Pocono News Section

Students Learn About Holocaust From Survivor

Students Learn About Holocaust From Survivor - Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 5:10PM EST

WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY- Tuesday is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Events are underway this week at the Jewish Community Center in Wilkes-Barre to remember this terrible time in history. And one of the events is having a big impact on students.
92-year-old Tom Breslauer is a holocaust survivor. He was just 22-years old when he was taken captive and placed in a Nazi concentration camp. "No change of underwear, no nothing. Not shaved, no haircut. Can you imagine what I looked like?” he asked.

Some 150 Jim Thorpe Area High School students listen intently during the JCC of Wilkes-Barre's "Witness to the Holocaust" program.

They hear how Breslauer and his sister survived the Nazi holocaust that killed the rest of his family. "It makes me feel really upset to hear about it," said Laura Nickel.

Nickel is an exchange student from Germany who's completing her senior year at Jim Thorpe Area. She's one of the students who takes part in a Q & A with Breslauer.

She's ashamed of what happened in her home country decades ago. "I can't change it. It's history. I just can hope that something like this will never happen again," she said.

These students are currently learning about World War II at school. But coming here to the JCC and hearing first hand from a holocaust survivor puts that lesson in an entirely different light.

For Junior Sean Boyd, it brings the holocaust to life. "Hearing about it from someone that, like, was actually there. It's like being like transported back to when it actually happened," he said.

Jim Thorpe Area teacher Chris Holub said, "They need to hear the story first-hand and pass it on. I think it's really important that they do that."

And Tom Breslauer says he'll keep speaking to students as long as he lives. "This is why I talk to young people, mainly to young people because I want to tell them how important it is not to hate," he said.

And not ever see such a dark time in history repeat itself. Breslauer says he's received 7,000 letters from students through the years. Each one thanks him for sharing his life story of surviving the holocaust.