Michigan’s Last Holocaust Survivor Talks to Students at Harrison Schools

By ETHAN WALLACE

Cleaver Staff Writer

HARRISON– On Dec. 12, Irene Miller visited Harrison High School to talk to high school and middle school students talk about her experience as a Holocaust survivor. Teachers and local veterans also joined the assembly.

Miller is a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust who fled Poland and crossed over into Russia and stayed in Siberia during the World War II. She has traveled across the state and country to talk at schools, colleges, churches, the military, and many more, to share her experiences as a survivor.

Miller was brought to Harrison schools after high school teacher Tori Blystone reached out to her. Blystone thought it would be a good opportunity to bring in a guest speaker from the Holocaust, not only as part of students’ learning, but because they also were staging their play on “The Diary of Anne Frank” by Wendy Kesselman.

The students were very moved by Miller’s words and her story, and had many questions at the end of her presentation. She responded to all she could and was open to talking to students afterwards. Miller shared the hardships that happened through her eyewitness account.

 Miller also shared words of encouragement on what generations after hers can learn from history. Her goal was to inform attendees about how hate and prejudice can happen, and how it will happen again unless people learn from it.

Miller told the students, “It will be your responsibility to prevent such horrors to prevent something like this from happening. It is not enough to know what has happened, but to also learn and recognize the steps that led to cracks in our democratic system and creates a fascist system.”

She shared her wisdom of how important it is to get involved, to know when to stand up to injustice, and to stand united by not letting differences separate what makes us people.

Irene Miller spoke to the students about moments of her life during the Holocaust.

During Miller’s journey she talked about the frozen wasteland she and many others traveled through to escape Poland.

“This place was an open field and became my home for about six weeks,” she said. “I moved as much as I could until I couldn’t anymore, so I began to crawl. My feet were frost bitten to the point I could not wear my shoes.

“Though I was a little girl at 6, there are two images that are still vividly in my mind. I woke up one night and there was a strange man next to me under the covers. I pushed him away and when I woke up in the morning the man wasn’t asleep, he was dead. People were dying from exposure, starvation, from diseases. The second image is that a woman was holding her child. A man begged her to come closer to the fire and when she did, he said, ‘Your baby doesn’t need warmth anymore. Your baby’s dead.’ The man then took the baby out the mother’s arms.

“My mother decided for my father to bring my sister and me over across the border then see what he could do to bring over mom. By the time we got to No Man’s Land, there was no one left. The Nazis had took everyone including my brother back in the direction of Poland and Germany.

“My sister was angry. I was full of rage. Then my mother walked in, and you can imagine the amount of joy. I didn’t know if she was alive but then she suddenly showed up. It took me a long time to trust that my mother would not vanish again. I would wake up in the middle of night and realize she was still here. Well, we were happy now. We were together.”

Miller shared how one of the many struggles was food as they were hungry all the time.

Miller said, “There was one store in which my mother would send me to for bread,” she said. “It took so much willpower to resist to eat every little piece because I was very hungry. This was the bread for the family, and I had to wait until mama divided it.

“One time when it was my birthday my mother told me to forget about the war and asked me what kind of present I would like for my birthday. And I told her a big loaf of bread. In that moment tears rolled down her face and I had no idea what I did wrong to make my mom cry. We were extremely hungry day in and day out.”

Her family was together for around two and a half years before they were separated again. There was an orphanage that was set up for both orphans and Jewish children to help keep them safe during the war.

The orphanage lasted more than just during the war Miller said.

“The war ended in 1945, but I stayed in the orphanage until almost 46. I didn’t know why we couldn’t return sooner, but I was given no choice but to wait.

“The only time I could express what I felt was when I was writing poetry. I have been writing since I was a young girl. My home in Michigan was hit by a tornado many years ago before you were born.” She said only one notebook survived but her poetry helped her cope through the struggles.

Miller’s dad died from dysentery, but she and her sister were eventually reunited with their mother after the war. None of the nearly 100 extended family members survived. The family moved to Isreal and Miller eventually moved to the U.S. She earned a master’s degree in social psychology and a master’s degree in hospital management.  

The following were some of the questions students asked during the assembly, along with and her answers:

How did you find your way to America?

“In Israel I married a man from Detroit at the age of 18. I’m not opposed to marriage but suggest that you don’t marry at 18.”

How did you deal with your trauma afterwards?

“Fortunately, I did not feel I needed any professional assistance to deal with my trauma. Fortunately for me I used my pain to not allow those things to destroy me and to use the pain to talk to others instead.”

How do you respond to people who don’t believe in the Holocaust?

“I ignore those people I just don’t talk to them at all because those who claim it didn’t happen is not correct information. It was President Eisenhower who brought the miliary and for light to be seen on what happened in the camps.”

What made you want to study psychology?

“I have experienced enormous cruelty and have also seen great kindness. How it’s possible that one can be kind and wonderful human beings but also become such monsters.”

What place that you spoke at was the most rewarding?

“They are all rewarding the places I go to. The most important is to talk to schools. You are the future of the nation. I will go to any place if I can speak to young people like you. I am grateful that you will create the world that is better than it is now.”

Can you introduce yourself in another language?

“I will not introduce myself, but I’ll make another comment. I love you all.” In three other languages she told the students: “You are all wonderful kids” Spoken in Russian.

“You are forever lucky people to be in this school” Spoken in Hebrew.

“I love you very much.” Spoken in Polish.

Anyone who wishes to know more about Irene Miller’s story can read about it in her memoir “No Man’s Land.” Miller said she would love to speak more to any other schools or organizations who would like her to reach out to her.

© Clare County Cleaver