Category | Arts & Living

Holocaust survivor recounts her experience

Published on November 3, 2009 by Lindsey Weber

Tosia Schneider has been described as a soft-spoken Polish immigrant, grandmother and author. Most often though, she is described as a Jewish Holocaust survivor.

Schneider visited KSU Oct. 27 and spoke to Dr. Catherine Lewis’ Holocaust history class about her experience in Nazi concentration camps. The room fell silent as Schneider recounted the deaths of her immediate family members, including her brother who was killed by the Nazis when he was 17.

Schneider published a memoir of her experience in 2007 entitled “Someone Must Survive to Tell the World.”

“My mother made me promise if I survived I would tell people what happened,” Schneider explained. “I have been writing this book for 60 years and I have finally kept my promise to my mother.”  This December her memoir will also be published in France.

At times during her testimony, Schnieder’s eyes would gaze into the past and her hands would grip the podium tightly, as she recalled the death of her mother in the Warsaw ghetto, or her Polish neighbors reporting Jews to the Nazi police in exchange for a bag of sugar.

Students were motionless, listening with shock and reverence. When asked how she could bear to remember and speak about such events Schneider said, “How could I forget? It is the most memorable part of my life. Everything else is a shadow.”

Students responded tremendously to Schneider’s testimony. “She was excellent,” said Lindsey Cannon, a senior history major. “She really related the unimaginable to us in a way we could grasp; I just think this was the best way our class could understand the Holocaust on a personal level after studying it from a historical perspective all year.”

Schneider refuses to call her actions heroic. “The bravest thing I ever did was bring children into the world. Everyone must know their heritage so that this never happens again.”  After delivering her testimony she responded to questions about Israel, God, family and forgiveness.

Afterward, students lined up for Schneider to sign copies of her memoir and the group gathered together for a class picture to commemorate the event. She mingled with students and guests at a reception following her testimony, graciously answering additional questions.

Despite her poised demeanor, Schneider admitted that speaking about the Holocaust never lessons her grief. “Sometimes I cannot sleep the night afterward.” Even with her personal grief, Schneider asserted that speaking and writing about the Holocaust is the surest way to prevent such a catastrophe from occurring in the future.

Concluding her testimony, Schneider encouraged students to “never become a bystander to injustice, remember how even modern democratic systems can be easily toppled and never lose your moral and ethical compass.”