Northern Arizona University’s student voice since 1914 Vol. 114 Issue 3 | September 22, 2022 — September 28, 2022
FEATURES
Holocaust survivor shares her story
Now 94 years old, Esther Basch reflects on her experience with the Holocaust to educate locals about the power of forgiveness
A
DAISY JOHNSTON
round 300 people gathered at the Chabad Jewish Community Center Sept. 15 in an emotional event where 94-year-old Esther Basch, a Holocaust survivor, talked about the power of forgiveness. First, Rabbi Dovie Shapiro spoke, followed by Bjorn Krondorfer, regents’ professor and director of the MartinSpringer Institute. Nicknamed “the Honey Girl of Auschwitz,” Basch then took the podium. Basch was 15 when the region of Czechoslovakia she lived in — which was once Hungary and is now Ukraine — was occupied by German forces in 1944. Months later, Basch and her parents were moved into a ghetto. In the ghetto, Basch said she remembers Christian neighbors throwing bread over a fence when guards were not looking. Rachel Basch Turet is Basch’s daughter. She moderated the event and shared stories passed down to her from her mother. Basch Turet reminded the audience that aiding Jewish people at the time was a crime with severe punishment. Basch said when she was loaded onto a train with about 100 other people, her mother had saved an egg to bake her a birthday cake. On Basch’s 16th birthday, she arrived at Auschwitz, and it was the last time she saw her parents. “I cannot forget the horror they put me through, but I can forgive,” Basch said. “Because if I don’t forgive, if I hold that grudge, I only hurt myself.” Dedication to the Jewish faith and sisterhood helped her to survive life in the concentration camps, Basch said. She regarded the girls she met in Auschwitz as sisters. Basch followed one girl into another room, sneaking away from a different area where other girls were being counted by the angel of death, Josef Mengele. Following the other girl saved Basch from being part of Mengele’s experiments. In 1945, Basch said she was sent on a death march to the Salswedel concentration camp to begin work at an Top: Esther Basch holds a photo of her and her husband as an audience member takes a picture, Sept. 15. ammunitions factory. Three days later, she was liberated by Bottom: Few seats are available as audience members fill the room to listen to Esther Basch’s story at the American soldiers. Chabad Jewish Community Center, Sept. 15. Octavia Freeland | The Lumberjack See SURVIVOR on PAGE 10
NEWS
Parks and Recreation prevents development on Pumphouse County land Coconino County’s Parks and Recreation department expanded the Pumphouse County Natural Area borders by additional six acres for preservation purposes
P
AVA HINIKER
umphouse County Natural Area recently expanded to include an additional six acres of land near Pumphouse Wash in Kachina Village. Organized by the Coconino County Parks and Recreation department, this major development serves as another step toward protecting natural wetlands in Arizona from construction. Located at 3305 Kachina Trail next to Raymond County Park, the Pumphouse County Natural Area is a collection of natural wetlands preserved by Coconino County. This includes the 38-acre Pumphouse Wash known for containing diverse trails and the newly enhanced 16-acre Harrenburg Wash site. The largest subsection of the area is 66-acre Pumphouse Meadow, which holds the historic O’Neil Spring and an antique pumphouse the watershed is named after. The wetlands within Pumphouse County also feed into the larger bodies of Oak Creek and Verde River. Because of the value of this land, Coconino County has Multiple houses surround the Pumphouse County’s protected rare wildlife been gradually building the Pumphouse County Natural Area through donations, habitat. The new protected areas stretch more into the areas near houses, Sept. 16. purchases and grant funds since 2000, a trend which continued this year. Storey Welch | The Lumberjack Cynthia Nemeth, the director of Parks and Recreation in Coconino County, is See PUMPHOUSE on PAGE 5 responsible for overseeing the county’s natural resources and recreational programs.