From respect to reconciliation: Arizona Holocaust survivors share calls to action

Dozens of Holocaust survivors call Arizona home. In fact, more than 70 survivors live in the Valley. Many, now in their late 90s, share their Holocaust survival experiences within a joint speaker’s bureau organized by the Phoenix Holocaust Association and the Arizona Jewish Historical Society & Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center.

Two survivors — Oskar Knoblauch, 99, and Esther Basch, 96 — experienced the horrors of the Holocaust while in their teens. Both have memories being sent to Poland, having their lives interrupted.

Oskar spent his days, metaphorically, in the “lion’s den,” living with his perpetrators within the Gestapo headquarters in Pomorska Labor Camp. His dad was murdered eight months prior to liberation.

Esther, affectionately called “the Honey Girl,” because she ate a jar of honey given to her by the 84th Regimental Division at the time of liberation and became deathly ill, turned 16 on the day she arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau. She saw unspeakable atrocities and dealt with monsters like Mengele.  

Both survivors have traumatic true personal narratives and both have sat for the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation’s holographic-like technology. Each also have powerful “calls to action.”

Oskar focuses on respect; how it is a boomerang — to get respect, one must give it. After being saved by some unlikely bystanders, Oskar has spent a lifetime promoting being an “Upstander.” An Upstander never stands idly by, and displays characteristics of a good person.

Esther’s directive focuses on healing, truth and reconciliation — as she commonly tells students, “I can forgive, but I can’t forget.”

There are many survivors, both past and present, who have made a resounding impact on our youth in Arizona. In 2006, Dr. Alexander B. White, a Holocaust survivor who was placed 270 on Schindler’s List, visited my classroom for the first time. He came back every year, ever since with his message; “Don’t be indifferent, get an education, and be a mensch,” which is a German/Yiddish word that translates to being a kind, caring, decent, charitable person with integrity.

Similar to other survivors, Alex routinely testified to my students. He shared what it was like to pick up thousands of corpses, removing bodies from shallow pits, placing them into mass graves for incineration. He shared with me what it was like to strip down naked with his father and many other Jews to form a “naked parade,” as SS (Schutzstaffel) Guards determined his fate with his last words to him; “Be a mensch,” as he boarded a cattle car to die in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

He told me countless times he was almost killed, but Schindler’s List was life. Alex was liberated, spending the rest of his life living up to his father’s plea, until his passing in 2022.

It is so important now, then ever before, to learn to eradicate hate. Those interested in learning more about the featured Holocaust survivor stories of Esther, Oskar and Alex, may make an appointment to visit the Arizona Jewish Historical Society’s current exhibition, Stories of Survival: An Immersive Journey throughout the Holocaust.  

Editor’s note: Anthony D. Fusco Jr., M.Ed., M.S. is associate director of education for the Arizona Jewish Historical Society – Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center. He is a former Phoenix Holocaust Association board member, an Arizona Department of Education Holocaust/Genocide Task Force member and teaches History & Psychology at Estrella Mountain Community College. Please send your comments about this submission to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.