Don’t stand by and do nothing when evil is happening. That was the message of Holocaust survivor Irving Roth for Seaford High School sophomores during the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day program on April 2.
Roth, who has spoken at the school for nearly two decades, shared his personal stories about the Holocaust, including how Germany’s expansion through Europe drastically changed his life after growing up in Czechoslovakia. He told students about his capture by the Nazis and how he managed to survive one of the darkest periods in human history. Two years after his April 1945 rescue by American soldiers, he moved to the United States. He later documented his experiences in his book, “Bondi’s Brother,” which he made available for students.
Living Holocaust survivors are in their ’80s and ’90s, and Roth said that today’s students will be the last generation to hear from them directly. He encouraged them to remember his story so they could share his message about the detrimental effects of hatred.
Seaford High School 10th graders study World War II as part of the social studies curriculum and read “Night” by Elie Wiesel. Following Roth’s presentation, students watched “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” a movie about the owners of a zoo in Warsaw, Poland who sheltered 300 Jewish people.
-Submitted by Seaford School District
