By
Susannah Bard
Photo courtesy Vashon Beachcomber
As she stepped on stage her presence was felt. She had a story to tell and it was clear.
“I am a Holocaust survivor and I am here to share with you my feelings, my memories, my experiences, in that horrible time of my life,” Ban said.
To hear those words spoken by someone who is in the living flesh is a far different experience than reading it on paper. The room prepared to have their lives changed. “People ask me why I am still talking about the Holocaust. I have many, many reasons to talk about it. I will share with you three of them. I hope that when I get to the end of my story you will see yourself what prejudice, bigotry, and hate can do when it goes uncontrolled. In our case the result was death,” Ban said.
In 1933 when Hitler came to power, Ban was just a little girl. She was listening to the radio and Hitler’s first speech came on.
“My father said ‘I’m concerned, this man is dangerous and I don’t know what will happen with us.’ There was something already happening,” Ban said.
Four years later, in 1939, World War II began.
“In 1944, March 19th, SS troops marched into Hungary. From there on with fear in our hearts we were waiting. We didn’t have to wait long,” Ban said.
Ban’s second reason for sharing her story comes from the fact that there are still people in this world who don’t believe the Holocaust happened.
“I heard some statements saying the Holocaust didn’t happen at all. I’m a peaceful person, but when I hear that I am getting angry. I would like to see those people eye to eye. I would have one question. What are you people talking about? Yes, I am lucky, I survived. But I’ve been there I’ve suffered it. Nobody, but nobody, should tell me it didn’t happen,” Ban said.
Two weeks after March 19, Ban’s father, at 43, was sent away.
“My dear mom, she was crying. I tried to calm her down. Saying ‘Please don’t cry. Maybe he will come back soon.’ She said ‘Noemi; I have a terrible feeling that I will never see him again,’” said Ban
After being married for 25 years, Ban’s mother and father never saw each other again after that day.
The third reason for Ban to share her story is a very personal one for her.
“You see, I lost a lot of people at Auschwitz. But I don’t know where their ashes scattered are.
I don’t even have a grave to go to. So whenever I speak of them, and their horrible fate, I feel I give them my love, respect, and honor for them. All of you are helping me to do this,” Ban said.
After Ban’s father left, her family was forced to march to a city on the outskirts of Budapest, to an abandoned factory.
“Nobody worked there, nobody was there. But in the courtyard were many people like us with their little packages. All of a sudden one of them said, ‘Do you see that tall ladder? You have to climb up with your package.’ As soon as I heard that I started to climb,” Ban said.
Half way up the ladder Ban looked back to look for her family, a soldier behind her took out his bayonet and pushed her to keep going. During this part of her story Ban turned around to show us where the scar still exists today.
After staying in the factory for several days’ soldiers told them they were leaving again.
“They didn’t have to tell us twice because as human beings we had the hope that if we got away from there the next station will be better. But every next station got worse and worse,” Ban said.
Finally, after traveling around, Ban and her family were handed over to the real SS guards and put on a train.
“From then on, in their eyes, we became a number only,” Ban said.
Ban and 84 others were placed in one cattle car for eight days. Once in the car Ban noticed three buckets, one was for drinking; the other two were for sanitary purposes.
“I always say I never know that smell has a memory, but whenever I talk about it, excuse me, I can smell that stench in that cattle car,” Ban said.
After traveling for eight days, the train finally stopped. Ban looked out the window to see a sign that said Auschwitz. At that point they had no idea what the word meant, or what it would come to mean in later years.
“We got down, we lined up in pairs, I was standing with my mom, and she had the little baby, behind was my grandma with my sister. I noticed that the top of the line was separating,” Ban said. “[My mom] was looking in my eyes, and her beautiful eyes said to me, ‘Noemi, take care, I love you.’”
What came next for Ban is something that is terribly hard for high school students or anyone living in this in this day and age to imagine. In one quick movement, an SS guard separated Ban from her family forever.
Over the next three months Ban lived in the barracks with 100 people per room, and 600 to one barrack. In the morning they were given one piece of bread and a cup of coffee. At lunch a large bowl of soup was passed around. Dinner was the same as breakfast. Over those three months Ban drank no water. When she came to this point in her story she told the audience that she was getting thirsty. Ban took a moment to drink from the cup beside her.
“I always say I want one glass of good clear water. I love water,” Ban said.
After living at Auschwitz’s for three months, Ban, along with 1,000 other girls were sent to Buchenwald, another camp, to work. Ban survived on a bucket of potato skins that she found outside of the kitchen. Ban’s job at Buchenwald was to help in making poisonous bombs. She and the other girls had the idea of sabotaging the wiring so they might not go off. Years later, after being freed and moving to the U.S, she met a soldier who told her he worked with some of those bombs that never went off.
“They must have been my bombs,” Ban told the man.
After living in both concentration camps for a total of seven months, Ban was finally liberated.
Ban said she has no hate in her heart from what happened to her.
“Hate destroys who hates. If I had hate in my heart, I would not be free,” she said.
After hearing Ban’s story, Levinson’s American studies class wrote her letters thanking her for sharing her story. One of those was junior Dessa Faker-Boyle.
“During my high school education I have read many books learning about the events that you experienced, but nothing has impacted me as much as your presentation. In reading these books and learning about the Holocaust, I slowly began to grow a feeling much like hate towards those involved in the horrific things that happened. Yet, when you spoke about how you have no hate it really opened my eyes (and heart) and helped me grow a different perspective on life in general.”
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“The majority of our student body really cares about one another and wants to be proud of their school and wants to be proud of our reputation and it’s a very small minority that does these mean things,” said Principal Susan Hanson about the numerous acts of vandalism that have defaced the walls and grounds of VHS.
83-year-old Noemi Ban was born in Budapest, Hungary, and lived their until the age of 21 when she was removed from her house and sent to live in the Auschwitz concentration camp as the result of being Jewish. She is a Holocaust survivor.