#StrongerThanHate: Testimony Clips

Johtje Vos on her decision to help Jewish people

Johtje Vos reflects on her decision to help hide Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Throughout the war Johtje and her husband, Aart, housed 32 Jews, although never more than 14 at the same time. In 1982 both Johtje and Aart were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for risking their own lives to save the lives of others.

MORE CLIPS...
  • Paula Lebovics remembers a caring action from Soviet Liberator

    Language: English

    Paula Lebovics speaks on the liberation of Auschwitz as a child and remembers feeling cared for, the first time in her life.

  • Liberator Leon Bass on being inspired by Martin Luther King Jr

    Language: English

    Leon Bass, US military veteran, reflects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and how he was inspired by King’s message of non-violence. Leon was at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 for the March on Washington and he describes his experience of watching Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream,” speech. 

  • Kurt Messerschmidt on the dangers of being a bystander

    Language: English

    Kurt Messerschmidt remembers the role of bystanders and explains the importance of standing up to injustice.

  • Robert Mindelzun on Gratitude and Citizenship

    Language: English

    Robert describes his gratitude for America. He focuses on the meaning of freedom and opportunity as well as what citizenship means to him. 

  • Kizito Kalima on the dangers of prejudice

    Language: English

    Kizito Kalima, a survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, recalls the negative effects of labeling in the classroom before the genocide.

     

  • Johtje Vos on her decision to help Jewish people

    Language: English

    Johtje Vos reflects on her decision to help hide Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Throughout the war Johtje and her husband, Aart, housed 32 Jews, although never more than 14 at the same time. In 1982 both Johtje and Aart were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for risking their own lives to save the lives of others.

  • Eva Boukris Weisel on being saved by Arab neighbor

    Language: English

    In 1942 Nazi Germany occupied the French North African country of Tunisia and implemented anti-Jewish policy. At the age of 13, Eva Boukris Weisel and her family went into hiding, protected by Khaled Abdul Wahab, an Arab Muslim. Wahab saved nearly 20 Jews by hiding them in the stables at his farm. Weisel’s testimony is from the Testimonies from North Africa and the Middle East collection.

  • Andrew Newman on Gratitude

    Language: English

    Andrew expresses his gratitude to the interviewers and the importance of living in the present while acknowledging the tragedies of the past. 

  • Sir Nicholas Winton on his decision to save over 600 children

    Language: English

    100 Days to Inspire Respect

    Sir Nicholas Winton, responsible for organizing the Kindertransport that saved the lives of 669 Jewish children, passed away at the age of 106. Here is his message to the future.

  • Armin Wegner on documenting the Armenian Genocide

    Language: English

    Armin T. Wegner was in the German Sanitary Corps and was posted to Eastern Turkey during WWI.  There he was witness to the genocide of the Armenian people. Seeing the devastating consequences of the deportations he documented the genocide in photographs, keeping meticulous notes at great personal risk.

    Wegner was arrested for his covert documentation, but was able to smuggle his photographs back to Germany. These photographs were later used in German Court as evidence that genocide had indeed taken place in Eastern Anatolia against the Armenian people.

    Wegner became a tireless advocate for human rights and was one of the first, and only, German citizens to be outspoken against the Nazi persecution of the Jews as early as April 1933, when he wrote an open letter to Adolf Hitler. He spent time in seven concentration camps for his outspoken opposition to the Nazis.  He was awarded Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1967.

  • Rena Finder on Oskar Schindler

    Language: English

    Rena Finder remembers arriving at Oskar Schindler’s factory after spending weeks in Auschwitz. Rena recalls how the Schindlers risked their lives to save so many Jews during the Holocaust.  

  • Carl Wilkens on neighbors speaking up

    Language: English

    Carl Wilkens, an aid provider during the Rwandan Tutsi Genocide, describes the courageous acts of his neighbors. 

  • Philip Markowicz remembers a live-saving act of kindness

    Language: English

    Philip Markowicz describes when he and his brother were transported to Flossenburg concentration camp in Germany and the incredible act from a bystander, which saved their lives.

  • Harotune Aivazian on the kindness of a Turkish man

    Language: English

    Haroutune Ayvazian remembers an act from a Turkish man helped saved him and his family.

     

     

  • Coenraad Rood reflects on the importance of tolerance

    Language: English

    Coenraad Rood reflects on the importance of tolerance, respect and encourages younger people to always stand up to injustice.

  • Helmut Bates on Gratitude

    Language: English

    Helmut discusses how grateful he is for his life in America, particularly because of his ability to obtain food. He also notes his amazement at how people from different economic classes interact towards one another with respect.