Archive: Around Town

After 27 years of speaking out against hate and its consequences Holocaust survivor Fred Voss gave his last public presentation in honor of Yom HaShoah (World Holocaust Remembrance Day) Wednesday at Lansing High School.  Voss was 18 when his family's home and store was attacked on the infamous Kristalnacht, and his family was fortunate to escape Germany after that.  67 members of his and his wife's families were not so fortunate.  They were taken to concentration camps and killed.

"There is very little that I could have done," Voss replied when one student asked whether he would have done anything differently in hindsight.  "We saw it coming, but the Jews in Germany had such patriotism, they were so German.  That was one reason why my father refused to leave.  His argument was, 'Hitler is not even a German'.  We had hope that it wouldn't happen, but it did happen.  But don't ever give up hope."

Voss began publicly speaking 27 years ago when Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel urged him to speak about his experiences.  Lansing High School was the first local venue to invite Voss to speak to the sophomore class after he moved to Ithaca ten years ago.  He was so compelling that English teacher June Martin invited him back every year.  At 92, Voss agreed to give his last presentation in Lansing Wednesday.


"We are not only fortunate to be the first ones to host Fred Voss, but also the last ones," Martin said.  "Today is also a special day because after 27 years this is Fred's last public presentation against hatred."

Voss grew up in Germany during Hitler's reign, narrowly escaped being captured by the Nazis, and left the country, eventually becoming an American citizen and volunteering to serve in the Army.  In 1944 he was part of the liberation of Paris, and in 1946 he was assigned to Frankfurt where he helped provide relief for the homeless displaced people returning from concentration camps.

Voss is most effective speaking to high school students, because he was their age when he experienced the Holocaust.  He tells his story without embellishment, but in a personal way that makes it easy to imagine yourself in his shoes as a teenaged Jew in Nazi Germany.  His home was destroyed, his parents humiliated, he was singled out by his own teachers in school until Jews were forbidden from going to school. 

"I was only 18," he told students Wednesday.  "I was not experienced to deal with a situation like that, but horrified and scared to death to get caught by the SS or the Gestapo."

Voss says he has forgiven, but can never forget.  He is careful to point out that he is not speaking against the German people, but only against Nazi Germany.  He sadly concedes that humankind has not learned the lesson of the Holocaust, that genocide still takes place in the modern world.  But he makes his story about what hatred can do and his message is to eliminate hate.

Voss's book, 'Miracles, Milestones, & Memories: A 269-Year Reflection, 1735-2004', tells his story and tells the love story about how he met his future wife Ilsa in England, she a refugee from Austria, and he from Germany.  Fred came to America first, and the couple exchanged over 2,000 letters, which he later used as a reference while writing his book.  Voss says he has never accepted a cent from royalties or speaking fees because he does not want to profit from the blood of the victims.  All the proceeds go directly to the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.

A new piece of Voss's story quietly took place Wednesday.  Anna and Hermann Moratz sat with the Voss family to hear Voss's last public speech.  Hermann was a Luftwaffe pilot in World War II.  He hated Hitler, but young Germans were forced to join the Hitler Youth.  In 2007 Moratz wrote a book, 'And Only The Horses Wore No Uniforms: A Memoir', for his children so that they would understand what he had done and why. 


"He really wanted to become an engineer, but his family could not afford to send him to school, so he figured he could further his knowledge about engineering by joining the military and learing how to fly," Martin recalls.  "I told him about Fred, and I told Fred about Hermann.  Then I exchanged signed books for both gentlemen and they read each others' stories.  We orchestrated a luncheon to introduce them.  Anna kept calling me the 'matchmaker'.  Long story short, they immediately liked one another, all four of them, men and their wives.  Fred invited them as his special guests and they were honored (Anna told me several times today) to be there.  We are currently planning another get-together luncheon.  I felt supremely satisfied to network two very gracious genetlemen and their lovely wives.  I was the lucky one."

Wiesel and Voss have been strong advocates of remembering the Holocaust so that it will not be repeated.  Hearing this story directly from a person who experienced it is something you never forget.  It is chilling as it shows the worst mankind is capable of, yet inspiring as it shows the goodness in people who helped some Jews, Gypsies, and people of color escape Hitler's 'final solution' and the hope and determination of those who survived.

Rather than focussing on revenge or obsessing about past wrongs, Voss's message is about making the present and the future better times.  Voss said that he thinks schools have done a good job of teaching about the Holocaust.  He singled out Martin and Lansing High School social studies teacher Dan Ferguson as examples of excellent teachers who have helped teach the lessons of the Holocaust.  He is aware that his generation will be gone soon, that it is time to pass the torch to a new generation.  During the question and answer portion he asked students to respond to questions of his own.

"Will you follow my advice and help me to stop hatred?," he asked.  The students replied, 'yes'.  Will you stop the bullies at the schools and take care of the victims?  When you stop people making slurs about people with a different skin color?  Will you stop telling jokes about other people because of their nationality or their race?"

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