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Campus News
The Clarion \ January 22, 2020
Holocaust speaker comes to BC
92-year-old shares stories from the past to avoid ^reliving ^ it
By Mickayla Smith
staff Writer
On Jan. 16, Dr. Walter Ziffer came to
Brevard College to talk to Brevard Middle
School students, Brevard College students and
community members about the Holocaust.
Dr. Ziffer is a 92-year-old from Czechoslovakia
who came to the United States in 1948. He
earned an engineering degree from Vanderbilt
University, two master’s degrees from the
graduate school of Theology of Oberlin College
and a doctorate in theology from the University
of Strasbourg in early Christian history, Biblical
Hebrew and comparative religion.
Dr. Ziffer is the author of three books including
“The Birth of Christianity from the Matrix of
Judaism; From Jewish Sect to World Religion,”
“The Teaching of Disdain: An Examination
of Christology and New Testament Attitudes
Toward Jews” and his personal memoirs
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of “Confronting the Silence: A Holocaust
Survivor’s Search for God.” All books are
available on Amazon.com.
“I am here because 1 feel like 1 should
share the story of the Holocaust,” Ziffer said.
“If we do not learn from the past, we are
condemned to relive it.” Six million Jewish
people were murdered, 60-80,000 Romas
(Gypsies), Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christians,
pastors, priests, socialists and 100,000 soldiers
vanished. In Ziffer’s own family, 15 were
murdered in concentration camps.
Before the Czech Republic was occupied
by the German army, it was a democratic
country. Ziffer said his family was among the
middle-class and beloved by the people in their
neighborhood.
When the Czech Republic was occupied
by the German army, anti-Semitism spread
rapidly throughout their town. People who were
considered friends of the family turned against
the Ziffers. Their town synagogue was burned
down by the Germans. Their whole world turned
upside down and everyone seemed to hate the
Jews.
Jews were forced to wear white bands around
their arms with the Star of David attached to it.
On June 29, 1942, the Ziffer family moved into
a ghetto. However, even in the miserable state
everyone was in, they still found happiness in
being together.
That sadly did not last long. SS officials
bombarded the ghettos and took everyone to
the train station. The SS officers had whips and
handguns and took all of their belongings. They
separated men from women by their ages. All
the families were separated and the lives that
they knew were taken away from them as they
all entered a new universe.
They entered a universe where their rights
were stripped away from them. The Jews weren’t
considered people anymore. Officials would
torture these people for entertainment.
It was chaotic and disgusting. Dr. Ziffer was
taken in 1942 when he was 15. He moved around
to seven different concentration camps for three
years until they were liberated. Luckily, his story
has a happy ending.
After everyone was liberated, Ziffer went on
a quest to find his family. He found his mother,
sister and cousin. After that, the four of them
went back home to Tesin. They found one of
their old maids and she told them that his father
was already staying with her.
Finally, the family was reunited. Some things
would never be the same, but at least they
were together. It is important to remember the
Holocaust. I know most of us would rather not
think about something so vile but Ziffer has a
point. If we don’t learn from the past, “we are
condemned to relive it.”
Dr. Walter Ziffer, a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor, speaks to a crowd of students about his experiences in
Ingram Auditorium on Jan. 16.