Holocaust Survivor Fred Gross Believes Students Can 'bring Peace To This World'

Forgiveness is tough for Fred Gross.

A Holocaust survivor, Gross, 82, is often asked if he forgives the people responsible for the “slaughter of six million Jews.”

Gross told about 600 students from Mater Dei and Evansville Christian high schools he has a problem with forgiving.

“And I still struggle to this day to say: ‘Yes, I forgive,’” he said. “I can’t do it. It’s not in me to do it. I feel that if I forgive I will be betraying my people. I hope you can understand that, even though you may disagree with me, I hope you understand.”

On Feb. 11, Gross spoke to students and staff in Mater Dei’s auditorium. A retired journalist and author of “One Step Ahead of Hitler: A Jewish Child’s Journey through France,” he speaks an average of 25-30 times a year across Indiana and Kentucky to help people understand the horrific impact of the Holocaust.

A main reason he shares his story with students, he said, is to help them realize they can make a difference in the world.

“We depend upon the young people to better all of our lives,” Gross said. “And it’s important for them to know that they stand up for justice, and they become compassionate people and they help others who are less fortunate.”

In 2012, Gross discovered a photo on the Internet showing him and his family on a truck entering a French village following their escape from the Nazi invasion of Belgium in May 1940. He waited more than 40 years to learn the truth of what happened to him when Nazi Germany “destroyed his childhood.”

Gross was only three-years-old living with his family in Belgium when Hitler came to town and, he said, in many ways ended his childhood and began a remarkable and dangerous journey for his family.

He shared with students the route his family took to escape the Nazi invasion, he recalled a time his mother threw him into a ditch and covered him with her body to protect him, and how all of it impacted his life years later, especially when he was a teenager.

“I was very distrustful of people,” he said. “I kept to myself. I wanted to be with friends, but I was always cautious that I wouldn’t be harmed. And I think that probably came from my experiences.”

Gross wants students to remember “textbooks can never replace the story of survivors,” and he hopes kids will stand up for peace.

“We want them to be future leaders who bring peace to this world,” he said. “And they can do it if they put their heart into it. … We should all love each other, we really should.”

Gross spoke in Evansville in conjunction with “A New Generation Remembers: A Unique Holocaust Exhibit” displayed at Evansville’s Temple Adath B’Nai Israel through Feb. 17.

The traveling display showcases 21 murals depicting the horrors of the Holocaust and the rise and fall of the Nazi Party. The art is created by students in Ron Skillern’s Nazi Germany and the Holocaust summer camp for gifted students on Western Kentucky University’s campus.

Mural subjects include Anne Frank, Hitler youth and Jewish resistance.

CYPRESS (Committee to Promote Respect in Schools) brought the exhibit and Gross to Evansville. The exhibit is open to the public from 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Visit cypressevansville.org for more information.

The Message photo by Megan Erbacher.