Dear
Mr. Warren Priest:
I
was just writing you to thank you with my deepest thanks. I can't begin to
explain
how
much your visit to Kearsarge Regional Middle School meant to me. It was of the
greatest
honor to hear you speak. I know you reached many of the students you spoke
to.
My Grandmother, Grandfather, and Uncle were all
Hungarian Jews during
WWII. My Uncle was a baby during WWII. He was
adopted by a Christian family in
Hungary
and protected by them throughout the war. My Grandmother hid along with
my
Great Aunt. My Grandfather was taking to a Russian Labor Camp, I think. They
all
survived the war and were reunited in Hungary shortly after Hungary was
liberated.
Soon
after my Mother was born. They all fled their home in Budapest, though, during
the
Hungarian Revolution. The came to the US and stayed here. My grandfather past
away
before I could meet him. Luckily,
I have heard many stories from my
Grandmother,
who is now in her eighties. My mom can also explain the horrors of war
from
a child's view from her experiences during the Hungarian Revolution. I have
also
heard
the terrifying stories of many non-relatives Holocaust experiences.
I must admit, though, that one of the best speakers I
have had the privilege to
hear
was you. I have heard countless stories of the horrors faced by MILLIONS during
the
Holocaust. Although I have great difficulty imagining the horrors, I can FEEL
the
pain
in the stories. You changed it all, though. When I explain how, I would ask you
to
PLEASE
keep in mind that I am saying every word with complete honesty.
While I am moved deeply beyond words with the stories
I have heard about the
Holocaust,
your story helped me understand the horrors the best. I have always
thought
that I was imagining the horrors correctly... but I feel foolish to admit it.
How
could
I, a fourteen year old in 1999, imagine the horror of the Holocaust? How could
any
one of any age imagine it if they were not there themselves? When you spoke...
you
said
things that I have never heard in a story about the Holocaust. Instead of
telling
about
the thousands and millions tortured... you began with just four that you met
outside
the barracks. Nothing that I could say would tell you what this did to me. For
the
first time I heard about numbers that I could imagine... not millions, but a
handful.
To
understand the pain of millions I needed to hear the pain of just a few. You
worded
the
smell, the sight, the eyes and the figure of these people so well. I know that
you can
never
say enough to express those people and that place... but somehow you managed
to
come really close.
Students in the class you spoke to, know about the
Holocaust. For many, I think,
they
could not imagine it... so they didn't pay as much attention to the stories. No
matter
what speakers said it seemed that the student would be touched, but not
understand the message trying to be sent. The way I
saw the faces today, the words I
least
expected that came from my peers, all prove the impact you made. Surely, many
students
wouldn't even try to imagine the horror of the Holocaust... but when you
wrote
the statistics on the board... when you passed the COLOR photograph of the
human
skin sails on the boat... it wasn't a surreal black and white event that
happened
generations
before... but it became a real event, with its horrors still lingering in our
world today.
Even I, after hearing countless stories, left the
room with a new knowledge of
the Holocaust... and the current situation of the
world. If I could tell you how incredible
and important the knowledge you gave me and my
peers is... One does not know main
parts of the Holocaust until they hear your
story, and see your pictures, and conceive
the reality of your statistics on the world
today.
"One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a
statistic" Joseph Stalin. I have
heard
about the millions of people who were tortured, pained, and horrified during
the
Holocaust... but you...thank you for telling me about four of them. I can better
understand
four rather then a million.
PLEASE don't get me wrong, though. It is VERY
important to hear about the
millions
rather then as individuals, too. I take the stories of every speaker as
important
and
astonishing, too. Yours just stood out because of the way you approached the
topic.
Again, I want to thank you. If only you could see the
change of attitudes of the
entire
student body after you talked.
I would LOVE to follow your trip back to Europe by
E-mail... please send me
updated
information on that when it comes. I would also love to hear more from you...
Whether
it be from your views on the world we live in today, or your experiences at
our
Kearsarge Middle School.
I am so happy I met you! Thanks again...
Yours Very Truly,
Erica Blom