Holocaust Survivor Shares Message Of Tolerance With Students

Eighth graders from sat with their eyes glued forward, concentrating on the every word of a 77-year-old man.

“They never came to our house. We had no papers. They would have executed us because they hated Jews. It was in their system,’’ Sun City Palm Desert resident Bert Jakobs told the class in the auditorium of the Tolerance Education Center in Rancho Mirage.

The Holocaust survivor shared his story of how as a young boy of 8 years old he hid in a farm house with five other people during Germany’s occupation of Holland.

“My sisters taught me to read and write and arithmetic. We made a large game of monopoly,’’ he said, getting a few smiles from a group of girls near the back.

Jakobs recounted how his father allowed him to play checkers with the farmer who hid them.

“My dad said, `You can play with him, but you cannot win,’’ Jakobs said. “He never found out I lost on purpose … It gave me some type of will power – if you want to do something, you can do it.’’

His family was in hiding for 25 months before American soldiers invaded the area, forcing them to flee. His oldest sister later died when a German bomb fell in a U.S. Army camp, but he eventually came to America, where he became a citizen and started up a mechanic shop in Santa Ana.

Jakobs, who wiped away some tears during his hour-long talk, explained that he does not think the worst of the Germans to this day.

He said he grew up an introvert and antisocial after witnessing the horrors of war. But today he is a different man.

“I feel very privileged to be alive,’’ he said. “Every day for me is a day gained.’’

He said he does not hate Germans and even traveled back to his native Germany, where he spoke to the people.

“You are human beings. I am a human being. Why can’t we treat each other like human beings and accept each other for what we are,’’ he said.

The talk was part of a three-day field trip for the more than 400 eighth graders at Palm Desert Charter Middle School.

Nan Davis, the teacher who organized the excursion, said the field trips are in conjunction with a literary unit on “perseverance in the face of adversity.”

As part of the class, students pick out a book to read that encapsulates that theme.

“They pick out books about people, autobiographies, where people are overcoming like famine or war, or the holocaust, something that is beyond their control and how they overcome it,’’ Davis said.

Next week, the students will pen essays, which will be submitted to the Jewish Federation Essay Contest.

Madisyn Blow, 13, said Jakob’s story astonished her.

“He was saying how he doesn’t hate the Germans and he knows they were brain washed and stuff. And how his siblings died. If that happened to me I would not be able to live through it because it would be so horrible,’’ Blow said.

Kate Mook, a 15-year-old Palm Desert High School sophomore, said her trip to the Tolerance Center impacted her so much that she continues to help out with the field trip.

“I come back because I know it changed my life. You know it has the capability of changing other kids lives too,’’ she said.

Mook usually gives a small talk to the classes before they come and hear the speakers.

“It is a life changing experience if you listen,’’ she said.

She sees the opportunity to hear Holocaust victims share their stories of survival as special.

“We’re the last generation to hear it so we need to pass it on,’’ Mook said. “My children won’t be able to hear the stories so it’s our responsibility to pass it on.’’

The Tolerance Education Center was opened by Holocaust Survivor Earl Greif. The nonprofit seeks to educate the public about the devastating effects of prejudice and intolerance. Admission is free.