Category: Excerpt from “Holocaust to Resistance”

MY VIEW: “The Other Betrayal of Anne Frank”

MY VIEW: “The Other Betrayal of Anne Frank”
(Toronto Star, January 23, 2022)

by Suzanne Berliner Weiss

The Toronto Star, our city’s daily, published on January 23 a two-page feature article called, “The Other betrayal of Anne Frank.” The article landmarks an investigation on a suspect who betrayed Anne Frank to the Nazis. The betrayal of her secret annex hideout also led to the death of Anne Frank and others hidden with her in a Nazi concentration camp

In my book Holocaust to Resistance: My Journey, which tells the story of my survival, I explain that in the scramble to secure individual life, many Nazi collaborators tore the fabric of society by betraying neighbors, sowing suspicion, preying on their neighbors’ fears, and enriching themselves in a struggle for personal survival. Continue reading MY VIEW: “The Other Betrayal of Anne Frank”

The Power of Solidarity

#4: A brief excerpt from ‘Holocaust to Resistance’

It was June 1960, the day after my arrival (in New York City. While I was on 42nd Street in Manhattan, I heard a loud commotion and walked over to investigate. A thick circle of men was gathered around a speaker, who was holding a Bible while pointing to a man in their midst. “You and your people, the Jews, crucified Christ,” the speaker yelled.

I flared up in righteous anger. “Love thy neighbour! That’s what Jesus said,” I responded in a truly thunderous voice. The speaker tried to continue but I kept shouting, “Love thy neighbour!”

I pushed my way through the crowd to the Jewish man. He looked quite shaken. I took him firmly by the arm and walked with him toward the subway. That did it. The speaker tried to push on but the crowd dispersed.

In the years to follow I often reflected on that incident. Yes, it showed the power of love. More precisely, it showed the power of love expressed through determined action — the power of solidarity.