Help a teacher share a Holocaust survivor's story
"Don't hate." That was Abe's message. Despite being separated from his family at age 13 and forced to work in three slave labor camps, he stuck to that message. Holocaust survivor Abe Piasek passed away at age 91 -- three days before he died, Abe asked me to keep telling his story. Please help me do that.
Watch this one minute video to see & hear about Abe in his own words:I am a veteran high school teacher and I have spent the past two years crafting the most powerful way to present Abe's story. Audience members have told me they feel like they actually met Abe when they see how I have blended video clips of Abe with images, maps and other artifacts. More than 3,300 people (50+ groups) have heard me bring Abe's story to life in the past 18 months -- his story helps build empathy. In order to keep telling Abe's story, I need your financial support.
Testimonials from some of the 3,000+ people who have heard me tell Abe's story are available at the website My Friend Abe .
I met Abe when he spoke about the Holocaust at the high school where I was teaching, and he inspired me. Taken from his family in Poland at the age of 13, Abe never saw his parents or his younger sister again. He survived three slave labor camps from 1942-45; when he was liberated, he weighed less than 75 pounds.
I got to know Abe by interviewing him a few times at his house in Raleigh, and together we led a remarkable trip for my students to the US Holocaust Museum in April of 2019 (2 min video from local TV coverage of our trip).
At the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, Abe, who had never visited the museum before, chose to narrate how he was liberated from a cattle car when he was 16 years old in 1945 for my students. Abe did this while standing in the cattle car exhibit at the museum, with his heart pounding. After that incredibly powerful experience (5-minute video), Abe and I became friends.
After our trip to the Holocaust Museum, I interviewed Abe nearly a dozen times. I was all excited to bring Abe back to my school for a more extensive visit with students -- we had set up a two-hour in-school field trip in September 2019, and we planned to video Abe's visit so we could share it with others.
We needed two hours because Abe's story is so powerful and so involved that he needed more than an hour to tell his story. However, most schools limited him to 45-60 minutes -- not enough time to develop his story fully and engage student questions at the end. Abe explained to me that he enjoys talking to students but that he needed more time (1 min video of Abe talking).
Sadly, about a week before he was going to make a return visit to my school, Abe fell while working in his garage. In true "Abe" fashion, while he was recovering in the hospital, he told people he was a Holocaust survivor, and he ended up telling his story to a group of about 75 people at the Hospital (2 min video from local media).
Abe was released from the hospital and seemed to be improving, but his health took a turn for the worse, and Abe passed away on January 15, 2020. Three days before he died, while he was in hospice care at his daughter's house, Abe asked me to keep telling his story.
I have taken a break from teaching to do just that.
Because I'm no longer teaching in a traditional school, I need funds to support my work as a Holocaust educator. It takes a great deal of time -- particularly during covid -- to contact schools and arrange speaking engagements (if you know of a school or any group that would like to hear Abe's story, please get in touch!).
In a typical year, Abe would speak to perhaps a dozen schools or groups. My goal for the end of the 2021-2022 school year is to speak at more than 60 schools and to reach more than 5,000 people. Thankfully, Zoom helps keep transportation costs down -- I've already spoken to students at schools from Maine to Hawaii from my home in North Carolina.
More details about the project are available at the beta website -- My Friend Abe .