‘We said it would never happen again’: Holocaust survivor speaks of past, present

Rachel Goldman Miller remembers being a seven-year-old girl, running upstairs as the Germans came into Paris.

“I’m afraid, I’m afraid,” she remembers telling her family.

Her father and uncle were the first to die at the hands of the Germans.

As rumors grew of more actions against Jews, Miller’s mother sent her into hiding in the countryside outside Paris in 1942, giving her a new name, Christine, and instructing her to not tell anyone she was a Jew.

Three days later, the Germans took her family. It was only years later that Miller received documents from Auschwitz concentration camp, giving her clues about how her mother, sister and brothers died.

The present

Today, with anti-Semitism increasing in the United States and genocide continuing across the world, Miller says she is frightened once again.

“It’s happening,” Miller said on a visit to Wichita. “We said it would never happen again. When the war was over, they said it would never happen again.”

At 83 years old, Miller says she keeps her family members alive by telling their stories across the United States. While in Wichita, she shared that story at “Stolen Innocence,” a Holocaust commemoration ceremony held at Newman University, at several schools and with media outlets.

When she speaks, Miller often relates the Holocaust to modern-day genocides, hoping stories of the Holocaust will make a difference today.

There are currently genocides in Syria, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Myanmar, according to Genocide Watch, an organization that seeks to raise awareness and influence policy regarding genocide.

“It’s in front of our eyes and we stand by,” Miller said.

Although genocides in Syria might feel far away, anti-Semitic incidents in the United States are closer to home.

Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States surged more than one-third in 2016 and have jumped 86 percent in the first three months of 2017, according to data released this month from the Anti-Defamation League.

Hate crimes against Jews made up 51 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes in 2015, the most recent data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That’s even though Jews make up less than 2 percent of the U.S. population.

Telling her story

When Miller was sent to the countryside, her sister Sabine should have fled with her, but ended up staying in Paris a few days extra to celebrate her birthday and receive a present — a handbag.

When the day came for Sabine to arrive, the nine-year-old Miller learned that the rest of her family had been taken.

“If not for a handbag my sister would still be alive, maybe,” Miller said.

When Miller later returned to her home in Paris with her aunt, she had the presence of mind to save photos of her family, photos she now shows across the country.

She lost 93 family members during the Holocaust.

“It has to be told,” Miller said. “It has to be taught.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2017 at 11:01 AM with the headline "‘We said it would never happen again’: Holocaust survivor speaks of past, present."