Meet a Holocaust Survivor | Leo & Layla's History Adventures | PragerU Kids

before we start this episode here's a quick preview of what's coming travel through time with Leo and Lea to meet historical figures and learn valuable life lessons and we've got more free videos for kids of all ages subscribe at Prager [Music] kids.com Leela why is your door closed is everything okay not now Leo I need some space come on sis you can tell me all right someone broke into my friend Hannah's locker and Drew a swastika when we found it she got so upset she almost cried I've never seen her so shocked and hurt a swasa you mean that evil sign the Nazis wore on their uniforms that's terrible but why would a drawing make her cry Hannah's Jewish Leo her great-grandparents had to leave Germany when the Nazis came to power they barely escaped the Holocaust wa that makes more sense but still it's just a drawing right that's what I thought when I saw Hannah was upset I tried to calm her down I told her whoever drew it was just being dumb and to not worry about it but then she wouldn't talk to me she even looked scared I feel like I should have done something different but I'm not sure what H you know this might be a good time for us to learn more about what happened during the Holocaust good point maybe we'll understand understand more why Hannah got so [Music] upset where are we it doesn't look like we went back in time yeah this place looks like a spaceship but I think it's a museum look at all those old pictures Shalom children what brings you to the hall of names the Hall of names that's right you're at yadvashem Israel's Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust or as we say in Hebrew the Sha this room holds the names and stories of Jews who were murdered by the Nazis it's our way of remembering and honoring the holocaust's 6 million victims 6 million I I knew that Jewish people were murdered I just never realized it was that many sorry I'm late and this is my brother Leo maybe you can help us it sounds like you know all about this place I should my name is Miriam and I'm a tour guide here at yadvashem if you have any questions I'll try to answer them so do all of these pictures show somebody who died in the Holocaust they do we've spent years collecting pictures and testimonies from the victim's families when another story comes in we record it so it won't be forgotten but that's so many people people did the Nazis really kill all of them they did and many more than what you see here that's terrible how can such an enormous evil thing like the Holocaust even happen it started when a terrible hateful man came to power Adolf Hitler after World War I Germany was in terrible shape Hitler said that we Jews were the problem and that we needed to be eliminated he even wrote a book about it m mon after he took over Germany and then most of Europe his Nazis started rounding up juice and sending them to concentration camps concentration camps why would they send you to a camp to concentrate no my dear Leo a concentration camp is a horrible place where they concentrate A specific group of people to do unspeakable things to them the work is brutal and the conditions are so terrible that many people die quickly and that's the point Have you heard of the word genocide hm I think so it's really bad right very genocide is when a group of people Tres to completely wipe out another group people have been targets for genocide because of the race their religion or the country they live in and the Nazis targeted us for simply being Jewish Hitler wanted to exterminate every Jew in Europe and he built these camps to do just that that's awful I can't believe anyone would create a place like that remember it was on purpose killing all the Jewish people was always their goal by the time World War II ended over 6 million of us had perished so many families were destroyed including my own but my sister and I were lucky we survived you survived the Holocaust I did that's incredible my friend Hannah's great-grandparents left Germany to escape the Nazis ah they were fortunate so many were not would you like to hear my story yes we really would it's a tragedy I cannot forget when the Nazis conquered my home country of Hungary the soldiers in charge of my town made life hard for us all of us lost our rights we couldn't own a radio or a telephone and we all had to wear a yellow star on Our Sleeve at night any Jews found outside their home were severely punished oh that's ter terrible but why did they make you wear a yellow star that star was a way to separate us from everyone else it was a way of encouraging others to treat us differently and even cruy because of our race after we were forced to wear them fewer and fewer people would do business with my father before long that yellow star meant that we could not go to certain places or even own property it all sounds so awful did you try to escape a few people tried but we thought they were overreacting we'd heard rumors of much worse things happening to Jews in other towns but we didn't think they were true didn't any of your non-jewish friends stand up for you some did but unfortunately not enough you see Leo Hitler's views were so extreme that even people who opposed him didn't think he was serious and by the time he was in power many were too scared to act I looked the other way he could have been stopped earlier but he wasn't therein lies the tragedy oh so what happened next one day my whole family was forced onto a train and taken to aitz the deadliest concentration camp it took several days and the train was so crowded we could not sit down when we arrived the guard separated us my parents and my brother went one way and my sister and I another that was the last time we were all together do you know what happened to your family several months later I learned that my mother and my brother didn't survive I'm I'm so sorry how did you and your sister survive in such a horrible place any way we could fortunately our job was delivering messages but the living conditions were terrible as the weeks went on my sister grew pale and bony from not having enough to eat when the guards marched us 30 mil to another Camp the journey was breezing it was a miracle that I made it 30 m on an empty stomach how did you keep going I kept going for my sister when she became very sick I was there to help her and when I was sick she helped me through it all we stayed together and that made all the difference we were able to survive long enough to witness a miracle a miracle one day we noticed the guards were not at their post we went outside and saw American soldiers outside the camp suddenly we were free and a new chapter of my life began wow what happened next when the war ended my sister and I returned to our hometown and found our father in a hospital he had survived a different camp and lived to tell about it we could only cry and praise God that we were together again now I'm going to cry you must have been so relieved to find him and have such a terrible time in your life behind you indeed I was as a young woman I started my new life in America I love the United States so much for giving me that life and once a year I visit this Museum in Israel to pay respect to those who perished it's so brave of you to share such a painful story thank you Lea and it wasn't easy to start telling it for most of my life I didn't even want to talk about what happened but before my sister passed away she encouraged me to tell our story but happened she said happened because nobody fought back our story must be told so people will fight next time she's right I thought every generation faces great evil but if good people stay silent or forget then the unprotected will suffer again and everything we do here will be in vain what are you thinking Leila I'm thinking we should head back now I have a friend that I need to speak up for Miriam thank you so much again for sharing your story with us it is my honor and Duty children and if you should ever return here more names and stories of the Shah will be here waiting for you I really hope we can it's so important to remember I agree good when people like you take my holocause story to Heart evil does not stand the chance so be courageous not silent we promise Miriam goodbye I'm really glad you spoke out Lea I wanted to tell the principal about that ugly swastika but when I saw it I just froze it was like all the stories of my great-grandparents suddenly became real Hannah I should have stood up for you right away I saw how scared you were but I didn't understand how much of a big deal it really was then a friend showed me what really happened during the Holocaust and what happens when you don't stand up against things you know are wrong I'm so sorry I let you down it's okay I forgive you and if you hadn't spoken up we might not have had that school assembly about it I think that really helped we need to keep reminding everyone about what happened how hate and racism nearly destroyed my people during the Holocaust we won't let people forget if we tell everyone we can maybe we can stop things like this from ever happening again thank you waya for being brave for sticking up for me you're her true friend I always will Hannah I promise if you liked time traveling with Leo and Lea watch more of their Adventures at Prager you kids.com and parents don't forget to subscribe