When I saw the flyer, that Irene Miller, a holocaust survivor will be delivering a lecture at our public library on 12/12/2023, I was most excited to listen, little did I know what impact will it have on me. We have seen these stories many times in movies like Schindlers list, the book thief, life is beautiful, the pianist and through books like the diary of Anne frank, the boy in striped pajamas and many more. Still listening to someone who has gone through these horrors and survived will be different.
The lecture hall was fully packed with enthusiastic crowd of all ages. Irene walked in and started sharing her story. This all began when she was a little girl from Poland, may be 5/6 years old, when they came to know, that the Nazis will be overtaking their country and putting Jews in the concentration camps. Her parents decided to leave along with their two daughters and tried to cross the borders to Russia, then known as Soviet Union.
However, they were denied entry and had to spent almost 2 month in “No man’s land” along with many other refugees stranded there. It was one of the worst experience of her life where everyday basic survival was also hard. The extreme cold was unbearable because of the minimal clothing they could carry while fleeing in a hurry, food was scarce and there was always a looming danger of wild animals. The peasants wives from nearby villages would visit their refugee camp in few days with some food but they would sell it at exorbitant prices that very few could afford. Little Irene after walking for several hours in that cold weather had developed frost bites. But it wasn’t a time to complain or show any weakness.
They all used to sit in a huddle to keep warm. Her mother told them not to be still and keep moving so that they don’t freeze. Little Irene used to move as much as she could with her frostbitten feet. There were many horrible experiences, of which one was, when she noticed an elderly man trying to slide in her blanket. She was too tired and weak to say anything, and fell asleep shortly. The next day when she woke up that man was found dead. People were getting sick and falling dead round the clock. There was one doctor among the refugees, one evening a lady came to him with her baby. Her baby was running high fevers. The doctor said, there’s no use to give any medicine as her baby was already dead.
They finally thought they need to take some action otherwise, it’s going to be the end of all of them. They all went to the soldiers that were at the borders of Soviet Union. They started protesting and arguing with them. The young mother who lost her baby laid the body of her baby in front of those soldiers. But that soldier mercilessly kicked the baby and told the protesters to go back where they came from. Irene’s father then thought of taking the matters in his hand, and decided that they need to get in anyhow. He smuggled his way in, bribed some officers and he was able to get some documents to let his family in Russia. The only trouble was, they only allowed two more people and he had to make a choice between his wife or his daughters. He made the difficult choice to leave his wife behind and they all entered Russia with the heavy heart. Her father kept on trying to smuggle his wife across the border, and when he finally was able to get her papers and went to no man’s land, it was vacated. He came to know that the Nazis came and cleared the area, took all the Jews and put them back in concentration camps.
In the meantime, Irene’s older sister took the role of her mother. While their father used to go out and do some work, these 2 sisters also used to find whatever work they could find in nearby villages. Getting food on the plate was always a struggle, sometimes some kind person would provide them some bread or soup, otherwise it was starvation for several days. They had given up the hope of seeing their mother again and then one day miraculously their mom appeared at their house. Irene pinched herself to check if this was a dream or reality. But somehow she managed to reunite with the family. This was one big happy moment in their otherwise miserable life so far.
Her parents used to go to work. And then one day, they heard the news that the Russian government is taking all the young refugees, those who can work, putting them in trains and taking them to some unknown place. When they heard this news, her parents went to negotiate with some recruiting officers, and unfortunately on the same day, these soldiers came knocking on their doors. They took them to the train station and were putting all of them in one bogey of the goods trains. Irene and her sister, cried, pleaded to those officers but they didn’t budge. However, their parents arrived just in nick of time and avoided being separated again. Now all of them were put in that tiny cart where there wasn’t any window. Just the gap in the doors was only source of light. She didn’t remember for how many days they traveled. They were then taken to Siberia. Siberia then was full of adverse conditions with wild animals like bears and wolves, and extreme weather conditions. They were put in small tents where 3/4 families were living in crowded place. They were made to do some menial jobs, for which they weren’t able to recruit any of their men. After this hardship for few months, they were then taken to South part of Soviet Union , Uzbekistan.
They were slightly relieved to have escaped the extreme cold weather. But the food situation worsened. They used to get some blackened loaf of bread that also had some fungi. Occasionally, they would get potatoes and that was like a feast for them. Irene recalled one such incident. It was her birthday and her mother asked her, what she would have liked to have on her birthday in an imaginary situation if there wasn’t any war. She thought for a moment, and then said “I would like to be so rich, that I could eat potatoes every day”. Her mother started crying and Irene wondered what did she say to upset her mother. She said, now she eats potato every day, but it doesn’t taste the same, like it used to during those days.
In 1945, WWII ended, but their family was still stranded in Russia. Finally after few years, they were able to go back to Poland. Her father unfortunately could not survive this torture and passed away few years down the line while they were still in Russia. Irene remembered, that before the war, Poland was like heaven on earth for her, but now when they went back it was nothing like she remembered. It was just heaps of bricks, wrecks of broken buildings, and flat lands. They had an extended family of more than 100 members. And now only Irene, her mother and her elder sister were the last surviving members. Rest of them were brutally killed. Even after going to their own country, the situation didn’t improve. There was still rise in antisemitism. Whether it was Hitler, or Stalin or now their own country they were still the targets.
Her sister had married a boy from the refugee camp and they decided to move to Israel in search of better future. Irene and their mother also followed them. One thing, during this struggle she didn’t forget or leave was her ability to learn new language, new skills, from wherever possible. There was no proper schooling during these years, so she learnt from any and every opportunity she could grab. And finally in search of better career she decided to come to USA. She didn’t know Russian when they went to USSR, Hebrew when she went to Israel, or English when she came to US. She learnt it along the way. And then she graduated with 2 masters degree from university of Cincinnati, also got her MBA. She never gave up on herself. She is a survivor, a true warrior.
During the Q & A, I asked her, “those people who committed such hideous crimes against your people, do you still hold any grudges, feeling of resentment, revenge, anger against them. When you speak, I didn’t see that. How did you overcame that or how do you manage it?” She said, “I love to live each day with positive attitude. I listen to good music, make new friends irrespective of their age, consider every day as a blessing. Those who committed this genocide did it to make our lives miserable, and to see me living my life to the fullest is kind of a revenge. If I sulk in hate, anger, resentment that would be detrimental to my progress. But have I forgiven them? I would like to think, who am I to forgive them? If there’s any superior power they will meet their just end.”
It was really an empowering and thought provoking lecture. And made me reflect on my behaviour. We complain to our parents, to our spouses if we have same food for 2-3 times in a week. We take out our frustrations on our family if we have a bad day at our workplace. I always know that there are underprivileged, undernourished people all over the world. We may not always be able to help them in terms of money, but even if we stop wasting on unnecessary things or stop food wastage, that could also help someone.
This got me thinking, how blessed we are in our lives. And still how much we crib in our daily lives. At least, we have shelter on our heads, at least we have food on our plate, at least we have a home where someone is waiting for us. For many people that is also a luxury, for some people that’s also the best birthday gift, for some people that’s their dying wish.
(C) Kuldeep shetye
PS: Thank you Irene Miller for sharing your life story. You are a true Hero and an inspiration for many like us.
Reference:
Into no man’s land a historical memoir- by
Irene Miller
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