“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.” ― Elie Wiesel
Octogenarian’s Credo: “Never Forget”
BOSTON, MASS. (Issued Summer 2015) — World War II ended 70 years ago. But the memories remain vivid for the dwindling number of Holocaust survivor eyewitness. The average age of survivors is about 85 and the total number alive worldwide is estimated at 190,000. Some 1,000 survivors die every day.
“It’s one thing to read about the Holocaust or watch a documentary,” says Irv Kempner of Sharon, Mass., son of Holocaust survivors and chair of the Mass. chapter of March of the Living (MOTL) (https://motl-wordpress.wmkwso.easypanel.host/), “but hearing the personal account from a survivor in person brings the story to a whole new level and to new generations.”
That’s why 81 year-old Sid Handler of Newton never misses an opportunity to talk about his life to groups of all ages — especially kids — and why he has participated as a ‘survivor contributor’ in adult March of the Living (MOTL) trips in 2007 and 2014. It also explains why, last spring, he took his own family including three grandchildren to his native Vilna, Lithuania, and why he plans to participate in his third MOTL adult trip in 2016. Accompanying Handler on his family trip were wife Claire, daughter-in-law Wendy, and three grandchildren: Michael (20), Jessica (18), and Kayla (15.) “We must keep repeating our story to the next generation,” says Handler.
MOTL annually brings over 13,000 Jewish teens from around the world to Poland and Israel. Since 1988, over 250,000 Jewish teens have joined in the life-changing journey. In 2016, Handler and Mel Mann, Friends of MOTL Executive Director, will lead the next adult trip which will include a trip to Lithuania. Mr. Handler is from Vilna, and Mr. Mann is the child of Holocaust survivors from Kovno.
Handler, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1947, serves on the organizing committee of the Massachusetts/New England MOTL chapter. A B. U. graduate, he became a successful businessman and helped organize and serves as a Director of the Friends of the New England Holocaust Memorial.
“Sid had a horrific life during the war,” says Kempner. “I applaud his courage to go back and face his history and share it with new generations, to keep the memories of Holocaust victims alive. Hearing Sid’s story firsthand leaves an indelible mark.” Handler says the memories burden him every day: “Not a single day goes by where I don’t think about lying in that attic listening to my mother’s tears and gunshots,” he told one audience. “Today, every day when I’m alone in the car, going someplace, when I get up in the morning, when I shave, I think about it.”
The Mass. MOTL chapter has three goals: To raise money for scholarships for Massachusetts teens who wish to participate in MOTL 2016; to recruit adults for the May 2016 Friends trip; and recruit teen participants. Kempner has been a featured guest on WHDH TV’s Jewish Perspectives program and on WBZ Radio’s Jordan Rich program.
Handler says, “I long ago vowed to ‘Never forget,’ and to do whatever I can to make sure the world never forgets what happened to my family along with 65% of Europe’s pre-World War II Jewish population.” Handler, a child when the Germans overran Vilna, Poland in 1941, lost most of his family during the war. “I remember a thriving city with 65,000 Jews. I remember my hard-working father with his small trucking company and my mother who took care of the kids and did his bookkeeping,” says Handler. “Then the Germans came and each day people disappeared. By 1943, our ghetto was cut to 10,000. People weren’t taken to concentration camps. They died from malnutrition or disease or were simply shot in a nearby field.” Some 75,000 Jews died in the killing field of Ponary.
Past MOTL teen participant Jake Dinerman of Rhode Island, now 21, said, “It’s really important to hear survivors speak because we are the last generation that will be able to, As they pass away, we must go and bear witness for them. MOTL is also a fantastic way to meet others from around the world and develop bonds that will last a lifetime. All of us came back with changed perspectives and appreciations of life. Walking through the death camps together — then experiencing Israel together– is unforgettable and powerful beyond imagination.”
To potential scholarship donors, Dinerman says, “When you meet individuals that you helped send on the March, you’ll understand why the trip is so important. It is so much more than a trip to Poland and Israel. It’s a life-changing experience that helps shape the Jewish future.”
Sid Handler likes to quote fellow survivor, author/philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel: “To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”
The Mass./New England MOTL chapter is recruiting teens for the 2016 March of the Living to Poland and Israel planned for May 1 – 15.
Any adult interested in joining Mr. Handler on this epic journey is asked to contact Mel Mann, Executive director of the Friends of the March of the Living at: (786) 328-8652 or by email at: [email protected]. For more information about the adult trip, visit www.friendsofthemarchoftheliving.org
Through a matching grant from the Kempner Family Foundation, each donation to MOTL of $1,000 or more will be matched up to a total of $15,000. The funds will be awarded for teen scholarships to help defray trip costs. To donate to the Mass./New England MOTL Endowment Fund, tax-deductible donations may be sent to: CJP – Kempner Family Foundation, c/o Combined Jewish Philanthropies, 126 High Street, Boston, Mass. 02110, with the memo ‘March of the Living.’ A series of informational parlor meetings is being planned in coming months For more information about donations and/or participation in MOTL and teen MOTL trips, contact Irv Kempner: [email protected]. Visit https://motl-wordpress.wmkwso.easypanel.host/.