THE PULSE | SPRING 2025 ISSUE
HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR HANNAH HOLSTEN SHARES HER STORY ON THE HARVEY CAMPUS On Jan. 15, 94-year-old Holocaust survivor Hannah Holsten visited The Harvey School to share her story. The English and History departments, in collaboration with the Jewish Culture Club, organized the event to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Memorial Day. Department chairs Ms. Holmes and Ms. Falcon partnered with the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center in White Plains to arrange a speaker. They worked closely with Executive Director Millie Jasper and Bette Sparago as the liaisons between the school and Mrs. Holsten. According to the organization’s official website, “Holsten lived a normal life in Nuremberg, Germany in 1938 with her mother, father, sister, and brother – until the Nazis came on Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass).” On that night, the Nazis destroyed all of Holsten’s family’s personal belongings, and the family was rounded up and imprisoned overnight. Following this experience was a two-year period when Mrs. Holsten went into hiding all over Europe and fled from Nazis. She was granted entry into the United Kingdom, and she lived in Cardiff before traveling by boat to the United States. Now, Mrs. Holsten lives in Hartsdale and has three children, 10 grandchildren, and two greatgrandchildren. She led a long career in Jewish education and worked up until a decade ago. Giving her testimony, she said it was an “obligation” to share her story. “I’m here,” she exclaimed, “Six million of my brethren are not.” While only students in the Jewish Culture Club had the opportunity to hear Ms. Holsten’s story in person, Mr. Nate Alexander and senior Benji Cutler were able to record her testimony. The edited version was later presented to the entire Upper School community Feb. 11. Anyone who listened to the story of Hannah Holsten would recognize the undeniable artistry of her storytelling. Observing nearly every student in the room glued to the screen, Ms. Holmes explains, “Not only is the content in her story so powerful, but she herself was such a dynamic speaker that the Harvey community was listening to every word she had to say.”
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By Logan Kreisberg Mrs. Holsten began her testimony by outlining the causes of the Holocaust, emphasizing that Hitler was elected by the people. She detailed the restrictive regulations targeting Jews and other marginalized groups. But what ultimately allowed Hitler to assert hegemony across Europe was widespread complicity; Holsten states, “Whatever he did, it was in silence … No one at all spoke up.” As Mrs. Holsten shared her story, she recounted anecdotes that illustrated both the inhumanity of the Holocaust and the moments of luck and action that shaped her fate. After the Night of Broken Glass, when her family’s home and jewelry store were raided and ransacked, her mother put Hannah and her brother on a train to Amsterdam. Though they were not allowed to disembark, Holsten’s Dutch aunt boarded and convinced them to exchange their toys for new ones. Holsten later revealed, “My mother had built in jewels to give to my father.” Her father was able to use these assets to hire smugglers and begin their escape. Mrs. Holsten additionally described almost being at the end of the line during certain parts of her journey. To be transported, her family was placed on a platform at the bottom of a hay wagon. “We rolled along the countryside and, of course, we were stopped … The Nazi officers took their pitchforks, and they put them in the hay. Who was looking after us? Maybe it was G-d. Maybe it was destiny. Maybe it was luck. They did not penetrate us. They were so high that what they hit was really hay, hay, hay, hay, and not us.” When the farmer transporting them could go no farther, he directed them to a nearby bridge that would allow them to cross into Belgium. Mrs. Holseten recalled, “When you looked at the bridge, what was standing there was a troop of soldiers with bayonets aiming at us again … But again, Miracle of Miracles … these soldiers turned around and allowed us to cross the bridge. Was it empathy, was it they saw a young woman with three children, and they were not gonna kill them? So they turned around. We were safe. We got into Brussels.”
Mrs. Holsten speaking with Harvey students. Photo taken by Mr. Nate Alexander.
Once in Belgium, her father used the family’s remaining funds to immigrate to Great Britain. After a year of enduring blitzkriegs, her family moved to the United States before they were trapped in a war-torn Europe. While Mrs. Holsten’s immediate family made it out of the Holocaust, not all of her relatives were as fortunate. At the end of her testimony, she shared the story of her aunt in the concentration camp. “My aunt was betrayed at the same time as Anne Frank in Holland. She went to Auschwitz. She had a son whom she gave away as a 4-year-old to complete strangers.” Telling the story of her aunt made Mrs. Holsten tear up at the thought of someone giving away their own child so they have a better chance at life. Her aunt remained in Auschwitz for the remainder of the Holocaust, but her uncle was killed on a Death March shortly after liberation. Mrs. Holsten later shared that this child is alive, and he currently lives in Israel. However, the story of her aunt and uncle demonstrates the struggles and dehumanization of the Holocaust. The Harvey administration intends on sharing this testimony every four years, so every class that graduates the school has the opportunity to hear Mrs. Holsten’s story. As the number of Holocaust survivors lessens over time, it is even more crucial to preserve their testimonies so that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten.
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