Holocaust Education Assembly
Ms. Rose Lipszyc was the special guest speaker at Crescent School’s Holocaust Education Assembly on October 25. While she told her heartbreaking story of survival to the boys in Grades 7 to 12, “you could have heard a pin drop,” says Dr. Sandra Boyes, Head of the Lower and Middle Schools.
As a young girl in Poland, Ms. Lipszyc escaped a forced march to certain death when her mother made an unimaginable choice: telling her to run away, knowing that an uncertain future was a better prospect than what lay ahead. Ms. Lipszyc never saw her mother or brother again. Many of her other family members also perished under Nazi rule.
Ms. Lipszyc showed a depth of courage, hope and resilience few of us can imagine. As a 13-year-old girl, when her aunt asked her, “Do you really think you are going to make it?” she steadfastly replied, “Of course, my mother said I would.”
Using false papers provided by a Polish friend, Ms. Lipszyc worked as a forced labourer in Germany. After the war, she began to rebuild her life, emigrating first to Israel and then to Canada.
She told the boys at Crescent to appreciate the freedom that Canada gives them, and to never take it for granted.
She also encouraged the boys to show kindness and love.
“Hate is such a destructive emotion,” Ms. Lipszyc said at the Crescent assembly. She told the boys that she refused to hate those who hated the Jews, because to do so would allow them to be victorious.
We are grateful to Ms. Lipszyc for sharing her message with Crescent.
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As a young girl in Poland, Ms. Lipszyc escaped a forced march to certain death when her mother made an unimaginable choice: telling her to run away, knowing that an uncertain future was a better prospect than what lay ahead. Ms. Lipszyc never saw her mother or brother again. Many of her other family members also perished under Nazi rule.
Ms. Lipszyc showed a depth of courage, hope and resilience few of us can imagine. As a 13-year-old girl, when her aunt asked her, “Do you really think you are going to make it?” she steadfastly replied, “Of course, my mother said I would.”
Using false papers provided by a Polish friend, Ms. Lipszyc worked as a forced labourer in Germany. After the war, she began to rebuild her life, emigrating first to Israel and then to Canada.
She told the boys at Crescent to appreciate the freedom that Canada gives them, and to never take it for granted.
She also encouraged the boys to show kindness and love.
“Hate is such a destructive emotion,” Ms. Lipszyc said at the Crescent assembly. She told the boys that she refused to hate those who hated the Jews, because to do so would allow them to be victorious.
We are grateful to Ms. Lipszyc for sharing her message with Crescent.
