Holocaust survivor emphasizes empathy, education in campus talk

Yetta Kane recounts her story of surviving the Holocaust to Artesia High School students on Tuesday, asking them to remember the importance of empathy and education. Photo by Vincent Medina

ARTESIA – Holocaust survivor Yetta Kane, 91, shared her story of survival to ethnic studies students at Artesia High School, emphasizing the importance of kindness, education and treating others fairly.

Dee Scorza, the ethnic studies teacher at Artesia High School, explained the ethnic studies curriculum aims to encourage a more inclusive society by educating students about the varied experiences and histories of different ethnic groups. Kane’s talk on Tuesday would give students a first-hand idea of what Holocaust survivors endured in Europe during the war.

Kane’s story of surviving the Holocaust also served as a reminder of one of the worst genocides in history. She recounted, “Every day was a gift from God. Every hour meant life or death. To make it to another day was an eternity.”

Kane explained she grew up in a small village in Poland, in modern day Belarus. When she, her parents and brother were notified the Nazis were coming to their village in 1939, they and a group of approximately 30 people and children hid in the Russian forests. Kane was eight-years-old at the time.

They managed to evade the Nazis throughout the war, but she explained her family struggled to survive while in hiding.

“You bite your tongue, and you don’t say a word when you are cold sitting in bushes where the water was freezing the ankles,” Kane recalled. “When you could hear the Germans, and they couldn’t find us because dogs lost our scent in the water.”

Kane and her family never stayed in one place for too long. She explained her group was always on the move with very few supplies, often only the clothes on their backs and rags for shoes.

“How can you ask your mother or father for something to eat, if you know they don’t have it? When you’re asking them for food, you only bring in more pain and more agony,” she said.

After her family were able to find shelter in Russia, Kane recounted having to share a room with a horse and having only frozen food available. During this time she tried to continue her education, and emphasized heavily to the students the importance of staying in school.

“Education, the Hebrew word is Torah, and Torah is the Five Books of Moses. If you study, Torah means knowledge that nobody will take away from you, wherever you go, no matter what happens,” Kane explained.

She also expressed to the Artesia High School students that small acts of kindness can mean a lot to someone. During the time her family spent on the run, they were grateful for the kindness and generosity of others, like her teacher who would allow her to dry the rags she used for shoes on the small wall heater.

“A kind word or a smile and opening a door, sometimes is the most you could do for that person because you don’t know if anyone ever says hello to them or if they are alone,” Kane said.

“Never put yourself in somebody’s shoes unless you walk in them.”

ABC Unified board of trustees vice president, Ernie Nishii, expressed the importance of teaching students history and sharing stories like Kane’s.

“Nazis didn’t just kill Jews, they killed anybody who’s different. They found a way to make people different from their sexuality, disabilities, LGBTQIA+,” Nishii said. “We just have to believe in having empathy and understanding, apparently that’s education. We have got to teach these things deeply.”

Scorza also echoed Nishii’s belief in the importance of teaching history to increase empathy in students.

“I think a lot of times different scares people, but there’s a strength in knowing where you come from. A people without knowledge of their past is like a tree without roots,” Scorza said. “Ethnic Studies gives us an opportunity to research everyone’s history and show how we operate and how all that brings us collectively brings us together.These histories have to be told.”