SPEAKER Holocaust Survivor Shares Tales By Maya Noronha Hoya Staff Writer
Holocaust survivor Flora Singer shared anecdotes about the ways she and her family repeatedly escaped the Nazis to about 40 students and faculty Tuesday in Copley Formal Lounge. Singer said that while their identity came close to being discovered numerous times, with the help of many who risked their lives – including a German soldier – the Singer family survived.
Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Singer was the oldest of three girls in a Jewish family. Her father came to America in 1938, expecting his wife and children to soon follow; however, it was difficult for her mother and sisters to leave the country after the Nazi army overtook the country May 10, 1940.
“[May 10, 1940] haunts me just as September 11, 2001,” she said. “I still cannot understand man’s push to kill others – and for what?” she said.
Singer held up a piece of fabric with the Star of David – the symbol that the Nazis required Jews to wear to identify them by their religion. “I had to wear this,” she said. “When it was on my garments I had to suffer many insults. [The school children] would kick me and say, `Dirty Jew,'” she said. “I am proud of my [faith] tradition. Every religion teaches you to be good . [but] when this [star] was put on me it wasn’t for me to be good. It was for me to be ashamed.”
Singer said she had to steal food because Jewish people were denied rations and at one point hid five kilograms of sugar in a doll box. When a customs officer requested to see what was inside the box, Singer said she pretended to cry because he was trying to take her doll box away. The officer let her go.
Singer also recounted the story of when her family was fleeing from Antwerp and an officer was checking their documents. To avoid being discovered, Singer’s mother told her children to pick a fight to distract the officers. Again, quick thinking got the family out of danger, Singer said.
Hiding on the back of the truck on the way to a hideout, Singer said she and her sisters were told to be extra quiet at the checkpoints where the army checked the vehicle and asked for identification. Singer recalled feeling the extreme urge to cough due to allergies, thinking she would choke to death from not coughing. “[Coughing] would get all of us arrested. I figured not to, because I’d rather die,” Singer said.
Janice Wang (MSB ’04) said she was impressed by the speaker’s personal accounts and the ways in which she repeatedly nearly missed being captured. “The fact that an 8-year-old had to take charge and be responsible – that was captivating,” Wang said.
A friend of Singer’s father, Karl Frischbier, helped Singer’s family. Although he was drafted as a member of the German military, Frischbier brought food for the children and told Singer’s family to flee Antwerp just prior to a massive raid.
“I am one of the fortunate ones who survived the Holocaust because amidst the darkness of hate and murder . a few righteous individuals, the few just of the nations as we call them, cared enough to risk their lives so we could live,” Singer said.
She mentioned the efforts of various people, whom she called “the sparks of light, the heroes,” who helped her family survive the Holocaust. They included a Benedictine monk, an industrialist, a Catholic nun and even a German soldier. Singer has worked to plant trees at the memorial in Jerusalem for those who risked their lives to help the Singers and families like them.
“It was incredible to hear how much she has worked to make sure people who helped her are recognized,” Leah Hastings (GRD ’02) said.
At the beginning of her speech, Singer made a distinction between Germans and Nazis. “One needs to be very careful never to equate the word `German’ with the word `Nazi.’ The two are very different,” she said. “Someone who was German had no choice in the matter, but to be a Nazi . people do [that] freely and not only Germans.”
Professor of Linguistics Deborah Tannen said she liked the way Singer defined her terms. “What really stood out for me was her humanity,” Tannen said. “I was really moved when she spoke of Germans and said that we don’t choose where we are born. Becoming a Nazi is a choice. [The] same thing goes for terrorists and racists.”
“Now unfortunately is again a time to mourn, a time to light too many candles, not for joy, but in memory of the dead,” Singer said. “All of this [is] because of man’s unreasonable hatred towards his fellow man. As a survivor of the Holocaust, I know too well the lighting of memorial candles for people whose lives were snuffed out before their time . we share the same color blood. We share the same salty tears,” Singer said.
After escaping from Europe, Singer came to United States at age 16, learned to speak and write English, obtained American citizenship and became a teacher in the Montgomery County, Md., public schools. In 1999, Singer received the Immigrant Achievement Award.
Singer did not speak about her experiences until nearly forty years after coming to America, when she heard about Arthur Butz’s book The Hoax of the 20th Century which challenges whether the Holocaust really occurred. Singer presently speaks at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and is Co-President of the Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Friends of Greater Washington. Singer’s lecture, entitled “Braving the Holocaust,” was sponsored by the Lecture Fund.
