Brentwood College School Logo
50p

We Must Remember

13 November 2014
Aaron H, Privett ‘15; Photo by Joe K, Whittall '16
Aaron H, Privett '15 addressed the school Tuesday during our Remembrance Day Ceremony and spoke of his family's experience in the Holocaust. Below is his text: Sounds of sickening coughs and petrified moans echo through the metal box. Your limbs ache from exhaustion, your throat is dry from dehydration. Scared and confused, all you can do is wait. All of a sudden, Death’s transport is halted to a stop. The train doors open, the light is blinding after being shut up in darkness for so many hours. You duck down and hide your face. One by one, each person is pushed out of the box train. The air is cold and smells of death. Barbed wires and fences surround you – you are a prisoner, held in captivity, and you haven’t really any idea what is going on. You hear screams and cries of fear. You have arrived at Bergen-Belsen. At the age of eight, my grandfather, Gabriel Kremer, found himself engulfed in the clutches of Nazi Germany’s final solution. A citizen of Hungary, he, his brother, parents and two grandmothers found themselves taken from the quiet, peaceful university town of Kolozvar and thrown into sophisticated anarchy. Put yourself in his shoes, feel his confusion and his fear. Eight years old. My grandfather spent nine months in Bergen-Belsen before being lifted from this organized treachery and systematic death machine. Rudolf Kastner, a Jewish Hungarian known for helping Jews to escape the Holocaust, was able to negotiate a trade agreement with the Nazis for military resources and supplies. Considered a kind of Noah’s Ark, the train consisted of 35 cattle trucks, which transported 1684 passengers to Switzerland. Sadly, this was only a very small portion of the 437,000 Hungarian Jews deported to concentration camps, particularly Auschwitz, of whom three quarters were gassed. My grandfather is a survivor, but he lives with the terrible memories of a Nazi concentration camp. He and his family are only one of millions of examples during this time period. The Holocaust was indeed an era of great darkness, and must never be forgotten. Nor should we let the 6 million Jews, and millions of others who perished, have lost their lives in vain. Unfortunately, the practice of genocide did not end with the Holocaust. To this day, it is still prevalent -- globally. Armenia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and as we are gathered here today, ISIS, is on the borderline of a genocidal war. As we show care and compassion for each other at Brentwood, it is equally important to embrace our collective responsibility, to protect our rights and diversity as a whole. Evil will always exist. We cannot extinguish evil, but rather try to prevent it. I ask you to never forget. Events such as the Holocaust are defining moments in world history, and though horrifying to recall and wrenching for survivors to remember, we must continue to remember, we must continue to speak out, we must continue to teach each new generation. Aaron H, Privett ‘15

Latest News