Teacher and Holocaust survivor shares stories.
By Chris Beswetherick
Noémi Ban is not just a Holocaust survivor, but a lover of life. Ban is an honorary speaker and award recipient from Western, and a public speaker for thousands of people. She shares her story of life after liberation from the Holocaust. She discusses the state of Hungary under communism, her anxiety from simply being a survivor and reaching the point of sharing.
Ban believes her duty is to share her experiences of the Holocaust in order to prevent another. She shares to heal herself, those she lost and those she loves.
The AS Review is honored to have met with Mrs. Ban, who is a teacher and holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Western. Her lessons are powerful to hear.
Chris Beswetherick: Why did you leave Hungary to come to the United States?
Noémi Ban: The fact remains that, after finally I survived and I was alive, during the war the Russians were against Hitler and Mussolini and Italy, but then came the Cold War and that meant our European countries got taken over and Lenin, Stalin and Marxism [became apparent.] They came although nobody really wanted them to, but they came to Hungary and this is really the reason we were thinking about leaving.
The thing is though, they were telling us that freedom is most wonderful, but it was not. I was thinking about when you went to vote. Everyone had to leave their apartment and had a communist leader walk us to a place to vote. And then, how did you vote? You got a little paper, on it one name, and we had to take and look at that very name and put that paper in a box. And then the communist man walked us back to our home.
CB: What was eating like?
NB: After teaching, if we needed bread, you would go home, but we got in line. A long line in front of the store, and then you had maybe five or six people still ahead of you and the man came out of the store and said ‘go home, everything is gone, there is no more bread.’ It was very simple, but it is a big deal when you are working, and you have a family and you want to go home and make a lot of something when you go home, but then you stand for hours and they say ‘go home.’
CB: Were you a teacher in Hungary?
NB: I had been teaching seventh and eighth grade boys and one day the communist people who wanted to listen to it came and listened with paper and pencil. They listened to my teaching, then I had to go into the principal’s office. And they said it was nice and good but there was a big mistake: they never ever heard Stalin, Lenin, Marxism. “You were not teaching communism.” Of course how could I teach that when I had a beautiful poem? There was no room for communism and I was told that was not good teaching because they did not hear anything about what communism is. Many many things came together and we had a feeling of ‘let’s get out of here.’
CB: How did communism make you feel?
NB: During communism, religion is a no-no. I was afraid. Plain clear fear. I did not know if the person in the next apartment to me was a Nazi. I did not know if they wanted to kill me still. I was afraid so much so that when I was teaching after the war (and I went through that horrible thing and I love to teach and share with the kids) I did not tell not one word about Auschwitz.
CB: How did you begin talking about the Holocaust?
NB: At the Garden Street Methodist Church, that was the first time I was not afraid. Then, the rabbi of our congregation, was a good friend of the minister and he invited us. That was the first time out of my congregation I talked about the Holocaust. There I was not afraid anymore. The next day after my talk, a Bellingham Herald reporter called telling me he wanted to interview me. I said to my husband ‘no no no’ and he said Noémi, try, try.’ Then I said ‘Okay.’ I was thinking and told my husband it would be a little part I had. He asked questions and I felt free and talked more, and the next day it came and on the first page there was my face.”
CB: Do you still speak about the Holocaust?
NB: Every school year I go and I keep talking and I am no longer afraid anymore. I am not afraid. I am opening up. And even more and more reason I have.
CB: Do you hate?
NB: If I hate, if you hate, if he hates, anyone who hates is wrong. I wanted people to learn that we got a high level culture, music, books, a way of life from Germany, but that doesn’t mean I love the Nazis. I wanted people to learn there are Nazis and Germans. They should not fear that because they are from Germany, they have to hate them, because then I am doing the same thing Hitler did to us. It is not easy to do that, because boy what we got, and what I lost… my little brother was six months old, he would have been three or four years older than my own son. I wanted to show if you are a human being, you have to know what is hate and what it does.
I was a prisoner in the camps, and if I were to hate I would be a prisoner of hate.
CB: What image from the Holocaust resonates with you the most?
NB: That is very hard to understand because everything was standing out. Absolutely unbelievable. That is the Holocaust: every single thing was out of order. That is why it is so unbelievable that you here sitting here, looking at me.
If you want to hear more of Noemi’s stories, look for posters up around campus for the next time she speaks at Western.