{"id":32641,"date":"2019-05-24T03:51:21","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T10:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=32641"},"modified":"2019-05-23T13:47:02","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T20:47:02","slug":"memories-and-miracles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/05\/24\/memories-and-miracles\/","title":{"rendered":"Memories and miracles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Robert Krell with Grade 12 King David High School students Gali Goldman, left, and Edden Av-Gay. (photo by Shula Klinger)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On May 2, King David High School marked Yom Hashoah at its annual assembly commemorating those lost in the Holocaust. This year, for the first time, the school hosted Grade 10 students from Alpha Secondary School in Burnaby.<\/p>\n

The morning began with prayers for the victims of the recent Poway shooting in San Diego. After a minute\u2019s silence, the assembly commenced with a procession led by child Holocaust survivor Dr. Robert Krell. Each of the five KHDS students in the procession carried a candle.<\/p>\n

Originally from The Hague, Krell is founding president of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and an educator and advocate for the centre\u2019s programs. He is also professor emeritus, department of psychiatry, University of British Columbia, and distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He was introduced by KDHS students Estie Kallner and Mattea Lewis, his granddaughters. They spoke of their grandfather, thanking him for the \u201cprivilege\u201d of hearing firsthand stories of the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

Krell began his talk holding up a black and white photograph of himself as a baby. \u201cWho was the enemy of the Third Reich?\u201d he asked the audience. \u201cThis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Krell was born when Holland was already occupied by Nazi forces. Indeed, the hospital he was born in was already partially confiscated by the Gestapo. He described how restrictions were imposed rapidly, every mundane aspect of Jewish life being placed under more and more stringent rules. Deportations began in 1942. Speaking of the local Jewish population being assembled for the euphemistically named \u201cresettlement in the east,\u201d he said, \u201cNo one panicked sufficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krell went on to describe how, as family friends began to disappear, his \u201crather astute\u201d parents fled their home, taking few possessions. \u201cWhat would you grab?\u201d he asked. His parents abandoned their photo albums because, in enemy hands, they would give away too much personal information.<\/p>\n

Placed in the care of a local Dutch Christian family, Krell learned to call the parents Mother and Father. He described them as \u201cthe most wonderful people on earth.\u201d With them, he said, his life was \u201ccomparatively normal.\u201d That said, with the ever-present risk of betrayal, as a dark-haired child in a sea of blond heads, he was very noticeable. He was not allowed to look out of the apartment windows; there were Dutch Nazi sympathisers living within sight of his adoptive home.<\/p>\n

One of the most powerful aspects of the lecture were Krell\u2019s insights on human memory and identity under conditions of extreme stress. He described his recollections as \u201cfragmented, not fully formed\u201d and, while his young mind didn\u2019t appreciate the extent of the horrors being committed outside, he said, \u201cI knew something was wrong because I was part of another family.\u201d His mother, he explained, remembered nothing of that period. Having given her young son over to a Dutch Christian, he said, \u201cShe was in shock for three months.\u201d He spoke in the present tense of how his real identity vanished in hiding. \u201cI melt into the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an adult, his adoptive sister, Nora, also buried some memories, which led to a conflict with Krell. He recalled being taken to visit his mother by Nora but Nora said she had never done that. This was a way of \u201cdenying me my memory,\u201d he said, adding that this denial causes grievous harm to the psyche. Even though we have fragmented memories, he said, \u201cwe don\u2019t want to give them up because they are part of who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, the disagreement was resolved. Nora had indeed taken Krell to see his mother. Twice, he was nearly discovered and twice he narrowly escaped, first by covering his head with a blanket and, the second time, by hiding under a bed.<\/p>\n

His years in hiding were characterized by unease, a looming sense of fear and constant hyper-vigilance. After the war, his family moved to Vancouver, leaving behind Holland, which he said he viewed as \u201ca place of death.\u201d He described himself as \u201cthe most eager immigrant-in-waiting that ever existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once in Canada, Krell reinvented himself, hiding his shyness behind outward charm and sociability. He said he became resilient, ignoring illness and pain, striving to forge a new life, a family and career for himself.<\/p>\n

He spoke of the medical advice he received when dealing with overwhelming feelings \u2013 \u201cYou should get rid of your obsession with the Holocaust.\u201d Instead, he helped found the Holocaust Symposium for high school students and facilitated the recording of 140 testimonies from survivors.<\/p>\n

Following the lecture at KDHS, Krell answered questions from students, concerning Holocaust education today, as well as why it is that some people hid Jews and put their own lives at risk. Krell referred to \u201ccommon decency,\u201d adding that his own rescuers \u201cdidn\u2019t know the precise nature of the unfolding danger, but once they had me, they were committed.\u201d He told the students that, in spite of the \u201cshowcase\u201d of the Nuremberg trials, \u201cthere is no justice.\u201d And, are we at risk today? \u201cMassively.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Left to right: KDHS students Gali Goldman and Edden Av-Gay, Dr. Robert Krell\u2019s daughter Simone Kallner, Dr. Robert Krell and his granddaughters Estie Kallner and Mattea Lewis. (photo by Shula Klinger)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his closing comments, Krell shifted from storyteller to teacher, using the narrative of his life to guide the students in theirs. \u201cLearn your history,\u201d he said. \u201cIn it lies everything to secure the safety of your children and grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cWithout engaging with the Holocaust, you are at great risk of becoming an under-educated person, and that makes you vulnerable. This mass murder took doctors, lawyers. Physicians were killing children in 1938. It was the doctors, engineers, architects. Each of the professions we trust for our safety. They all worked in the service of mass murder. Safeguard your professions from sliding into the abyss. It happens so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grade 12 students Edden Av-Gay and Gali Goldman spoke with Krell after his talk. Av-Gay was struck by how \u201cone person could experience so many miracles in his life, especially someone born into such hardship\u201d and said, \u201cHis story is truly amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldman, who had recently given a class presentation on youth movements during the Holocaust, had heard Krell tell his story before. She said she was still touched by how \u201che lost so much but he has devoted his life to teaching about what he went through, even though it was horrific. He can still find parts of his story that were miracles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about Krell\u2019s decision to speak about his past, Av-Gay said, \u201cI think it\u2019s not a matter of him being comfortable telling his story, I think he feels obligated to do it, to share his past, to show what happened to six million Jewish people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alpha Secondary Grade 10 student Amy Ricker said she found Krell \u201cmotivating and inspiring.\u201d Ricker, who hopes to become a humanitarian lawyer, said she \u201cteared up because he showed me how in the dark I have been, and how much I want to help people.\u201d<\/p>\n

One perhaps surprising message in his talk was a warning about tolerance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Jews were \u2018tolerated\u2019 in Holland, and the result was the deaths of over 80% of the Jewish population,\u201d he said, \u201cthen we have to do much better than just tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he finished his lecture, he said, \u201cRealize what you have. Thank your parents and tell your irritating siblings that you love them. I urge you \u2013 be kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shula Klinger<\/strong> is an author and journalist living in North Vancouver. Find out more at shulaklinger.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Robert Krell with Grade 12 King David High School students Gali Goldman, left, and Edden Av-Gay. (photo by Shula Klinger) On May 2, King David High School marked Yom Hashoah at its annual assembly commemorating those lost in the Holocaust. This year, for the first time, the school hosted Grade 10 students from Alpha […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[9019,2253,3076,53,1559,8676,4349],"class_list":["post-32641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-alpha-secondary","tag-child-survivor","tag-education","tag-holocaust","tag-kdhs","tag-remembrance","tag-robert-krell"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}