On Tuesday October 24th, 2017, twenty-three JBHS seniors participated in the Holocaust Conference. The conference was held at the Obahi Shalom Temple in Nashville. Students had the privilege of hearing two survivors, Roman Kent and Paula Burger. It was an amazing opportunity and the students gained valuable knowledge.

Roman Kent was a young teenager when the Nazi’s invaded Poland. He was placed in various concentration camps throughout the Holocaust. For times sake, he only spoke about his time in Auschwitz. As he was stepping off the train to go into Auschwitz, a former police officer announced that he could help the Germans because of his police experience. The German soldiers dragged the man off the train and beat him to death. Roman Kent stated that the man would be one of the lucky ones, to die so peacefully. One day while in the camp, he saw a big pile of bread and waited until the officers were not watching to take a piece. Some of the other prisoners saw him and attacked him because they too were starving. He risked his life for a piece of bread he did not even get to eat. Roman Kent believed that he survived the Holocaust only by following the rules and not standing out.

Paula Burger was a Bielski Partisan Resistance Fighter who survived the Holocaust. Paula gave her speech about her life. When the Burger family moved into the ghetto, their lives changed forever. Soon after they moved to the ghetto, her father left to join the Bielski Partisans. Paula’s mother was later killed by the Germans for denying that she did not know where her husband was. The Germans also asked if she had any children, and she said no because she knew if she were to say yes, they would be killed too. After her mother was killed, her aunt took care of both her and her brother. After her dad found out about his wife being killed he sent one of his men to get Paula, who was seven, and Isaac, who was three. Paula told about their journey escaping the ghetto and finally being reunited with her father. She told many stories of her life being one of the two children in the Naliboki Forest alongside the Bielski Partisans. The Bielski Partisans sabotaged many German plans and saved thousands of Jewish lives.