Classy Introductions
History teacher Stephanie Amidon was the first to take the mic before guest speaker Halina Herman joined the Maclay upper school from a zoom call. Amidon was able to provide the students with some background information on Herman and share some of her own knowledge from when she used to teach her class about the Holocaust. “I always enjoyed teaching it [the holocaust] from the child’s perspective because that’s where y’all are in your life right now,” Amidon said. “It seemed more impactful for you to think about people in your own shoes at that time.”
Holocaust Remembrance Day
On Jan. 26, 2023, the whole upper school gathered into the Cartee Gym for a once in a lifetime opportunity. At 9:30, a holocaust survivor would be joining the school via zoom. Herman joined the zoom call and began to tell the school about what she went through while hiding from the German soldiers. During that time, she was moving all around Poland and France just trying to stay with her mom and hope they did not get separated.
Just a few Reminders
Before Herman joined the upper school and shared her incredible story, English teacher Lauren Fantle went over a couple of things with everyone. While we were waiting for the zoom call to begin, Fantle reminded all of the students that this was an amazing experience that not many other people will ever be able to do. There are not many holocaust survivors that are still with us today and so anyone that gets to hear their story from them is extremely lucky. Not only that but the upper school was also to pay attention to Herman’s story and be respectful while she was presenting. Throughout the whole speech, the upper school was silent and respectful as she told her story and gave her a big thank you as she left.
One of a few
Before the war, Herman’s father was a doctor that held his practice in the basement of their home. When she was growing up, she always smelled the antiseptics and sterilizing smells that would come from him cleaning his tools. Later during the war, Herman became extremely sick and had to be checked out by a doctor. During her visit, she accidently told him that he smelled like her dad, which was a very dangerous thing for her to say. At that point in her life her and her mom were living on fake papers and the doctor could have exposed them for it. However, they got lucky, and he was one of the few doctors that did not care if they were Jewish, meaning he did not report them.
Secret Identities
While talking to the school about her experience, she shared stories about when she was hiding. Herman said that her and her mom were separated and lived with two different families. Most of the time, Herman would only see her mom twice a month or when she got super sick. During that time, Herman was living under a different name and a different religion, but she was so young that she didn’t know that she was actually Jewish and was going by a different name.
Learning With Speed
When Herman and her mom finally made it to France, she started school. Unfortunately, Herman did not know any French and had to take first grade as a 10-year-old. While in first grade, she had a hard time making friends and often felt isolated because all the other kids in her class were so much younger than her and actually knew French. However, she learned very quickly and was able to move up to classes that had people her age in them. In those classes, she became comfortable with a few people and began to make a couple of new friends and even got invited to a party.
Following Through
When Herman and her mom finally got the all clear to move to Canada as refugees, they packed up their belongings and left France. In Canada, Herman needed to finish school so she could try to get into college and pursue dentistry. As she was finishing school, she began to receive scholarships because of how well she did in high school which helped her get into college and receive her bachelors. While Herman was finishing school, her mind was set on making sure she was able to become a dentist and follow through on what her mom asked her to become.
Early Plans
When Herman was eight years old, she had an extremely serious conversation with her mom about what her future held. During their conversation, her mother planned out what Herman would go to school for and what career she would have in case they got separated during the war. Herman and her mom came to the final decision that she would go to school and then eventually go on the path that allowed her to become a dentist. Because of Herman’s faith to her mom, she stuck with that plan and did amazing in school and became a successful dentist.
Dentist to Psychologist
While Herman was working as a dentist, she began to use different types of psychological therapies on her patients to ease pain. She would use acupuncture, hypnosis and many other therapies to try and reduce pain or make them calmer. After she had been doing that for a while, her husband finally convinced her that she should look more seriously into becoming a licensed psychiatrist or getting a degree in psychology. So, at the age of 45 she went back to school and got her PHD in clinical psychology.
Starting her own Family
After Herman came to the US, she met her husband and started a family. However, before she met him, she told herself that she never wanted to marry a holocaust survivor because she thought it would make her think about that awful time in her life every time they spoke. That turned out to not be the case and when she met her husband, she immediately connected with him because they shared that experience and were able to talk about it and comfort each other. Once they established their connection, they had two children and decided to raise them under the Jewish religion.
A Moment to Remember
Once Herman left the zoom call history teacher Tim Fitzpatrick led the whole upper school in a moment of silence. After the moment was over, he began to talk about how important and special it was that Herman was able to speak to us and tell us her story, as we are one of the last generations to hear a holocaust survivors story straight from them. “I don’t think you can overstate how valuable it is to our students to be exposed to someone who’s been through something like that,” English teacher Lee Norment said. From the students to the teachers, everyone that heard Herman’s story felt some sort of empathy for what she had to go through and understood the value of being able to hear her story.
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