By Jeremiah Yonemura
Holocaust survivor Joe Alexander came to Hart High School on Sunday to share his story with Santa Clarita residents. This was Chabad of SCV’s “Never Again Lecture.”
Alexander, a Polish native, was imprisoned by the Nazis in twelve different concentration camps 1939-45. Alexander was 16 at the beginning of the war and liberated at 21. After the war, he lived in Germany for four years before moving to America on May 30, 1949.
Alexander lost his family during the Holocaust.
The different speakers emphasized the importance of educating the younger generation because of their lack of knowledge about the Holocaust.
“It is through education that the seeds of understanding and empathy can be sown and counteract the seeds of hatred and division,” said Jason Gibbs, Santa Clarita city councilmember. “Our children can learn to embrace and appreciate the diversity of love and faith without compromising our values or our morals or our own religious foundations, all while refusing to let hatred take root in our communities and in our world.”
Choni Marozov, rabbi at Chabad of SCV, opened the event, followed by Gibbs, who spoke on the event’s importance.
Afterward, Marozov introduced a short film on Auschwitz, one of the concentration camps at which Alexander was imprisoned.
The event also featured a candle lighting ceremony. Six candles were lit by Alexander and relatives of Holocaust survivors in memory of the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust.
After Alexander shared his story, Marozov led a Q&A session.
One attendee asked Alexander about his faith in God and if he lost his faith while in the concentration camps.
Alexander said that he saw people commit suicide by running into the electric fences and beaten to death “because they gave up.” But he kept his faith.
“No, I never did [give up]. I never lost faith. I never stopped believing in God,” Alexander said. “And I said to myself, ‘I may have a bad day today, but I hope tomorrow will be a better day. But never give up.’”
Deborah Bivens, an attendee, enjoyed listening to Alexander and how “sharp” he was for his age.
Timothy Carter, another attendee, also liked the way that Alexander answered questions about his life.
“My favorite moment was when Joe was able to still answer questions as if it wasn’t such a traumatic experience. So, just the way that he was able to answer questions every time just like that,” Carter said.
Because there are few living Holocaust survivors, Marozov said that it is important for those who remain to share their stories.
“[This event is] important because there are very few survivors of the Holocaust that are alive and unfortunately many deniers of the Holocaust or many people just ignorant of what happened, and it’s important for people who went through the atrocities and survived to tell their story firsthand for people to hear it,” Marozov said.
The event will be aired in a few weeks at https://scvtv.com/.
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