Hopkins High School student organizes event to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day
HOPKINS, Minn. — The Allies defeated the Nazis, but Holocaust survivors and their descendants are the enduring victory.
Elly Fine Sternberg's grandparents, Esther and Berek Latarus, were both transported to Auschwitz yet made it out alive.
"Hitler tried to destroy them but he didn't. In fact, they had multiplied," Sternberg said with a smile to WCCO. "There was no bigger gift to my grandparents than to come to America, raise a family, be members of their community and then see grandchildren and even great-grandchildren born."
Despite those triumphs, survivors like the Lataruses could not overcome time; Berek died more than two decades ago, while Esther passed away in 2006.
Lucy Smith, of St. Paul, died in July 2022. Herbert Fantle, Victor Vital and Dora Zaidenweber, among other survivors who lived in the Twin Cities, also died within the last few years.
"For me, it is so important to carry on their legacy and their message of survival and hope and faith," Fine Sternberg said. "If I can reach just one person, then I've done my job."
On Monday, more than 500 people heard Fine Sternberg speak at Hopkins High School for a special assembly commemorating Yom Hashoah, the Jewish day of remembrance for the Holocaust.
The large attendance was thanks in large part to Rebecca Badzin, a junior who pitched the idea to administrators in light of the recent surge in antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel.
"Really after Oct. 7, I think we all have seen there are so many people who are not educated, and who haven't had the opportunity to learn what antisemitism is, what the Holocaust is, and why it's so wrong," Badzin lamented to WCCO. "I really wanted people to understand the history of the Holocaust, and also have a personal connection to relate with."
Judging by the reactions of some of Badzin's friends, it was mission accomplished.
"This speaker today just made me think of how we have to spread more kindness to everyone," student Sophia Cotila said.
"She brought the whole school in here and learn about the Holocaust and what Jewish people went through." student Javion Scott added. "Everybody walked out more educated than when they came in."