GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Goodfellow members were invited to a telling of a first-hand account thanks to the Holocaust Military Education Program and a special guest, survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, Ms. Wanda Wolosky at the Base Theater, on Goodfellow Air Force Base, June 14.
Joining Wolosky was Holocaust Military Education Program Director, Dr. Gail Wallen. Wallen spoke on events throughout the Holocaust bringing attention to the ‘whys’ of the events.
“Germany had one of the highest rates of education in Europe, there were no ghettos in Germany,” said Wallen. “How could this happen? How could architects design concentration camps, high school or college educated people, be a part of this?
“A Nazi would look at the Jews as a defective gene on the German psyche that would need to be wiped out if the Arian nation would succeed. Hitler would fight two wars, a war against the world and an internal war against the Jews.”
After the historical overview of atrocities that occurred, Wolosky took the stage to provide a more honed and personal description.
“Hitler came to the ghetto, and when he heard that there were 55,000 people he said that was too many people,” said Wolosky. “The German officer who was in charge tried to tell him that this was for the Germans that they were working for, but he didn’t listen, he wanted to get rid of all of the Jews.”
Tales of the daily struggles facing all members oppressed by the Nazi’s were plentiful in Wolosky’s descriptions, but she also touched on the resiliency within those same people.
“Even with everything that was going on in the ghetto, there was still life, underground life,” said Wolosky. “There were still actors, there was still a theater, there was still an orchestra, there were still books, they were still teaching children, everything was going on underground. Until, I think it was in, 1942 the Germans say that you can’t openly teach students.”
From rare glimpses of light back to the reality of a Nazi controlled reality, Wolosky spoke on the struggle of even finding a place to sleep.
“The Germans gave out another order, if any Jew was found in any building, everyone living there would be killed, said Wolosky.
“We were in a basement very close to the stairs. When they came in they threw a hand grenade down the steps and yelled for everyone to get out. My mother said we can’t go out, we don’t have papers, but 15 minutes later or so someone came by and said they would set the house on fire. I would rather get shot than be burnt alive.”
While it was a long journey for Wolosky and her mother, she spoke on life after the Holocaust and why she joined Wallen to do these tours. Wallen’s closing message shared the importance in attending these kind of lectures and the importance of facing our history.
“So why are we here and why are we doing what we do? It is not easy, obviously,” said Wallen. “We kinda follow the preset laid down by Elie Wiesel, who was a [Nobel Laureate], who said ‘we bare witness for both the dead and the living.’ You are the gate keepers of democracy. You are our citizen soldiers. You are the folk who protect and defend those who can’t take care of themselves, those who cannot speak out for themselves. We count on you to keep that constitution true, alive. Unless we teach the history and you understand the ‘whys’ of things, history has a tendency to repeat itself.”