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Symbol of peace
By Denise Dick
Holocaust survivor dedicates memorial
By DENISE DICK
BOARDMAN
One Holocaust survivor dedicated a symbol of peace in a memorial to another survivor of the genocide.
Eva Schloss placed a marker bearing the phrase “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in Hebrew on the Peace Pole in front of Center Middle School on Wednesday morning. The dedication was a memorial to Bill Vegh of Liberty, who died in June 2009.
Vegh, a Holocaust survivor, had spoken to students about his experience at schools throughout the region. He was a frequent speaker at Boardman schools, said teacher Jesse McClain.
“All the students study the Holocaust, starting as early as fifth grade,” McClain said.
It’s not just a Jewish issue, it’s a human issue, he said.
The pole, which bears the same phrase in four languages, was erected in June 2009.
Schloss was 15 when she and her family were captured by the Nazis from their home in Austria and spent nine months in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Her father and brother died in the camp.
Schloss, who lives in London with her husband, never met Vegh but said she heard about his dedication to sharing his experience with students to not only remember the tragedy, but to improve the world.
Schloss has co-authored two books about her life: “The Promise: A Moving Story of a Family in the Holocaust” and “Eva’s Story.”
She finds it unfortunate that so many years after the Holocaust, the world hasn’t learned.
“After the Holocaust, the world said, ‘We’ll never let this happen again,’” Schloss said.
But it has. Discrimination still exists and still leads to genocide and other tragedies.
“It’s so important to educate young people to cease discrimination,” she said.
Schloss tries to use her experiences to help others.
“If you have suffered yourself, you can help other people who are suffering,” she said.
Schloss’s mother later married Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank, the young girl who died in the Holocaust but whose diary chronicled her family’s life in hiding before capture.
Schloss was to appear later Wednesday at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County and at Barnes and Noble.
Vegh’s wife, Lucille, and daughter, Rochelle Miller of Liberty, attended the dedication.
“My father was such a humble, unassuming and gentle person,” Miller said, struggling through tears.
He wouldn’t have believed he did anything to merit the honor, she said.
Vegh, though, devoted much time to teaching people about the Holocaust, his daughter said.
Vegh’s mother, sister and four brothers died during the Holocaust.
Wednesday’s service also featured poems about the tragedy written and presented by Center eighth-graders Lily Gelfand, Marcus Masello, Sumner Schreiber, Carrie Powell and Robin Goist.
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