Holocaust Survivor Bears Witness at Hazelwood College
Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental visited Hazelwood College last week and spoke to History students about his experiences of growing up in Slovakia in the 1930s and of enduring life in the concentration camp at Bergen Belsen. Throughout the ninety minute talk, Tomi spoke of the horrors that he had witnessed, the loss of forty of his relatives, the disrespectful burial of his grandmother’s corpse and the betrayal of members of his family by those they had live alongside and been friends with. Despite this and the horrors he witnessed firsthand as a child, Tomi also spoke at length about the courage and bravery of those who attempted to shelter him, including the local parish priest, who treated Tomi’s family and other Jewish families with respect. Tomi inspired awe in how he described his mother’s determination to get both Tomi and his brother Nicholas through their ordeal.
Students heard of vile crimes of the Nazis and those who collaborated with them, but also of Tomi’s father who escaped from a moving train and how he came to live in Ireland. While Tomi’s talk concerned the past, his message for students was directed towards the future. He warned them about the dangers of using scapegoats and about the importance of tolerance and the dignity of the individual, while his own story since 1945 suggested that even in the worst of circumstances, it is possible to find a way to have a happy life again.
