The Preservation of History Through the Oral Tradition By Ina R. Friedman The experiences of Holocaust survivors and those who aided them make heroic, ‘My quest began accidental e compelling true tales—tales that can were suddenly remis 2a and began to hel isteners of all ages understand the importance of preserving and fostering a democratic society. A spotlig fak doors zy of Johannes Bogaard, a Dutch farmer who wit ‘scape from forced la bor. The Gestapo found them. only received a warming from tion in our country. What better way to underscore the re- the Gestapo because [the boys] were Christians. Ano sponsibilities and values of democracy than through the stories of those endange: ? ‘Thus began a 60 000-mil y sho escaped Every refugee or friend ofa refugee had a name either here in Amsterdam, who had worked wi led by the forts worth their personal tragedy? At wrote,“ we have learned to look not s Moen 1997the occupation: “T was in a long, mel. There was a light at ih Thad toca on Smusale people st ofthe photo ese funds a dozen Jews, at a time, escaped e welcomed the op: Ik about their expe brew Congregation, asking for people willing to be interviewed. Captured freedom fighters from the Warsaw ghetto When I arrived in Nairobi picked up the phone book and called t "Yes, Mrs. Friedman, we were expect "said the woman who answered, “Please call Mrs. Rozsa.” observe the When I arrived in Johannesburg, my cousins ar ns, and if a for a German refugee to escort me to other interviews. In ques erview. community furnished me with sur- wife had had experiences under the vors’ names. Nahum Zolin, who had injured his foot that T interviewed them separately and together. I a conduit forthe transmission of experiences that tressed to share with their children, story of how I organized a smal there were other small fightin ‘The remnants of Mr. tained in a camp. People were seeking shelter from ring rain. At a.m. Nal Zalin woke up with a bud id. A neighbor re- der to support her parents. At th moved the buch here? My hus- ‘work for grown men, and she became the fa band has already left.Go.” m too of her dreams as a young ath-scape or Die. Another reason was to reach people who would not ordi ‘book on the Holocaust, © ordinary people who resist tyranny ‘They are particularly these, the comments were limi spoke to a DAR group in rural Ohio, I was ap- by one of the members. “I wish the yor ‘who strut up and down in Nazi could hear you,” she sai, "The; wh 10 escaped doing. We have to find a way of reaching them” fore I relate his story, Teachers who had previously ignored the Holocaust in the electrified bar their World War Il curricula em- ter the story, Lask the ies. In preparation for my appearance, teachers escaping from the Na idents research assignments. Despite the ring sponds, and I bolls, frequent interruptions by the ‘That oral and the move ourselves to be ignorant of the Christians were also someone tell us?” of a person is ‘of humanity is much deeper.” Thad apy persecuted by the Nazis. Why didn’ ‘And an astute seni eit social-studies project In addition to research and interview- possible” and make it possible. # ‘good Jewish hhome. The play was presented before the school and then Young Woman Who Defied the Nazis (Lodgepote Press, 1995), to teach European history at a you teach them about the Holocaust?” I asked. “Nothing,” she said. “My parents were good. people.” I 1986 issue of The Na- 2 Serremser 1997 tthe personal impl ry of Rene, a 14-year-old s th adolescents. My. th teenage spicides, is It could happen again the right to tell and listen ‘human development. We are in the tradi shanachie, the Incan amauta, and the Polynesian tohunga We transmit in every culture the treasures and warnings of the past, the hopes and dreams of the future. We are ements that must come toge «an conceptualize the “almost pelled her fired from his job and thrown, igion came over and said, know something about of Ina R. Friedman