Lessons from A Personal History
Larry Gross, spoke with the class via Skype from Los Angeles to share the story of his journey to retrace his family’s life before and during the Holocaust. As part of a roundup of Jewish people, his family was removed from their home after a normal life in the village of Munkacs, then part of Hungary. They were transported by rail car to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration & Extermination Camp. Larry visited this site in 2005 and walked the ground where his family was personally examined by the notorious Nazi doctor Mengele when they arrived there by boxcar. Larry’s Mother and Grandmother were in the gas chamber where they were to be killed when there was a malfunction and then were taken back to the barracks. Larry’s mom, Alice Sylvester, survived the Holocaust and today still stands as a witness to the Holocaust and the power of the human spirit. The students were keenly interested in this very personal story that both shed light on the history that they are studying as well as the human condition and the need to stand up to hatred and discrimination. Larry has been a friend of the school for many years through his leadership of the Coalition for Economic Survival in LA. We are very grateful for his sharing with our students. You can read the letters that students wrote to Larry by Clicking this link.