Holocaust survivor and successful businessman Hermann Gruenwald and newly-found friends at Laurier Senior High School.
(Photo: Martin Alarie)
Out of darkness, light
Holocaust survivor Hermann Gruenwald shares message of hope with students at Laurier Senior High School
Editor's note:Students of English, World History, and Journalism at Laurier Senior High School recently participated in a panel discussion with guest speaker, Hermann Gruenwald, a survivor of the Holocaust. The activity, which took place November 20, involved the participation of all Secondary 5 students. The Behavioural Committee and Student Council organized this event under the theme of Peace and Respect. "We used the cross-curricular format by involving several departments, a first at Laurier Senior High School," says teacher Rosalia Frattolillo, who helped organize the event. Kevin Beardsley, a Laurier Senior High journalism student wrote the following report on Mr. Gruenwald's visit:
It began in 1944 at Auschwitz, the concentration camp where the Hungarian Jews first arrived. Terror for thousands of men, women and children. The selection of those who lived and those who died was the first action. Soon after came death for many.
This past Tuesday, at Laurier Senior High, students attended an insightful presentation by Hermann Gruenwald, Holocaust survivor and Canadian business man. Mr. Gruenwald began by expressing thanks and commending the school for inviting him.
Movingly articulating how he survived the Holocaust, he painted a clear picture of how he lost his entire family, with the separation of those who would be immediately executed.
As his words trailed to a halt, Mr. Gruenwald introduced a short film about a visit he made to Auschwitz sixty years later, bringing his grand-daughter to show her the site of the unholy events of his imprisonment. The video showed the camp's kitchen, where he had worked.
“Sixty years later I can still smell sewage,” he states in the video, illustrating the remarkable power of the mind to recall horrid, unbelievable things. He was at a loss to explain why these scenes of horror still vividly creep through his memory bank after 60 long years.
On his return to Auschwitz, he visited the crematorium, where his mother was said to have perished. All and all, he is thankful for making it to today, though he wishes his parents could have seen him grow into the successful man he became.
At the end of the video, Mr. Gruenwald was applauded, for his courage and for his generosity in sharing
his painful experiences. He then answered questions about the concentration camp, including what he witnessed in the treatment of prisoners, giving full details about his ways of living within the prison.
As an 18-year old Hungarian Jew who lost much, he never lost hope. “There is a light on the other side of the darkness”, he stated. showing great pride in telling of how he endured the hardships of heartache, loneliness, terror, and discouragement.
But then the light on the other side of the darkness filtered through. Promoted to potato peeler, he climbed f to higher rankings, developing ways and means of survival along the way, helping himself and others cope with the challenges.
A question concerning the number branded on his arm identifying him as an eligible working prisoner brought a moment of irony. The figures in the tattoo, A-12483, when added up, equal 18, the number in Jewish numerology which represents life.
Never again
Mr. Gruenwald calmly but passionately invited the young people whose rapt attention he'd had for over an hour to commit themselves to problem-solving. "Trees grow from tiny seeds, as do problems. Fix the problem when it is still a seed, so nothing like this ever happens again!
“Have the courage to be yourself," he cautioned. "Never listen to others, listen to yourself”, he told the unfamiliar faces peering up at him, wishing them well and hoping for them to be blessed with success.
Echoing his insight that from darkness flows light, Mr. Gruenwald offered a vision for a better world: "No matter how hard life gets, there is always hope!"
Photo:Gruen
(Photo: Martin Alarie)
Steven Guilbeault - 
