Over 200 Trent students filled the Lady Eaton Dining Hall on the afternoon of November 24 to listen to Max Eisen, a survivor of the Holocaust who spent time in Auschwitz, a concentration camp. Max and his family were taken to the camp near Krakow, Poland in April 1944. Eisen is the only one of his family to survive.
Eisen’s talk began with memories of his childhood.He talked about living with his parents, two brothers, his aunt, uncle and his grandparents.He reminisced about visiting other family in the summertimes and fondly told us about his pet dog.
Life had been getting tougher for his family and the Jewish community as he was growing up - he could see moments of unease in the adults. But even when laws prohibiting Jews from selling liquor prevented his father from continuing as a cellar keeper, they went on, living under discriminatory laws.
With his little sister just born, Eisen was ten years old when his door was kicked in and his family given 5 minutes to collect any belongings.They were brought to a schoolhouse and kept there with the other Jewish families of the town.
From this point on, Eisen told the audience about the horrors he endured, and with each tale of woe, came a shining tale of perseverance.
After enduring the loss of his mother, brothers, sister, grandparents and eventually his father and uncle, Eisen says he knew in his mind thatthe only way to freedom was to focus every moment of every day on doing well; on surviving.
Eisen talks about opportunities in life as doors open.He stressed that an open door shouldn’t be wasted and told the audience about the opportunity that saved his life.
Having had his head “bashed in,” Eisen was taken to the hospital.He was given surgery and treated well by the surgeon.
In the Auschwitz hospital however, only three days healing time were allowed before patients who had not recovered were carted off to the gas chambers.As he was being loaded, on a road to certain death, the surgeon pulled Max back and gave him a job cleaning the operating room.
From start to finish, Eisen’s tale is one of sadness and courage.From our perspective as Canadians in 2011, it’s hard to understand the immense hardship undergone, even when it is being clearly explained.
One of Eisen’s greatest concerns is of how easily media today is taken at face value.He is deeply critical of the influence of mass media has on our opinions and understanding of the world.He reminded us that he has lived through one of the greatest human disasters created by media and propaganda, and he worries when he meets youth who are not critical of what they hear, see and read.
Eisen is one of many volunteers who work at the Toronto Holocaust Centre to educate youth and the public about the events of the past so that repetition may be actively avoided.
