Imagine, a young boy, about 7 years old, fascinated with the beautiful horses in the Polish army. His career goal: to be a member of the Polish army, and to be able to ride those beautiful horses. Flash forward five years, after the Russian occupation of Poland, and that same boy is now staring at the horse in a different way. Now, this boy no longer sees a tall, commanding horse prancing down the road, but a sleek, fierce horse lying on the side of the road, shot through the stomach. His childhood was over.

Henry Friedman was a young boy growing up in Brody, Poland, when the Nazis invaded and occupied Poland. Friedman, being a child, didn’t fully understand the horrors that were being done to his country. He now understands what the Nazi regime was doing, and speaks to teenage kids around the northwest to share his story with them. On April 17, the Wenatchee High School juniors had the opportunity to listen to Friedman’s story, and his message of warding off indifference.

“Don’t be indifferent when you see injustice being done,” Friedman said.

Friedman was born in 1928, to a Jewish family living in Poland. In 1939, Poland was occupied by the Russians, and Friedman’s father lost his business and their private possessions. Later, in 1941, when the Nazi’s took over Brody, basic rights were stripped from all the Jews, including Friedman’s. The horrors of the Nazis were made crystal clear when Friedman’s mother was beaten so severely she could not lift her arms for weeks, only because she forgot to wear her Star of David.

In 1942, roundups of the Jews became a norm, with “aktions,” as they were called, taking around 4,500 Jews to the Belzec death camp. Friedman and his family narrowly escaped due to the help of a young Ukrainian woman named Julia Symchuck. Friedman’s family went into hiding for the next 18 months in a town called Suchowola, until the Russians liberated them in March 1944. Friedman now works for the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center.

Henry Friedman is one of about 20 active speakers working with the Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center. According to Amanda Davis, Office Manager and Speakers Bureau Coordinator for the Holocaust Foundation, all of these speakers are either Holocaust survivors, liberators, or second- and third-generation speakers telling their family’s story. Friedman lives half the time in California, but while he is living in Washington state, he goes on about 10 speaking trips per year.

Wenatchee High School has had the honor of hosting a Holocaust survivor for the last several years to speak to the junior class. The Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center’s speakers mostly speak throughout Washington state, however they do, on occasion, travel to surrounding states such as Idaho and Oregon, and to states even further away, such as Arizona and even the British Columbia. The groups that ask for these speakers range from fifth graders to adults, though the most common groups are eighth and 10th graders. The 11th graders at WHS have the opportunity to listen to these speakers to fit with their studies of WWII in United States History.

The juniors of WHS reacted well to the speaker, feeling as though Friedman’s story was something they can hold onto and remember.

“It made me stop and think how fortunate I am to have the life that I have,” junior Brianne Wilde said.