Ruth Kapp Hartz was only 4 years old when her family went into hiding in France. Her parents changed her name to Renee to disguise her Jewish identity. They relied on the kindness of a French farm family to keep them safe. She and other children eventually found shelter in a small Catholic convent to avoid capture.
Hartz shared her story on Tuesday at the 36th annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust, held at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center.
“You are the last generation to hear our stories and I always say, you are our voices to tell our history to future generations,” she told the students.
Over the two-day event, which continues Wednesday, more than 1,800 students from across Northeast Pennsylvania will hear the stories of survivors and their descendents.
Many of the speakers, including Hartz, addressed the recent rise in anti-semitism.
“I never thought that in the winter of my life, I would live through this again,” she said.
The attendance is an increase over past years, with more districts participating. Organizers wonder if the Oct. 7 attack in Israel by Hamas militants brought more interest to the symposium.
“We hope they're learning about what actually happened,” said David Hollander, a board member of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania and president of Temple Israel.
“There are people I heard talking. They didn't even know what the word Holocaust ever meant. So for them to understand it and hear it from a survivor themselves, I think it's very important.”
Growing up in a Jewish family, Zoe Koff learned about the Holocaust from a young age. The eighth grade North Pocono student learned even more on Tuesday. She says people must stand up against hate.
“By allowing it to happen, you're letting it be normalized, and you're letting it be OK,” she said. “So if you stop it while it's happening, it will stop it from spreading and you're doing a little bit of good,” she said.
Back in Hartz’s session, she detailed the six months she spent in the convent. Only Mother Superior knew the children were Jewish. The rest of the nuns thought the children were orphans. When police arrived at the convent, the children hid under a trap door in the chapel.
After the war, Hartz reunited with her parents. She came to the United States in 1958, and spent more than two decades teaching in Philadelphia. She ended her talk by playing a song from "Hidden," a musical about her life.
“Never again means never again,
No more roundups in the middle of the night,
No, no never again,
No more children cowering in fright,
No, never again.”
