“I grew up listening to tales concerning the horrors that my household endured throughout the Holocaust,” stated Feingold. “These tales taught me rather a lot about life and formed me into who I’m at the moment.”
Feingold stated that rising up, his household cared deeply about Jewish historical past and preserving vital traditions. His household routinely went to synagogue on Shabbat, and he had his bar mitzvah in Israel when he was 13. Feingold’s maternal grandfather is 97-years-old and nonetheless alive at the moment. Sadly, his maternal grandmother handed away two weeks in the past on the age of 95. She was 13-years-old when Nazi forces invaded her residence nation of Poland.
“I’d not say we’re very spiritual,” stated Feingold. “My grandparents definitely had been although. My mom’s mother and father grew up Orthodox. Orthodox Jews in Poland at the moment had been very conventional, very observant.”
Feingold stated that his maternal grandparents, together with different Holocaust survivors, immigrated to Canada after the battle. They spoke Hebrew and Yiddish inside the group, however his expertise rising up in Florida was a lot completely different.
“It was a little bit little bit of a special expertise for us,” stated Feingold. “You’re round so many various folks, so that you assimilate into the tradition. I didn’t develop up very spiritual, however I definitely care rather a lot about my religion, the Jewish folks and guaranteeing that my spiritual practices stay free.”
Airman Ryan Newbill, Ford’s multi-cultural heritage committee public affairs officer, from Elkheart, Indiana, interviewed Feingold about his household’s historical past.
“America is unquestionably a melting pot; so many various religions, so many various thought processes and concepts,” stated Newbill. “It’s like everyone seems to be rising along with each other. That’s what makes America stunning.”
Feingold stated that his maternal grandmother was born Sara Golcman in 1926 within the city of Leopoldow, Poland. Golcman and her seven siblings helped run the household enterprise, a big grocery retailer. When Adolf Hitler took energy in Germany in 1933, life modified for them.
“In September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, my grandmother was pressured right into a ghetto,” stated Feingold. “Germany created a ghetto in her city and compelled all of the Jewish folks to reside collectively and work in horrible circumstances. 5 of her siblings and each of her mother and father had been despatched to the gasoline chambers at Sobibor Extermination Camp in German-occupied Poland, and murdered.”
Feingold stated that his maternal grandmother and her two remaining siblings escaped captivity miraculously and ended up becoming a member of a Jewish resistance group referred to as the Glowver Forest Otriad. Surviving for a number of years throughout the battle and searching for justice in opposition to the Nazis, Feingold’s maternal grandfather, Chonon (Charles) Bedzow, additionally joined a well-known Jewish resistance brigade, the Bielski Brigade, which sought revenge on their tormentors by disabling trains, stealing provides and attacking Nazi navy models. Extra importantly to them, the Bielski Brigade, additionally saved Jews from an nearly sure loss of life by sheltering males, ladies and kids.
“The Germans wished to kill us as a result of we had been Jewish, however we fought again,” stated Bedzow. “We saved over a thousand Jews, and we survived and resisted collectively.”
The Bielski Brigade lived within the woods of Belarus for two-and-a-half years, continually avoiding seize by German navy forces. The Hollywood movie “Defiance” relies on their expertise. Feingold attended the grand opening of this movie in 2008 together with his prolonged household in New York Metropolis with dozens of different Holocaust survivors and their households.
“After the battle resulted in 1945, my mom’s mother and father met, fell in love, obtained married on March 8, 1946 and lived in an Italian displaced individuals’ camp in Garlasco, Italy for nearly three years,” stated Feingold. “That they had nowhere to go, however by means of unyielding dedication and braveness, they persevered, had their first youngster named Frances Shapiro (Feingold’s aunt) and finally created an incredible life in Canada and the USA.”
Feingold went on to say that his paternal grandmother initially lived in Berlin, however after the Nazi regime got here to energy in 1933, she fled Germany together with her household for Israel. By 1936, Germany started passing legal guidelines stripping Jews of their citizenship, prohibiting relationships between Jews and non-Jews and prosecuting folks that had been deemed “undesirable” or “sub-human.” These included had been individuals who had been bodily or mentally disabled, homosexuals, folks of African descent, Roma (often known as Gypsies) and Jews.
“My father’s household noticed and predicted what was about to occur to the Jewish folks in Europe,” stated Feingold. “They fled the nation in a inventive and secretive method.”
Feingold stated that each one of his grandparents had been and are happy with how they persevered and resisted the murderous regime of Nazi Germany. Some Holocaust survivors discover it too painful to speak about their experiences, however Feingold’s grandparents need the world to know what Jewish folks underwent throughout the Nazi regime.
“They wished to make sure that the world realized an vital lesson from the Holocaust,” stated Feingold. “They felt like they wanted to contribute to the historic effort. My grandfather is 97. He nonetheless talks about it at the moment, and my grandmother, bless her coronary heart, spoke about her experiences till the very finish. She was a really courageous lady.”
Feingold stated that his household continues to encourage folks to study and educate themselves on the horrors of the Holocaust.
“I don’t like to cover from my Jewishness or my Jewish religion. I’m very proud and outspoken about it,” stated Feingold. “It additionally makes me very proud to be an American. The US is an incredible nation that enables folks to reside freely. When my household lastly made their strategy to the USA, it gave us a contemporary alternative to grow to be profitable and to reside with out worry. It’s this delight that has led me to becoming a member of the U.S. navy. The US has created a secure haven for my household after 6 million Jews had been massacred in Europe.”
Feingold stated that he has a really particular hope for the longer term. He believes that it is vitally vital to review what truly occurred throughout the Holocaust so as to perceive the underlying currents of hatred and discrimination that allowed such a factor to occur.
“I learn a survey completed by the Anti-Defamation League, which is a global Jewish human rights group,” stated Feingold. “They surveyed tens of hundreds of individuals in over 100 international locations, and almost 50 p.c of individuals stated that they had by no means heard of the Holocaust, and of those that did know what the Holocaust was, almost one-third of them stated they thought the Holocaust was a fantasy.”
Feingold mentioned how communities and societies can change quickly, and that it is very important unfold consciousness concerning the Holocaust. Schoen Consulting, a New York analysis firm, not too long ago discovered that almost one-fourth of millennials didn’t know if that they had ever heard of the Holocaust and almost two-thirds of millennials didn’t know what Auschwitz, the biggest focus camp the place greater than 1 million Jews had been killed, was. Feingold appreciates the well-known quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe in World Warfare II and thirty fourth President of the USA:
“Get all of it on report now – get the movies – get the witnesses – as a result of someplace down the monitor of historical past, some bastard will stand up and say that this by no means occurred.”
Newbill stated that by means of trials and tribulations, households can persevere and cross on tales that may affect folks for generations to come back.
For extra information from USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), go to www.dvidshub.web/unit/CVN78.
