[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 58 (Tuesday, April 21, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E905]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 21, 2009

  Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, yesterday evening marked the beginning 
of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the day set aside to 
remember the six-million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. In Israel, it 
is a national memorial day.
  The atrocities of the Holocaust are horrific and unforgivable. Those 
who perished live on in the memories of those who survived. Today, I 
would like to recognize one such individual, Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, a 
survivor and a remarkable woman, who lives in my district and who I am 
privileged to represent.
  Fanya's presence here represents the victory of life over death, of 
light over darkness, and of goodness over evil. She is a member of the 
last generation of Holocaust survivors. With the survivor population 
growing older, with most in their 70s, 80s and beyond, there is an 
urgent need to record the events of this most tragic period in human 
history.
  Fanya grew up in a tiny village on the Polish-Ukrainian border called 
Skala. Prior to the war, the Jews, Poles and Ukrainians lived in 
different worlds with very little interaction. The Nazis were able to 
take advantage of this lack of communication and centuries' old hatred 
to turn average citizens--shopkeepers, doctors, lawyers and teachers--
into willing participants in the war against the Jews. They brainwashed 
the public with a media campaign of lies, at a time when there were no 
jobs, no money and no food. People wanted someone to blame and Hitler 
took advantage of this anger and frustration and convinced an entire 
nation to wage a genocidal war against the Jews.
  A Polish peasant farmer named Sidor, one of the poorest in the 
village of Skala, risked his life and that of his wife and young 
daughter to save Fanya's family. He dug a cave for them under his 
chicken coop, where Fanya, along with her parents and little brother, 
hid and remained in a crouching position for nearly two and a half 
years. They had little air and no light and subsisted on whatever 
meager rations Sidor was able to share with them. Lice and rats were 
their constant companions.
  Jan, a Ukrainian shoemaker who became a militiaman during the war, 
was the only other person to help them. Jan had taken a particular 
romantic interest in Fanya and, because of his love for her, throughout 
this entire period, he risked his life--hiding them at times in the 
attic of his family's barn--to save their lives. He brought them food 
and bits of news from the warfront whenever possible.
  Because of the help he gave Fanya's family in hiding, Jan was teased 
and called a ``Jewish Uncle.'' His own mother turned him in to the 
Nazis, who in turn beat him mercilessly in order to try to find the 
Gottesfelds.
  Fanya's contributions to the community are multifold. She has raised 
a wonderful family, three children, eight grandchildren and seven 
great-grandchildren. In 1998, the New York State Board of Regents 
awarded her the Louis E. Yavner Citizen Award in recognition of her 
outstanding contributions to teaching about the Holocaust and other 
assaults on humanity. Fanya holds a B.A. and an M.A. in psychology from 
the New School for Social Research and honorary degrees from Yeshiva 
University and Bar-Ilan University. She serves on the boards of 
numerous institutions and charitable organizations, many of which focus 
on Jewish education and the empowerment of women.
  She is the author of Love in a World of Sorrow, a candid memoir of 
her experiences during the Holocaust and a public record of one woman's 
witness to the Holocaust. After publication, Fanya also began to teach. 
Speaking to young people, mostly not Jewish, Fanya puts a face to the 
suffering they had read about in their textbooks, providing a message 
of hope and an emotional connection that can only come from hearing a 
first person account. There is also a study guide published alongside 
Fanya's book to help educators present the issue of genocide.
  Fanya is committed to helping others understand the power of goodness 
in a world of evil, the power of just one person, of each individual--
that individuals can and must make the right choices instead of 
remaining bystanders in the face of evil. Fanya wants to insure that 
these and future generations better understand the tragedy of the past 
and work to make sure that, in each lifetime, fairness, justice and 
love will win out over indifference, evil and hatred.

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