration to the U.S., the importance of perseverance, and challenged attendees to be “brave in the face of adversity.”
Elbaum read a chapter of his book “Neither Yesterdays Nor Tomorrows” sharing his story of living in a corrugated metal shed.
“When it got dark. No one lit any candles. We wrapped ourselves in our blankets and we slept. I woke up in the morning and I wanted to play with a little black Dachshund, but it was gone,” Elbaum said. “So I asked its owners ‘Where is it?’ And their only answer to me was’ it's gone.’ ”
Elbaum said the owners had to strangle the dog in the night because it was barking at footsteps outside the shed.
Rafael Bendahan, SJSU graphic design junior said, “I’ve been to a few [Holocaust] memorial events before with Holocaust survivors speaking so it’s always interesting to hear the difference between them.”
Bendehan said several aspects of the event “stuck with him” including Elbaum’s story about living with several non-Jewish families in Poland to hide his Jewish identity.
“My mom would move me from one [family] to the next whenever the family who I was living with was in danger, a danger to me or a danger to them because in Poland, the Nazi decreed any Polish family caught hiding Jews were immdeiately sent to concentration camps,” Elbaum said during the event.
In addition to Elbaum’s recollections, the event also featured live poem readings from Jasmine Haner, communications junior and vice president of the SJSU Jewish Student Union, who read “Every Person has a Name” written by Chava Alberstein, an Israeli musician.
The reading was followed by a chant led by cantor Leah Shafritz, who is a clergy member of Temple Emanu-El, a synagogue in San Jose.
“Every person has a name given to them by God, and by the father and mother. Every person has a name given to them by the sea and by their debt,” Haner read at the event.
The event finished with a walk to the “Beyond Duty,” an exhibition displayed in the Dr. Martin Luther King Library.
The “Beyond Duty” exhibit is dedicated to 36 diplomats recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” by the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, a honor paid to veterans who risked their lives to save Jewish people during the Holocaust.
“This event is meant to remember, to not forget [the Holocaust], to hear testimony and to learn that you need to stand up for yourself and others,” Reitman said.
