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MNHS Students Engage in a Day of Remembrance
A young girl and her mother constantly on the run across Europe, trying to stay one-step ahead of the Nazis. It sounds like the plot of a movie, but it is what Gerda Bikales lived through as a child.
Ms. Bikales visited Manalapan High School on April 24th when the school recognized Remembrance Day, a day set aside to memorialize the Holocaust and other genocides. Students were captivated by Ms. Bikales’ past.
Ms. Bikales started out by noting that no two survivors’ stories are the same, most people had different experiences during the Holocaust. But, she noted, there is always one common thread to every story, fear.
She spoke of growing up in Germany and how life changed for Jewish residents after the Nazi party came to power. Her parents sought to leave Germany, but only her father could get the required visa to enter the United States. Ms. Bikales and her mother were left behind as her father worked to bring to them over. As the situation in Germany intensified, Ms. Bikales and her mother worked with smugglers to escape to Belgium, but the Nazi expansion of power followed them. They had to continually move, trying to stay one-step ahead of possible capture. When attempting to enter France when she was 10 years old, Ms. Bikales and the group of people she traveled with were arrested for carrying false papers. They were placed on a train headed for Brussels were the Gestapo waited for them. One of the prisoners bribed the train conductor to let them escape, which they did, safely entering France.
After sharing her story, Ms. Bikales pointed out to the students assembled that they are among the last generation to interact directly with witnesses of the Holocaust, as so many have passed on now. She asked them to carry the stories forward to future generations.
Ms. Bikales visited Manalapan High School on April 24th when the school recognized Remembrance Day, a day set aside to memorialize the Holocaust and other genocides. Students were captivated by Ms. Bikales’ past.
Ms. Bikales started out by noting that no two survivors’ stories are the same, most people had different experiences during the Holocaust. But, she noted, there is always one common thread to every story, fear.
She spoke of growing up in Germany and how life changed for Jewish residents after the Nazi party came to power. Her parents sought to leave Germany, but only her father could get the required visa to enter the United States. Ms. Bikales and her mother were left behind as her father worked to bring to them over. As the situation in Germany intensified, Ms. Bikales and her mother worked with smugglers to escape to Belgium, but the Nazi expansion of power followed them. They had to continually move, trying to stay one-step ahead of possible capture. When attempting to enter France when she was 10 years old, Ms. Bikales and the group of people she traveled with were arrested for carrying false papers. They were placed on a train headed for Brussels were the Gestapo waited for them. One of the prisoners bribed the train conductor to let them escape, which they did, safely entering France.
After sharing her story, Ms. Bikales pointed out to the students assembled that they are among the last generation to interact directly with witnesses of the Holocaust, as so many have passed on now. She asked them to carry the stories forward to future generations.