Holocaust Class Gets an Experience of a Lifetime
March 18, 2009 • written by Bailey Patterson
Trudy Heller speaks to brashier students about the Holocaust
Trudy Heller became the first Holocaust survivor to visit Brashier Middle College Charter High School on February 25, 2009. Gene Kennedy, Holocaust teacher at Brashier, first saw Heller share her story in the Greenville News and was instantly driven to see her come and speak in his class. “I sent her a letter in November and got a response in January,” said Kennedy.
During her visit she discussed her traumatic escape from the Nazis and pilgrimage to protection. Running for your life is not something most fifteen year olds have to go through, but Heller was forced to leave her home in search for safety after the Nazi German troops stormed through her hometown in Austria. Realizing the oncoming threat of the Germans, Austrian officials decided to hold a vote on whether or not they would submit to German occupation.
“I remember going into my ballet class right before the election and the streets we covered with the different parties’ flags, there were no swastikas in sight,” says Heller. “When I came out, all you could see were the Nazi symbols, they were all over the buildings and all the people were waving them around.“
Heller continued to tell her story about evading the Nazis and escaping to Belgium. During her journey countless miraculous events helped, as Heller says, “save her life.” While in Belgium, the Chilean ambassador was out of town and the man second in command was selling visas to refugees to go to the United States. Heller and her family got three, and as soon as they could, they got tickets to go on a boat to the U.S. When the Chilean ambassador got back and realized what was taking place while he was gone, he took the visas back. At the time, Heller was devastated by the set back, however; three days after the ship left they received news that the ship sunk and around 250 died onboard.
“I don’t believe in miracles, I live by them,” said Heller.
Even though she escaped, many of her own family and friends weren’t so lucky. “If it wasn’t for the U.S army in WWII, Hitler would have taken over the world,” says Heller. Despite her traumatic story, Heller went on to move to the U.S, marry another Holocaust survivor, and see him move on to be mayor of Greenville County.
“Hitler did all the unspeakable things he did to eliminate the Jewish race,” says Heller, “well I just have one thing to tell him…I have 3 children, 10 grandchildren, and 15 great grandchildren.”
After hearing Heller speak Junior Greg Massullo says, “I thought she was really cool… I can’t believe that she was fifteen when all that happened… Even though we’ve been studying the Holocaust, hearing her story just makes it more real.” Greg and 14 others are a part of a premier Holocaust elective class. In years past the students at Brashier have been limited to the electives they could take during the school year and this year has been the most diverse selection of elective classes. “Mr. Sinclair and I talked last year about the classes I could teach this year,” says Kennedy, “some students showed interest in a Holocaust class… mainly student interest is what led me to this class…that’s one thing I really like about this school, the students tells us what they want to learn.”
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