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Holocaust survivor Bea Karp speaks to La Vista Junior High eighth-graders. The May 11 presentation rounded out six weeks of the students’ WWII studies. Photo by Rachel George
La Vista Junior High eighth-graders filled the bleachers in the school’s gymnasium on May 11, while Holocaust survivor Bea Karp sat at a desk in the center of the gym to tell her story.
The students attended the presentation after studying World War II and the Holocaust for six weeks in their history classes.
Karp spoke plainly, telling her story of life as a young Jewish girl in a German town. She spoke of carrying an ID card that labeled her as Jewish, and eventually being banned from shops and eventually school, and of her father selling his small textile business when Jewish people were no longer allowed to hold property.
She told of her dad’s faith — that God or the country would intervene and “stop this mad man Hitler.”
She recalled the first time she understood hate, when she saw two Nazi soldiers walking down the street. She threw pebbles at their backs and ran from them.
She talked of Nazis burning all of the synagogues in her town, Gurs concentration camp, losing her parents and how the world would be a better place if we all were a bit kinder and got to know each other.