HANC commemorates Yom HaShoah

On Yom Hashoah the entire middle school of the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County was privileged to meet and hear a presentation by Alex Konstantyn, a survivor, former HANC parent, former principal of East Meadow Jewish Center Hebrew School, and an incredibly inspiring speaker.

After Rabbi Hecht introduced the program, six candles were lit by students Sebastian Hoyt and Jacob Neumann in memory of the Six Million. Sebastian’s great-great grandmother died in the Holocaust and Jacob’s grandmother is a survivor.

 The students then listed as Konstantyn told his story.

He was a young boy in Poland when his parents realized they needed to avoid the Nazis. His father had converted all the money he had into gold and the family kept traveling the countryside, asking for or buying food and trying to remain inconspicuous.

He told of several incidents in which they narrowly escaped or were identified as Jews by people they thought were sincere about trying to help them.

Konstantyn’s father was actually poisoned by a piece of pie given to him by a man they thought was protecting them. Luckily, he and his mother had not yet eaten their pieces, but Konstantyn watched his father die in his mother’s arms. He credits his mother with giving him life more than once since she forced herself to leave her dead husband, grab her son and the gold, and keep moving and hiding.

The messages the students were asked to take away were to keep the stories alive and educate future generations about the Holocaust. Meeting Konstantyn and his wife and seeing pictures of their beautiful children and grandchildren, proved that the Jews did not succumb to the Nazis’ grand plan.