I Cannot Forget

“May you never forget what is worth remembering.” As a second generation Jew, I believe that I cannot forget the suffering my ancestors went through during the Holocaust.

I cannot forget that my papa lost his parents during the Holocaust. He had only his brother to help him survive. After the Germans occupied his house, they escaped to the Naroch Forest, which for the next 21 months, during one of the coldest winters in history, would be their home. Only nine years old at the time, my papa foraged for food, clothing, and shelter. It wasn’t until July of 1944, the Germans stopped blockading the forest, and my papa was able to leave and make his way to the Statue of Liberty.

I cannot forget that my grandma was marked with a yellow star with the word “Juden” emblazed upon it. Germans entered her household and moved her family to a ghetto. Her parents decided to put their daughter in the hands of their housekeeper, Lena. Lena presented my grandmother as her illegitimate child, only to save her life. The only memory my grandma has of her parents are the spoon she carried with her and the Yiddish she spoke. After hiding during the war, my grandma was separated from Lena and sent to the United States of America. When Lena saved my grandmother, she, very literally, saved my family.

I cannot forget all the other survivors. 150,000 people lived through the misfortune, living through the torture of the concentration camps.

I cannot forget the eleven million people who died during this tragedy, including six million Jews, a quarter of which were children under fifteen.

I cannot forget that those who died were my family. It’s easy to get caught up in our own lives and forget about those who perished.

I cannot forget that every day I have a constant reminder of the past. My life has been built based upon the facts that I am Jewish and my grandparents are survivors. Every year on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance day, my family honors my grandparents, other survivors, the deceased, and the generation who will carry on the memory.

I cannot forget that my grandparents are here to tell the story that I someday will tell to my children. As my parents told me, I will tell my children because it is important for generations to come not to forget. By the retelling of these stories, I will not forget and will carry on the remembrance of those who lost their lives. To be certain that this kind of genocide can never happen again…

…I must never forget.