The Power of One:
Ursuline students learn powerful lesson from Holocaust survivor

Deciding to do the right thing, is not always the easiest choice. However, according to Holocaust survivor Rena Finder, doing the right thing when no one else will, can sometimes make all the difference.

Rena thoughtfully passed this message along to the students of Ursuline Academy when she visited the school to share her story of hope, courage and survival on April 7. She spoke of the terror that spread through her home of Krakow, Poland when German soldiers invaded in 1939, the poor treatment of Jewish citizens, and the one man who decided to help against all odds.

"Oskar Schindler is a perfect example of the difference one person can make," she said of the "tall, handsome" man who took it upon himself to protect Jews like herself by providing work opportunities in his factory, despite his association with the Nazi regime. "He did not have the heart of a Nazi," she said.

Rena shared details of her struggle in the ghetto, where she lived with her family until every relative but her mother was taken away by soldiers. She talked of the anguish felt by all who experienced Auschwitz, and the dehumanizing experience that caused her to feel dead even though she was still breathing. While physical pain and illness became commonplace for the oppressed Jews, Rena said she was most sickened by the decided ignorance of her neighbors.

"They didn't see us. They didn't help. They didn't care," she said of her gentile neighbors, once friends who carried on with their lives even as Rena and her family were tortured by German soldiers in the streets. According to Rena, they had no courage in the face of opposition, and decided to simply do nothing.

Rena recalled the dreadful day that her family was ordered to leave their comfortable home in Krakow, to find a tiny room in the ghetto across town. As the family descended their stairs, they knocked on the door of their neighbors to say goodbye; but there was no answer. As the family left the house, they looked back only to see their neighbors peeking from their windows, afraid to become involved.

"It is better to do something than to do nothing," Rena told the Ursuline students, and encouraged them to be that courageous person who gets involved or finds help when another person is treated poorly. Though her story seems unimaginable, it is a true example of the power one person has to positively affect the lives of many.

Ursuline Academy had the unique opportunity to welcome Rena Finder with the support of"Facing History and Ourselves," an educational program that invites students to examine and discuss the actions that led to horrific events in our world, so that they may learn how to better react in the face of opposition. The school is currently integrating aspects of this program into the curriculum to expose students to examples of injustice in our world, with hopes that they will realize how important their positive actions can be to society. Facing History provides resources to schools, such as featured speakers like Rena Finder.

The students of Ursuline Academy are so grateful that Rena was able to share her story of courage, which ended happily due to the kindness of a stranger named Oskar Schindler. They will now go into the world with a bit more courage to do the right thing, when no one else will.