Holocaust Survivor Shares Story with Seventh Grade

10/14/2020

(lk)

As the daughter of Polish Holocaust survivors, Mrs. Felicia Smith is passionate about imparting a deeper understanding of the refugee experience. Thank you, Mrs. Smith and @holocaustcenter of Orlando, for bringing history alive for our seventh graders.

Before her birth during World War II, Mrs. Smith's parents survived the Holocaust by escaping from their native Poland to Russia, where they were arrested and imprisoned. Mrs. Smith's own refugee story began after World War II when her family fled oppressive communist Poland. Her mother applied for visas to numerous countries and finally got help from an organization that attempted to smuggle them to Israel by way of Austria. With those plans thwarted, the family ended up in Belgium with her aunt. Because her mother had misgivings about the spread of communism in Europe, the family ultimately decided to emigrate to America. Mrs. Smith celebrated her eighth birthday on the ship on the way to New York.

Mrs. Smith's story moved the seventh graders and gave them a close-up glimpse into the life of a refugee.

*eNews: please click on the headline for more photographs.

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