A once-in-a-lifetime journey

BASYA LAYE

Each year in April, thousands of teens from around the world, travel to Poland to bear witness to the devastation of the Holocaust, visiting death camps, memorials, former Jewish ghetto sites, Jewish cemeteries and what remains of Jewish Poland. After a sobering recreation of the three-kilometre death march from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Holocaust Remembrance Day by 10,000 teens, survivors and educators, the teens then pile onto the airplanes that take them to Israel for a joyous celebration of Israeli Independence Day and a week-long celebration of the state of Israel and the survival of the Jewish people.

It's a lot for a teenager to process but in each year since its founding in 1988, March of the Living organizers have done their best to train adult chaperones to debrief and counsel the young participants. This year, for the first time, the local delegation will be joined by a child survivor of the Holocaust.

Alex Buckman, who was born in Belgium, spent the duration of the war in an orphanage with his cousin. His parents, who were aware of the dangers they faced and the difficulties in moving a small child from hiding spot to hiding spot, placed their young son in Catholic homes, to hide him from the Gestapo. After several placements, they decided that the safest place for him would be an orphanage. They enlisted the help of a member of the Belgian resistance who made the dangerous trek with young Alex to a mountain orphanage, where he remained until Liberation.

It took Buckman many decades to tell his story, but he now speaks widely on his experiences. He recently shared some of them with the Independent, as well as his excitement at being chosen to participate in the 2010 March of the Living.

"I was really surprised and shocked I was the first one [child survivor].... I talked with the person in charge and said, how could this possibly be? We've been [here]!"

Although Buckman is surprised that he is the first child survivor to participate, it was only just over a decade ago that he began to tell his story and be involved in survivor-related activities.

"I've been connected with the Holocaust centre for the past 12 to 13 years. I used to buy a menorah or other things from a Jewish store that was on 41st and we used to talk, and she found out who I was and she told me there's a child survivors group and would I attend? And I said, no, I'm not interested in that."

At first, Buckman hesitated to become involved. "I just closed up, I didn't want to share all these things. I mean, it was all here but I didn't want to share it. She finally asked me to come to one meeting and see what it was and that one meeting changed my life. It was almost 30 of us that were there – and it was 30 like me. See, that was something I'd never experienced before. And then, all of a sudden, here they were and, all of a sudden, they were sharing their story and then, all of a sudden, it was my story. So much in common, so many similarities, we were all child survivors, we were all survivors, we all came from Europe. Most of us either lost one parent or two parents, family members, so naturally we have a lot of things in common. One thing led to another and I got involved."

Once he realized that he had a story to share and could verbalize it, he threw himself into the world of speaking to students, making him a perfect fit to join the 2010 March of the Living delegation.

"What also helped was the fact that I didn't know that I had a story but I did, but I kept it. And then, somebody asked me to speak, and I said, no, I don't have a story. They said, but you have a story! I said, yeah, but that's personal – I thought it was personal. Then I found out that other child survivors were speaking in schools and different places. Then, somebody was sick and someone else was away and, to make a long story short, I said OK, and I went cold turkey one day and ... I saw the impact that it had on students. Then I polished what I had to say, because I could have three, four, five, six hours but you have to bring it down to one hour and what is important in one hour, so I did that and then I never looked back.

"I speak now in schools, in both languages, in French and English.... I speak at the Holocaust centre. I prefer schools because you have definitely more students. And then I speak at the UBC symposium and then, unfortunately, there are not many survivors who can speak in Calgary, so I go to Calgary to speak at their symposium and on and on and on. Speaking has become a must.... Besides the UBC symposium, the Holocaust centre has set up three other symposia, one in Burnaby, one in Surrey and one in Coquitlam.

"Then I joined, some years ago, the World Federation of Child Survivors of the Holocaust – I was their treasurer for a number of years. Every year we used to go to a conference and the last conference that we had was in Israel. I pushed for Israel ... I felt that Israel was the place for us to go.... I love Israel. If I had my way, I'd be there now. I was nearly there after the war."

Buckman's parents, Isaac Backmann and Dworja Wajnbergier Backmann, did not survive the camps. There was confusion over what to do with orphans of the Holocaust and Buckman was nearly sent to Palestine.

"After the war, my parents didn't come back from the camps. We were handed over to the Red Cross and they didn't know what to do with us. I was there with my cousin, who I thought was my sister. If no one was coming back, we were all going to go to Palestine. As it happened, the parents of my sister – my cousin, who I called my sister – both survived." Buckman was taken in by his aunt and uncle and moved to Canada in 1951.

Buckman partially credits his work for the federal government, building homes on First Nations' reserves, for connecting him to another people's experience of survival and, in turn, his own.

He was working as a bank manager when he was approached for the position, but he felt uncertain about the government's intentions. "I said I would do it but I wanted build good houses not the 'crapola' that they had before."

Once convinced that he could do some good, he said, "I never looked back. It was the best thing I've ever done. Because of my background and their background we seemed to mesh very, very well.... I felt good about it. It was, you know, working in the bank and giving money out was not an incentive.... It was more the connection with the people.... After a while I found that people are prejudiced, I've lived with prejudice so I know what prejudice means. And they were prejudiced with First Nations – after a while I couldn't stand it anymore, the prejudice that I heard, so I used to say, I work for the federal government and I can't talk about it. For years and years and years I didn't talk about it, but I knew what I was doing. It was the best thing I could have done. It opened up a lot of things even for myself, to give, you know?"

Buckman has served on the executives of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and the World Federation of Child Survivors of the Holocaust and he is justifiably proud of what he and other child survivors have accomplished.

"We did a lot – and then there was a survey [conducted]. The majority of all child survivors had a job or position that was in helping other people. And that was over 85 percent – that's huge. It's understanding and wanting to give back. We survived and what could we do?"

To understand the impact of a March of the Living experience, the Independent spoke via e-mail with Lyore Friedmann, a participant in the 2008 program.

"March of the Living changed my life. It was one of the most incredible experiences I had ever had. I didn't know what to expect at first.... Our delegation shared a very moving experience that created very special bonds between people that didn't even know each other. I ended up coming home with many new friendships."

She offered advice for those teens who might be uncertain about participating. "The only thing I can say is that they must do it. I was afraid of going on this trip at first. I was scared I wouldn't meet new people, that I wouldn't be able to handle the emotions the camps would bring over me. But I ended up coming home with friendships that will last a lifetime."

Shifting gears from the tragedy of Poland to the relief and excitement of Israel can be jarring, but it can also be a revitalizing experience.

"After walking through the camps where so many Jewish people were killed and stripped of their identities so brutally, it was so empowering to walk off the plane onto our homeland, where Jewish people now live and thrive freely."

Many students become more involved in community after returning home and Friedmann has continued her community involvement. "After March of the Living, I have been extremely inspired to create awareness, and to never let the memories of the millions who died and suffered to be lost. In 2008, I organized a Holocaust memorial ceremony, along with two of my friends.... We invited public schools from across Vancouver to our ceremony." She has also started volunteering with survivors at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.

Myra Michaelson has been involved for years with the program. "As Vancouver's March of the Living chairperson and having had my own experience as [an] educator/chaperone, I have witnessed the profound changes participants experience in their sense of Jewish identity, their excitement to share their feelings and knowledge with a variety of audiences," she told the Independent.

March of the Living is subsidized locally by grants from the Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. Federation also provides organizational support. Registration for the 2010 March of the Living has been extended until Jan. 15. For information, contact If'at Eilon-Heiber at 604-257-5100 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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