Holocaust Presentation

On February 16, Hungarian Holocaust survivor Andy Sarkany visited Suffield Academy to speak with ninth graders about his experience living in Budapest in the 1940s. He began with some history: Hitler became chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933 and life became more difficult for Jews almost immediately. Five years later, on November 9, 1938, Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass) marked the true beginning of the Holocaust. By 1941 most of Europe was under the control of Nazi Germany, and the hateful symbol of the swastika was becoming prevalent. Andy said it symbolized two things: “hate and killing.”

Andy was seven years old when he began feeling the effects of what was happening around him. While walking to school, people would spit on him, call him a dirty Jew, and tell him he didn’t belong there. By 1940 Jews were being forced into labor camps. This included Andy’s father, who was in and out of camps between 1940 and 1944. By March 1944 Germany officially invaded Hungary. Andy and his family were moved into the Budapest ghetto in late 1944, hidden behind seven-foot walls from the rest of the city, cut off from what was truly happening in the world. They were forced to wear yellow stars on their clothes. Adults couldn't work. Food was scarce. Outside of the ghettos, there were thousands of concentration camps across Europe. Many Jews didn’t even make it there, dying on the train cars transporting them to the camps.

Finally, by February 1945 Hungary was liberated. Andy’s father survived the camp he had been sent to but was in terrible mental and physical health, reliving the horrors of what he had been through for years after, never speaking about what he experienced. Twelve years after liberation, Andy left for the United States, where he met his wife and they built their family. He now speaks to groups about this history, hoping to spread awareness. “History is very important,” he said to the freshmen. “I urge you to read history, because hopefully you can learn what happened in the past, and try to avoid the same things from happening in the future.” Andy’s energetic presentation connected deeply with the students and faculty in attendance, and Suffield was fortunate to learn about this horrific historical period from a Holocaust survivor.