Surviving the Holocaust: Hilda Mantelmacher
On Wednesday, April 25, 2018, Thaddeus Stevens College welcomed Hilda Mantelmacher, a native of former Czechoslovakia, a Holocaust survivor and a member of a dwindling group of eyewitnesses to the genocidal atrocities unleashed by the Nazi regime.
Hilda shared her experience during the holocaust to the Thaddeus Stevens community.
She survived Auschwitz Concentration Camp and was transferred to the Bergen-Belsen Camp, the camp where Ann Frank and her sister died, where she was held prisoner until the end of the war.
Hilda was about 10 years when this all began. “My mother went in the gas chamber, my little brother holding her hand, and my father went in the gas chamber and my grandparents,” Hilda said. As she tells her story, she shows the audience the only memory of her family that she has left, a photo of her little brother, Josh.
Following her speech, she showed a historical document to put her story in context and answered any questions anyone had.
After the liberation of the Concentration Camps in Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, Hilda immigrated to Rochester, NY, and later Harrisburg, where she calls her home. As she closed the chapter in her life and look forward to a brighter future, she emphasizes to love one another and not succumb to hate. “I tell them don’t hate because hate brings holocaust,” Hilda said. “Be nice to everybody, not to hate nobody, treat everybody the way you want to be treated and it’s going to be a better world for you and your children.”
Hilda has been interviewed on a documentary headed by Steven Spielberg and has been presenting her story ever since. Every year she also presents her story at The Open Stage's production of The Diary of Anne Frank. She is an avid reader and loves to knit.
The Connellys have been writing letters to Hilda for over 2 decades. They traveled all the way from Scranton to see her.
If you wish to make a difference or a donation, Hilda's preferred organization is the Shoah Foundation.
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology is consistently ranked as Pennsylvania’s top technical college and awards associate degrees in 22 high-demand, skilled occupations. A full listing of programs is available at www.StevensCollege.edu.
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