The theory that man is nothing but the result of biological, psychological and sociological conditions, or the product of heredity and environment is wrong.
We are not fully conditioned and determined but rather determine ourselves whether we give in to conditions or stand up the them.
There is nothing conceivable which would so condition a person as to leave him (or her) without the slightest freedom.
- Viktor E. Frankl, "Man's Search for Meaning," 1959
Dr. Frankl came to the above conclusions while he was a prisoner in Auschwitz during the Second World War. I read his book in 1962 and it helped determine the person I would become.
A few days ago Dave and I went with some family and friends to the Holocaust Center close to our condo to meet Helen Greenspun, a lovely 84 year old Holocaust survivor. She was taken from her home at age 14 and kept under Nazi control for 6 years.
Her story is as harrowing as you could possibly imagine. But it's also a story of triumph. I want to share with you what she called, "Three Miracles.'
1. The Germans came for all of the Jewish girls 16 and over. Helen's mother sent her to sneak a bag of food to her sister who was crammed, along with others, into the back of a truck. A guard saw Helen and forced her on the truck with the others. All the while she was screaming that she was only 14, but to no avail.
The miracle? All of the Jews who stayed in the village were murdered.
2. The job she was given was working with potatoes. The Miracle? She was able to sneak potato scraps back to the other girls in the barracks (most of the girls eventually died, many of starvation.)
3. All along the way there were a few Germans (very few) who bent the rules in order to keep these girls alive. Toward the end of her ordeal they were sent on a forced march with no food or water. As they traveled through villages some German women threw scrapes of food at them and a few of the guards allowed them to pick them up.
Helen was saved by American soldiers in 1945. She spent two months in a hospital and close to a year in a sanitarium.
Today, at age 84, she still speaks, as she has for all of these years, to groups of children and adults - so that we will never forget.
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