Rena Finder Shares Her Story of Survival with Students

She stood scarcely taller than her podium, but the presence and power that Rena Finder exerted over those packed into the Gasson 100 on Tuesday through the retelling of her biography was, for many, overwhelming.

Finder's speech was sponsored by the Boston College Hillel, the Mentoring Leadership Program, the Emerging Leaders Program, and the Shaw Leadership Program. She encouraged the Boston College community to not be passive bystanders of history.

"When I talk to the young people, I want them to understand that you can't just sit back and do nothing," Finder said.

Finder said her childhood in Krakow, Poland, growing up as an only child by the Vistula River, was happy one. When she was 10-years-old, the Nazis occupied Poland, and the Jewish citizens were forced into a ghetto.

"I remember looking around my room where I was born and I couldn't believe I was going to leave it," Finder said. "But my father assured me that everything would be okay when the world found out what is happening to us."

Finder recalled her initial feelings of isolation during the beginning of the Holocaust.

"I remember as we started to walk away from my beloved building, I saw all our neighbors peering at us from behind closed windows and drapes, nobody there, nobody wanting to say goodbye."

Finder said that she felt as if the Polish people did not notice what was happening to the Jewish population. "What about us? Doesn't anybody see us? Doesn't anybody hear us?" Finder said. "All around us the Polish people went about their normal ways. They were occupied, but they were not threatened."

While in the ghetto, she lost her grandparents, and by the end of the War, she had also lost aunts, uncles, cousins, and her father. She considers herself lucky, however, because she, her mother, her grandfather, and one of her uncles survived.

"They took my grandparents away and we were crying," she said. "The last memory I have of my grandparents was of them walking away holding hands."

Finder said that she owed her life to Oskar Schindler. "Oskar Schindler was a member of the Nazi Party, but he did not have the heart of a Nazi," she said.

She informed the audience of the good deeds of Schindler, and how she and her mother realized the importance of this work. His ammunitions factory employed primarily Jews, and as a result he was able to save over 1,000 lives. "As long as we would be working we would be needed, and would not be killed," she said.

She also recalled her sad realization when the war was finally over. "My father, my aunts, uncles, my cousin, they were all killed."

Finder recalled the traumatizing experiences she had at Auschwitz. "There really are no words to describe how Auschwitz was," she said.

Finder's visit to BC last night was her second time speaking on campus. Her friend Sonia Weitz, a Holocaust survivor, came to campus for 15 years, and passed away recently. "I know that my friend Sonia would want me to continue with her work and her legacy," she said.