Archive: Around Town

"Before I start my talk tonight I would like to recognize a number of Lansing and Ithaca devoted and outstanding educators who are teaching their students the danger of hate," Fred Voss began at Tikkun V'Or Reform Temple last Friday as the congregation commemorated the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938.  "They are educating them to show tolerance to all human beings, regardless of their color, their race, their religion, sexual orientation, or whatever the reasons are.  I hope this education will one day lead to prevent another Holocaust or genocide in the future."

He could have been referring to himself, except for one difference.  Unlike those teachers, Voss was in Germany on that fateful night, 'The Night of Broken Glass' when so many windows were smashed in Jewish homes and businesses that they sparkled as thousands of Germans simply stood there and watched.


Voss noted that part of Jewish tradition is the Haggadah, a book that tells the story of the Jews' exile from Egypt when Moses led them from slavery to the Promised Land. He said that there is no book like that to tell the story of the Holocaust.  In a way Voss himself is a living Haggadah, retelling the story so future generations will remember and think twice before allowing such a thing to happen in the future.

Voss speaks often at high schools and colleges, traveling the country to tell his story.  Each year he speaks to Lansing High School sophomores, tailoring his story to cover the years he was their own age.  This time he focussed on the one night that was the key event in which 92 Jews were murdered, more than 25,000 taken to concentration camps, 200 synagogues burned to the ground, and thousands of Jewish homes and thousands of Jewish homes and businesses ransacked.  Visiting cousins in Krefeld, he saw the synagogue there destroyed while hundreds stood by and watched.  Only 18 years old, Voss eluded the Gestapo, running for his life.  His cousins weren't so lucky.

Voss started with a brief history of the persecution of German Jews from the Middle Ages all the way up to the Holocaust that resulted in the murder of six million Jews, as well as countless ethnic Poles, Soviet war prisoners, Gypsies, disabled and gay people.  While the Jews were singled out before Kristallnacht, that event ratcheted up the violence and persecution they endured as the Nazis began to think about what they later called 'The Final Solution.'  That solution was to entirely annihilate the Jews and anyone else that didn't fit their definition of acceptable humanity.


When Voss zooms in from this overview to the narrow focus on his personal experiences, those numbers and those acts take on a chilling quality that no bare statistics can convey.  Voss was barely an adult, yet faced with unbelievable and overwhelming circumstances.  "I was only 18 years old and not experienced to deal with a situation like that," Voss told the congregation.  "I was horrified and scared to death of getting caught by the SS or the Gestapo."

Many members of the Village of Lansing synagogue brought their children to learn about this piece of their heritage.  "When I fled Germany I made a pledge," he told them.  "I promised those whom we had left behind that I would make sure that, as a survivor of the horrors of Kristallnacht, I would tell and re-tell the stories of those who did not survive, since they could no longer tell those stories."

"Every single Jewish family in Germany and Austria who survived has a story to tell," he said.  "Unfortunately not all ended as well as mine.  Even more unfortunately my wife and I are the last of the eye witnesses to tell their and our story and share them with you."


After speaking Voss answered questions and autographed copies of his book, 'Miracles, Milestones, and Memories.'  Voss worries that as his generation dies out there will be nobody left to tell this story.  The book is one way of telling it beyond his generation, and he has diverted all profits to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Friday evening audience filled the synagogue, setting up extra chairs to accommodate everyone.  Non-members also came, including teachers and others who wanted to learn about the atrocities.  Voss spoke at Temple Beth El  in Ithaca the next morning, again attracting a mixed crowd of congregants and interested people of different backgrounds.

"I hope that adults have learned a little bit," he says.  "And I hope that some of them will understand what hate will lead to."

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