|
|
Nov. 16, 2007
Freedom to live, work
Lawyers without Rights aims to educate.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
"All people should be vigilant and learn how to protect their human rights, as there are societies out there wanting to take away those rights, even today." This is one of the reasons that people should take the time to see the Lawyers without Rights exhibit, now on at Simon Fraser University Harbor Centre.
The comment was made by author and educator Lillian Boraks Nemetz, during an interview with the Jewish Independent. Her father, Stanislaw Boraks, is one of the B.C. lawyers featured in Lawyers without Rights, along with Fritz Oberlander and Sam Sussel, all of whom have passed away. The information about Boraks, Oberlander and Sussel was collected through interviews conducted by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC) with the lawyers' children, Boraks Nemetz, Peter Oberlander and Walter Sussel, respectively. The Independent also contacted the lawyers' children, as well as Terri Cohen, Sam Sussel's granddaughter, who is a practising lawyer.
Unfortunately, Peter Oberlander was not available for comment at the time this article was written, but his story is featured in the fall issue of the VHEC's Zachor, as are the stories of the other lawyers. None of the children hesitated when the VHEC approached them about having their fathers featured in Zachor and in Lawyers without Rights.
"I wanted to bring the memory of my father and his life into the present, because his life was crushed at such an early age, and I felt there is so much to learn from this exhibit," explained Boraks Nemetz. "I honor my father's memory and the memory of all those who perished and who were deprived of human rights. I am grateful to the Holocaust centre for making this possible, not only as a memorial, but as a testimony to the viciousness and cruelty inflicted on innocent human beings."
Boraks Nemetz has written three autobiographical novels, including The Old Brown Suitcase (Ronsdale Press), the second edition of which is coming out in spring. She told the Independent a little about her father's and her family's escape from Poland.
"In 1939, after the Nazi invasion of Poland, we returned to Warsaw from the country and found our home vandalized, most of our things looted and the remaining articles [ruined]: broken dishes, shattered glass and torn books. Soon after that, my father lost his right to practise law because he was a Jew.
"A year later," she continued, "we were herded into the ghetto where my father worked for the Judenrat and became a security guard for one of the German work shops, Schultz, in the Warsaw Ghetto, that employed Jews as slave labor. Everyone who had a workers' identity card was exempt for the time being from being deported to Treblinka death camp. My mother and I worked there, although I was hidden under the table, as children were not allowed. My father stood guard and warned us each time a German commandant would come to inspect the premises. My father was instrumental in creating shelters for the homeless and feeding the starving children of the ghetto.
"Soon, the ghetto became the antechamber to a concentration camp, Treblinka, and my father sent me and my younger sister, Basia, out of the ghetto. He sent my mother out on a truck of laborers to the Aryan side of Warsaw, from where she managed to escape to a house of a Christian doctor, a friend of my farther's. Then, my father escaped through the sewers."
Eventually, Boraks Nemetz made it to Canada, and part of that story is what comprises The Old Brown Suitcase. Walter Sussel and his sister were very young when their family fled Germany and have fewer distinct memories.
"[Our] governess took my sister and I close to the border and directed us to walk down the road and someone would meet us. This was in the Alsace area," said Sussel, adding that, "Memories are difficult to separate from what was related to us in later years, as I was not yet five and my sister was two and a half. It seemed more of an adventure, without any associated anxiety. I'm sure my parents had a great deal of anxiety in their surreptitious crossing of the border some days or weeks earlier."
Sussel said that he doesn't remember his parents complaining about the loss of their professional lives when they finally settled in Canada, reinventing themselves as farmers.
"Whatever pain they may have felt was not divulged to me," he said. "Life was hard on the farm, with a great deal of manual labor on everyone's part, however, my parents often expressed their gratitude to be in Canada, even though we were not well off financially.
"As a pediatrician, my mother would not have been working with animals in Germany. When we first arrived in Canada, we stayed for a short time with my uncle who was a veterinarian in Vegreville, Alta., and who had emigrated some two years earlier. He was a veterinarian in the German cavalry during WWI. There was considerable demand for 'horse doctors' in the rural Alberta agricultural community so he had no trouble receiving a visa."
While neither Sussel nor his sister became lawyers, Sussel's daughter took up the legal profession.
"My grandfather's law career in Germany was something that I always admired because of the difficulty faced by Jews in that society, to some extent even before Hitler came to power, as a minority group," Cohen told the Independent. "The fact that he was able to make the transition to a new occupation (first farming and then accounting) in Canada, also made me realize how resilient he was as
a person.
"I believe that my grandfather's experience and training in the law had an influence on my choice of careers and my commitment to the defence of human rights. My grandfather's dedication to certain basic principles and values, such as hard work, fairness, decency, respect for others and also a deep belief in one's traditions, have certainly influenced me as a person and as a professional."
Cohen said that, once she chose to study law, she became the natural "heir" to her grandfather's law degree, which she has prominently placed in her office because, she said, "it reminds me of how much my grandfather meant to me and also that I am working in a field that is part of my family's tradition. The fact that my stepdaughter and her husband are also lawyers continues that tradition."
Boraks Nemetz also values her memories and notes the influence her father had on her.
"My father was an honorable man, known for his honesty and high moral values," she said. "He taught me to have courage in face of adversity, to be an individual who follows a path of truth, is against injustice and reacts in face of discrimination and bullying. He taught me that knowledge and an education are necessary tools in life. These were difficult lessons for me to follow in the post-Holocaust world and a society that didn't understand us, survivors. He died when I was 15, and I tried to the best of my ability to follow his teachings. I managed to do it through trial and error, a great deal of work and persistence."
Boraks Nemetz said that reading and writing have become staples of her daily living, helping her overcome the trauma she suffered for many years after the Holocaust. In addition to writing novels, Boraks Nemetz teaches creative writing and has written poetry. She also co-compiled, with Irene Watts, Tapestry of Hope, an anthology of Canadian writing about the Holocaust.
"Speaking to students for the VHEC outreach program is another one of my important educational activities," said Boraks Nemetz, "and it means a lot to me to be able to reach young people through the story of my family's and my experience during the war."
And education is an important element of the Lawyers without Rights exhibit.
"In my opinion, this is a story that needs to be told," said Sussel, "as the tragedy of loss to society of professional talent is not as widely understood as is the death of millions during the Holocaust."
His daughter echoed that thought.
"I think it's important to remember that emotionally moving exhibits like this one are important vehicles in perpetuating a remembrance of one's traditions," said Cohen, "and an important reminder of the dangers that can threaten the practise of one's faith and profession."
Lawyers without Rights is at SFU Harbor Centre Tower Atrium until Nov. 25, and then heads to the University of Victoria Student Union Building Nov. 28-Dec. 9. For more information on the exhibits, visit vhec.org or lawsociety.bc.ca. A free public forum takes place Nov. 22, at SFU Harbor Centre, and Nov. 29, at the UVic SUB. To register for Vancouver, call 604-669-2533 or e-mail [email protected]. To register for Victoria, contact Joanne Hudder at 1-800-903-5300 or e-mail[email protected].
^TOP
|
|
