Holocaust survivors spoke at Branham today for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, giving presentations to sophomores during fifth and sixth period.

89-year-old Herbert Barasch told his story during fifth period. When the Holocaust began, Barasch was an infant. Soon after World War II began, the Gestapo arrested Barasch and his mother, sending them to prison before Barasch’s father asked his employer to negotiate his family’s freedom. 

His parents sent him away with Andrée Geulen-Herscovici, a Catholic schoolteacher in her 20s who worked with the Jewish Defense Committee to rescue Jewish children. Barasch ended up staying with nuns at the Monastery of St Vincent de Paul for two-and-a-half years until the war ended. 

The family eventually reunited after the war and moved to San Francisco, where Barasch continued his studies, married and had children.

However, he did not talk to his family about his trauma as the subject was considered taboo.

“They had very little knowledge of that time, and I just never spoke about it,” Barasch said. “Maybe little snips here and there, but nothing in any depth.”

In the 1990s, Barasch connected with other Holocaust survivors, traveled to Belgium and reunited with Andrée Geulen-Herscovici. 

At the end of the presentations, students asked questions. Barasch talked about the limited diet of bread and water at the convent, dealing with trauma and reconnecting with other survivors. He also answered a question about the current political situation in the U.S.

“The truth of the matter is what you see going on today in our country is a parallel of what happened in Germany,” Barasch said. 

Education Specialist Annie Roos ended the presentation with a call to action. 

“You are now witnesses to Herb’s testimony,” Roos said. “I hope that you take what you’ve heard today and share some of Herb’s story with an adult in your life or a friend in your life. That’s how this testimony goes on.”

Read about community comments at a district board meeting (Dec. 12), a student walkout (Dec. 11), news coverage of Branham (Dec. 9), education efforts (Dec. 9) and the administration’s and Jewish students’ initial response to the ‘human swastika‘ (Dec. 5).