HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER
ZEKELMAN FAMILY CAMPUS

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NEWSLETTER

28123 Orchard Lake Road
Farmington Hills, MI 48334

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2011 no.1

Barsamian: 20 Years-Searching for the Answer

Our next temporary exhibit will
be Barsamian: 20 Years Searching for
the Answer, opening March 27. This
art installation gives us a glimpse into
the reactions of a child of survivors of
the Armenian genocide (1915-1917).
Twenty years ago, Robert Barsamian
was injured in an assault and through
this feeling of being a victim he has
spent the past twenty years coming
to grips with his and his parents' and
grandparents' experiences.
On Holocaust Memorial Day,
January 27, 2011 the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, is-
sued this statement (quoted in part):
"Although...poets have spoken for

-

those killed in Armenia, Cambodia and
Darfur, many stories from these and
other genocidal events remain untold.
They do not lessen or relativize the
unique horror of the Holocaust, but
rather serve to remind us of the loss of
humanity that remains present in our
midst to this day.
"Testimony, poetry and autobiog-
raphy allow us to attend to the distinct
stories of individuals rather than trying
to comprehend the statistics of differ-
ent genocides of recent history....
"On this 2011 Holocaust Memorial
Day I commend for our remembrance
the untold stories of Jewish people liv-
ing in Britain during the medieval era,

those of the Holocaust and the stories
from the genocidal tragedies of many
other contexts in our deeply damaged
world today."
Scholars have come to the con-
clusion that while the Holocaust is
unprecedented, it is not unique. We
present this exhibit to help us to better
understand (if not really comprehend)
the depths to which man can descend.
It is the reason that our International
Institute of the Righteous teaches ethi-
cal decision-making in a moral context:
that each person has a responsibility to
maintain order, to be involved, to do
something.

"1 am inspired by the bravery, courage, and determination of the Survivors."

Miyuki (from Japan)

HMC Welcomes the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust Archives

In December, the HMC and
the World Federation of Jewish
Child Survivors of the Holocaust
(WFJCSH) entered into an agreement
whereby our Library Archive became
the official repository for the docu-
ments, testimonies and ephemera of
this very important organization. Dr.
Rene Lichtman, an HMC Survivor
speaker, is a board member and played
an instrumental role in selecting our
Center. In addition to an annual con-
ference, publications and audiovisual
productions, the WFJCSH conducts
oral history interviews with Child
Survivors and people who witnessed
and/or participated in activities which
affected children during WWII.
One particularly interesting oral
history is 1999 interview with Irena
Sendlerowa, whose rescue activities
have gained world-wide fame.
In 1939, Irena was a 29-year-
old social worker with the Warsaw
Department of Social Service. When
the Warsaw ghetto conditions de-
teriorated and the Nazis' intentions
became obvious, Irena became active
in smuggling Jewish children out of
the ghetto. She directed the chil-
dren's wing of Zegota (the Polish

Council to Aid Jews) fully knowing
that aiding Jews was punishable by
death. Nevertheless, she and a group
of twenty or so "liaisons" and numer-
ous others constantly risked their lives
to rescue 2500 Jewish
children from within
the ghetto.
Irena explained
via an interpreter that
there was a network of
non-Jewish and Jewish
rescuers both in and
outside the ghetto. Irena emphasized
that the less one knew, the better. Pre-
arranged escape routes were used to
smuggle children past armed guards.
She herself was caught and tortured in
the notorious Pawiak Prison and later
released. Once, Antoni Debrowski, a
driver, transported a medicated child
hidden under his horse-drawn wagon
and when the child began to cry, Mr.
Debrowski deliberately stepped on his
dog's foot, causing the dog to bark and
yelp to drown out the sound of the
crying. This became a routine method
of secreting children past the guard.
She believed that the true heroes
were the Jewish mothers who gave
their children to total strangers in the

hope that they would be saved.
Irena also told the story of
"Rachela," who worked outside of
the ghetto and routinely took a child
with her when she departed, left the
child on the out-
side, and returned
alone. One day, she
was warned that she
was being watched.
Nevertheless, she
returned to the
ghetto after leaving
the child and was killed upon en-
try. The interviewers asked whether
Irena remembered Rachela's surname.
Borrowing the interviewers' notebook,
Irena wrote "Rachela Miller," giving
a complete name to a truly righteous
individual for the first time.
The WFJCSH archive is cur-
rently conducting interviews with
local Detroit Russian Jewish Child
Survivors who have never been inter-
viewed and these, too, will be added
to our Oral History Collection.
We salute the WFJCSH for the
work they do. The HMC is pleased to
accept their archives and make these
materials available to the public.

Irena Sendlerowa reunites with child survivor
Margarita Turkow in 2004. Irena said, " I will not
die until I see her!" Irena (1910 - 2008), was well
cared for by the child survivors who lovingly
cared for her in her later years.

The Holocaust Memorial Center
Archive accepts objects that help
tell the story of Holocaust. If
you think you have something
that will futher this effort,
please stop by the library ar-
chive or contact Feiga Weiss at
248.553.2400, ext. 16 or
info@holocaustcenter.org