Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Hannah Fisk - January 24, 1983

Yeah, you probably seen me. Well, I'll tell you something. To us, it's holy. We do what we can. We cherish, and we share with people, and we try to not to forget. We always wake up again and again and we tell the people what we went through, that they shouldn't go through this, to stand up, stand up for their rights, you know? So we try really to keep our heritage as holy as we can. But then it's up to the next generation, if they will do it. I hope so because that Holocaust what we build now, you know, the memorial center, and all the stuff was in it. I mean uh, it's not a lie. See? If you talk people what they going and, and then you take literature from them and then you put on to a book or something, it's different, but here you have living proof.

Right.

You know? You got people what went through on their own body.

Right. Yeah. Wow, that's wild.

So what, we, we shouldn't keep quiet, for one thing. You know, we should put our heads down like in Europe, you know, when somebody was going, we were afraid, we put our heads down. There was no reason for it. If we knew, if we had the knowledge then what we have now, it would be much different. I can tell you that.

Do you think...

That's why we tried to teach our children, too.

You've talked to your children about what happened to you?

Oh yeah, they know everything from top to the bottom. Yeah. She sometimes, my daughter even say, "Momma, how much can you repeat and repeat?" I say, "Forever, Judy. Judy, forever. That thing should not--once we are gone, I don't want you to forget. I want you to teach and I want you to tell. We were fifty people in the Wayne University. We were telling stories from uh, kids, they were from elementary school, they were from other school, they--it's remarkable, the question they put to you, you know? Painful to talk, yes it is. Some people can't take it, they fainting, they, they getting very emotional, they crying, you know? I'm happy to hold myself, I'm not crying. Nothing to cry about. Won't help me, to get emotional to do take another tranquilizer or a, or a high blood pressure pill, you know. But I, I really enjoyed it and I'm going to do it again. They tell me that they going to call me. They uh, planning to speak in the Marygrove College here.

Oh.

For the nuns? Very nice. Very polite. I like them. I like them very much.

Good, good.

I liked them very much.

I think that will ???

Yeah. If you close this, I'm going to tell you something.

Okay.

[interruption in interview]