Four Survivors Highlight
Holocaust Seminar Course
Students from Mr. Rusty Godfrey's Holocaust Seminar course at the Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville were privileged to attend a one-day seminar with four survivors of the Holocaust at Columbia College. Dr. Selden Smith, retired history professor of Columbia College and member of the SC Council on the Holocaust, helped arrange the event with Godfrey.
The speakers included Mrs. Bluma Goldberg, Mr. Joe Engel, Mrs. Dientje Kalisky Adkins, and Mr. Tom Grossman, all of whom live in South Carolina.
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Dr. Selden Smith, (standing) retired history professor of Columbia College and member of the SC Council on the Holocaust, and Mr. Tom Grossman of Florence, Survivor and member of the SC Council on the
Holocaust.
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Seated from the left: Ethel Stafford, Mauldin, SC, liberator, US Army
nurse; Survivor Dientje Kalisky Adkins of
Charleston; Survivor and member of the SC Council on the
Holocaust, Tom Grossman of Florence; and Survivor Bluma Goldberg
of Columbia. Standing from the left are: Survivor Joe Engel of
Charleston, and Rusty Godfrey, the teacher at
the Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville.
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Mrs. Goldberg, a native of Poland, is a survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. In a moving narrative, Goldberg ascribed her survival to the co-dependence and sharing of the terrible experiences of the brutal Nazi camps with her sister Cela.
Mr. Engel, a native also of Poland, is a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz-Birkenau. He stated that it is impossible to really describe the conditions of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and that he has since tried to keep the memories of those who perished alive by speaking to groups.
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Mrs. Kalisky Adkins, speaking.
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Mrs. Kalisky Adkins, a native of the Netherlands, described how she survived as a young Jewish girl hidden in a tiny closet of a rather unkind Catholic nun. Despite hunger and abuse, Kalisky Adkins managed to survive due to her will to live and friendship with her only true companion, a little doll named Annika Pope.
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Mr. Engel, speaking.
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Finally, the students heard from Mr. Thomas Grossman, a native Hungarian who survived Birkenau, Flossenberg, and Therezin camps. Mr. Grossman vividly told the story of his abortive execution by hanging by SS officers for the "crime" of "stealing" a piece of bread that fell off a cart. As the execution was taking place, two convertible Mercedes entered the camp with civilian members of the Red Cross. Grossman, unconscious, was hastily pulled down and transported to another camp.
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Mr. Grossman.
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Needless to say, the event was very emotive and powerful.
Sixty years after the events, these survivors shared their testimonies in order that the world would never forget the horrors of the Holocaust.
Mr. Godfrey and the class members are extremely grateful to the speakers for sharing their stories.
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Students from the Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville.
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