WEST ORANGE, NJ – Holocaust survivor Fran Malkin visited Roosevelt Middle School on April 30 to recount her tale of death, hiding, suffering, devastation, and ultimately, reconciliation to her past as she answered questions from students and showed a clip from the documentary film “No. 4 Street of Our Lady.”
The Holocaust studies program at Roosevelt Middle School is part of the curriculum of Language Arts Reading teacher, Jay Wecht. Principal Lionel Hush, Vice-Principal Olivia Betances, Mayor Susan McCartney, and Science teacher Tom Ziv, who also lost many family members during the Holocaust, welcomed guests and students, exhorting them to take the words of Ms. Malkin to heart.
“Hate has no home at Roosevelt or in any of the West Orange Public Schools,” Wecht began.
“ It shouldn’t matter - it doesn’t matter what your race is, or your religion, or your skin color, or your age, your gender, your sexual orientation, or what are your preferred pronouns. What does matter is how we treat one another. And what does matter is what you learn under the roof of this building, a school that was erected a half-dozen years before there was even anything called World War II. All of us here who deliver lessons related to math or science, social studies or ELA, related arts or physical education, know that so much will inevitably fade and fall by the wayside. But if you leave these hallowed halls and at least remember the next 60 minutes of history that you will create alongside Fran Malkin, then you will have taken with you that which is truly important, and vital, and essential. What you are about to embark on will never be - can never be - found in a book or on a screen or on a computerized test. And more importantly, as long as you make sure that this is true, it can never be taken away from you, either.”
Students were mesmerized by the gripping story of Feyge “Fran” Malkin, now 87, who resides in town and still travels the world to share her story. Her April 30 visit was slightly different than in the past. She has slowed down a little. Her hearing isn't as good as it was, but her mind is still sharp. Donning a blue jacket, Malkin told students she had just returned from a trip to Auschwitz where over one million Jews had been killed. She said that until 2001, she and her family never spoke of what they went through during the Holocaust. It was clear the trip had impacted her.
Born in 1938 in the town of Sokal, Poland to candy store owners Lea and Eli Letzer, Fran and her family were thrust into World War II with the invasion of Poland by the Nazis in 1939. They were uprooted and forced to live in a ghetto – a “holding area”, said Malkin, until Ukrainians, under the authority of the Gestapo, rounded up Fran’s father and other prominent men in the Jewish community. Years later, the family learned he had been executed outside town and forced to dig his own grave.
The Letzers and other family members, 12 in all, arranged to be hidden in a dark hayloft above a pigsty owned by a feisty Roman Catholic named Francisca Halamajowa and her daughter, Hela. It turned out they hid another Jewish family of three in their basement as well.
Four-year-old Fran cried uncontrollably, and it was feared she would give away their hiding spot. Dr. David Kindler, a local physician who had taken refuge with the family in the loft, fed the young girl poison to silence her after the family agreed it was necessary. Incredibly, she spit out the poison and survived and, at the age of six, the Russians liberated Poland and the family was able to leave the hayloft.
“We were a town of 6,000,” said Malkin, “and by the end of the war, there were 30 survivors – 15 of us saved by Francisca Halmajowa.”
A series of moves and stays in transitional survivor camps, where Fran contracted tuberculosis, followed, until they contacted relatives in the United States who sponsored them for emigration to Newark, NJ, in 1949. Fran learned English, graduated from high school, and eventually married and had a daughter. There are 100 descendants of Fran and her relatives alive today.
Malkin began the journey of reconciling with her past in 2001 and used her uncle’s diary to publish “Years of Horror, Glimpse of Hope: The Diary of a Family in Hiding.” She then traveled with family members and the daughter of Hela Halamajowa back to Sokol to film “No. 4 Street of Our Lady” in 2007.
Several students asked Ms. Malkin questions. She explained how the Halamajowas fed them daily, and living on a farm, they had fresh food. The house and building her family were hidden in are still standing.
When asked how the war changed her, she noted, “My zest for living was gone. I became shy and withdrawn.”
However, when asked how she made it through, she said, “Going on with your life was the best revenge. You couldn’t defeat the Germans, but you can keep them from killing you.”
Pensively reflecting on her trip to Auschwitz and the anger she felt, she concluded, “I’m here… you didn’t kill me.”
SEE ALL THE PHOTOS FROM FRAN MALKIN'S VISIT TO ROOSEVELT HERE.
To watch the documentary "No. 4 Street of Our Lady," scan the code below to watch on Vimeo. It can also be rented for $1.99 on Amazon Prime.
(L-R) Vice-Principal Olivia Betances, Principal Lionel Hush, Science teacher Tom Zin, BOE VP Maria Vera, Tammy Williams, ELA teacher Jay Wecht, Fran Malkin, Mayor Susan McCartney, Hannah McCartney, Paraprofessional Bonnie Goodman, Amy Schwarz, Daniel Goodman, Gary Rothstein
Malkin answers questions
Malkin speaks to students following the assembly
