Seventh grade students from St. Brigid attended a talk this week by a survivor of the Holocaust. Max Slabotzky, a Portland tailor who grew up in Belgium, came to McAuley on Tuesday to share his World War II experiences with high school and middle school students.
Mr. Slabotzky, 83, talked to the audience about how he was separated from his family and went into hiding when he was just 12 years old. After being caught by the Gestapo, he was taken by train to Auschwitz and forced into labor.
Upon liberation, Mr. Slabotzky learned that his mother had gone to a different camp and been a victim of medical experiments. She passed away shortly after they were reunited. His father had been sent to a mine, where he died as well. A younger brother - who had been kept safe in a convent - was the only other survivor in the family.
The talk fits well into the seventh grade’s upcoming interdisciplinary unit on World War II.
