International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Who Will Remember?
- Posted on January 26, 2022
- Estimated reading time 3 minutes
It has been less than 80 years since the end of the Holocaust and only the very last few of the witnesses, the survivors, of that tragedy are here to talk about it. In less than 80 years from now, only the very last of the people who heard it directly from a witness will be around. Who will remember after that? Who will recount history and fight to make sure it never happens again? That is up to you and me.
One of those last remaining survivors is my father, Elly Gotz. Today, I am honored to say that he will be speaking to Avanade as part of the Jewish Employee Resource Group event in remembrance of the Holocaust.
My father was born in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1928. When he was 13, the Nazis invaded Lithuania and forced all the Jews in the city into a tiny ghetto containing almost 29,000 people.
While living in the ghetto, my father’s baby cousin was anaesthetized, hidden in a knapsack, and smuggled out of the ghetto where a Lithuanian family risked their lives to take her in and raise her. She was reunited with her parents after the war.
Over time a series of Nazi ‘actions’ were undertaken, killing many of the ghetto’s residents including 9,200 Jews killed in one day on October 29, 1941. During one of those so called ‘actions’, my father’s family hid in the basement where my grandmother, a nurse, had laid out hypodermics with overdoses of a heart stimulant to allow the family to commit suicide together if they heard the soldiers coming.
In 1944, my grandfather, my father, and his cousins were transported to the concentration camp called Dachau, just outside Munich. My father was only seventeen, but he was tall and had trained as a machinist in self-organized school in the ghetto, so he was put to work in a slave labor camp near Dachau, building a giant underground aircraft factory. Towards the end of the war, he was transferred together with his father to the main camp at Dachau where they were liberated by the American Army on April 29, 1945. I am named after his cousin who died in Dachau.
My father spent time recuperating in Germany (he had typhoid, was six feet tall and weighed 80 pounds). He, his father, and mother were reunited and taken in by Norway. Eventually they travelled to Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe, where my grandfather had a brother who had moved to Africa before the war. Within a year, my father learned English, passed the university entrance exams, and subsequently graduated in South Africa as an electrical engineer. After getting married and having three children (including me), we all emigrated to Canada, where he became successful in business and fulfilled his lifelong dream of learning to fly.
My father speaks to 10,000 - 15,000 high-school and college students each year about his experiences and the lessons that he’s taken. He covers different themes in different talks, but one is on the necessity of letting go of hate and how hate is a poison that the victim eats. Another message that I believe is critically important to communicate to young people is: Beware of demagogues who point to ‘the other’ as the cause of your problems.
Who will remember? Who will carry on these memories and these messages? I am proud of Avanade for giving us space to learn and remember. We have an obligation to study this event, to communicate its stories and its messages to our children, to fight against those who deny or discredit this history and to ensure that humanity will never forget.
Category Inclusion and Diversity
Carolyn Frazier
Thank you, Ruven, for sharing your father's very moving story.
Katrina Zamets
Thank you for sharing your story Ruven. And the reminder that it is incumbent on each of us to keep remembering and teaching the next generation. Regretfully, I missed the session, but I look forward to listening to the recording.
Samira Safaie
Thank you for sharing Ruven. Too bad I missed him. Did we record the session?
Paul Brown
Great talk from Elly Gotz. It is amazing that he not only survived the horrific atrocities for so long, but his close family as well. Great to see how he prospered after the war as well.
Kristen Johnson
Ruven, what an amazing father you have. I was very moved reading what he went through and overcame. He is a true beacon of hope, light and triumph and it is so important that these experiences continued to be shared with the future generations. Thank you.
Ruven Gotz
Thank you Kristen. I am very proud of him.
Pamela Mayard
Thank you, Ruven, for sharing your father’s inspiring story, and it’s an incredible privilege to have him speak with our employee network about his experiences. I’m #AvanadeProud to see our people coming together to learn, reflect, and honour those we lost and the lives that are forever changed.
Ruven Gotz
Thank you Pam. I will share your comments on to my father. I am #AvanadeProud that we make space and time available to have these types of important, if sometimes painful, discussions.
Sandra Affettuoso
Like Sarah, I'm still touched by the JEN call yesterday. Today I read the story of your father. Thank you for sharing. Really impressing. And not long ago I had again a conversation with my son...Be assured we won't forget.
Ruven Gotz
Thank you Sandra. Sharing with our children is so important and necessary.
Fabian Slupek
Thanks for sharing your powerful story, Ruven. I live 2h away from Dachau and have been there multiple times over the years. It is a very moving experience to go and visit this place and it is good that it good preserved. Reading a personal story of a colleague you know, which is so closely related to this place, is very moving. It is super important to remember and stand up against anything going into this direction again. In Germany, we have "Stolpersteine"which help us to not forget about the victims who once lived nearby.
Ruven Gotz
Thank you Fabian for your comment. I think it's important for the world to know how Germany works hard to make sure this history is never forgotten.
Ruven Gotz
Thank you Steve, I will pass on your thanks to him.
Sarah Kane
Thank you Ruven for introducing us to your father's powerful story. I have not long come off the JEN call and I left feeling moved and inspired. I will remember. And I will make sure my children know and remember.
Ruven Gotz
Our duty to remember and teach these lessons is critical. Thank you for participating and for commenting.
Dean Swann
I promise to remember. I promise to pass your moving story on to my children and grandchildren. Thank you so very much for sharing, Ruven!
Ruven Gotz
Thank you Dean! This is my goal. I appreciate your words and your commitment.
Mirjam van Olst
Thank you for sharing your dad's powerful story Ruven! I hope we can all help to continue to share his messages and ensure that we will never forget.
Ruven Gotz
Thank you Mirjam. I share your hope that we succeed in keeping this history alive.
Pam Greenstein
What a powerful story, filled with courage and love. Thanks for sharing. Your father is doing a wonderful mitzvah with all of his speaking engagements to young people. I agree, we must carry on these messages and memories. Very proud that Avanade is hosting this, and that your dad will be spending time with us. Thank you Elly. Looking forward to the session tomorrow.
Ruven Gotz
Thank you for your kind words Pam.
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