Nesse Godin - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Nesse Godin (born March 28, 1928 in Šiauliai

Šiauliai

Šiauliai , is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 133,900. It is the capital of Šiauliai County. Unofficially, the city is the capital of Northern Lithuania.-Names:...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

) is a Holocaust survivor. She has dedicated her adult life to teaching and sharing memories of the Holocaust. Nesse has the ability to translate the Holocaust into a personal glimpse of this enormous and horrifying history.

1933-1939

"My family was very religious and observed all the Jewish laws. I attended Hebrew school and was raised in a loving household, where the values of community and caring always were stressed. After the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, we heard from relatives in Łódź that Jews there were being treated horribly. We could not believe it; how could your neighbors denounce you and not stand up to help you?"

1940-1944

These were the years of German occupation in Lithuania

Lithuania

, as well as numerous other places and regions throughout Europe.

"On June 26, 1941, the Germans occupied our city, just four days after the invasion of the USSR. In the weeks that followed, SS killing units and Lithuanian collaborators shot about 1,000 Jews in the nearby Kuziai forest. In August, we were forced to move into a ghetto, where we lived in constant hunger and fear. There I witnessed many “selections,” during which men, women, and children were taken to their deaths. My father was among them. In 1944 as the Soviet army approached, the remaining Jews were deported to the Stutthof concentration camp

Stutthof concentration camp

Stutthof was the first Nazi concentration camp built outside of 1937 German borders.Completed on September 2, 1939, it was located in a secluded, wet, and wooded area west of the small town of Sztutowo . The town is located in the former territory of the Free City of Danzig, 34 km east of...

. There I was given the number 54015."

1945-1950

From Stutthof, Nesse was transported to several camps, and was sent on a death march in January 1945. In the freezing cold winter weather and with little food, many of the prisoners died. On March 10, 1945, she was liberated by Soviet troops. As she was still a minor then, she was given a random minder, but soon afterwards she got re-united with her mother. In 1950 after spending five years in the displaced persons camp in Feldafing

Feldafing

Feldafing is a municipality in Starnberg district, Bavaria, Germany, and is located on the west shore of Lake Starnberg, southwest of Munich.- History :...

, Germany, she and her husband Jack (also a survivor), along with their two children, Pnina and Edward, came to the U.S. and settled in the Washington D.C. area.

Later years

In 1954, Nesse and Jack saw the birth of their third and final child, Rochelle. Holding blue-collar jobs, Nesse and Jack worked hard and diligently to support their family, which included Nesse's mother, Sara. She has seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Advocacy/Awareness speaking and volunteering

For the past 40-plus years, Nesse has been a busy individual, speaking about the Holocaust to domestic and international audiences. She has appeared before a variety of audiences including the United States Naval Academy

United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

, United States Military Academy

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

, the Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

, the Department of Energy

United States Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...

, the United Nations General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

, numerous schools, like Seneca Valley High School, Robinson Secondary School and Bluffton High School, universities, churches, synagogues, civic groups and teacher's conferences.

Nesse is on the Board of Directors and Founding Member of several Holocaust Survivor groups. She served on the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and is a board member of the Anti-Defamation League

Anti-Defamation League

The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...

, the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, and many other worthy organizations. Nesse is Co-President of the Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Friends of Greater Washington and she's participated as a speaker for the Capitol Children's Museum of Washington, D.C. http://www.wolfmanproductions.com/nesse.html

Nesse has earned numerous awards and honors for her speaking.

Present day

Nesse currently lives in Silver Spring

Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...

, MD

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, with her husband, Jack. She volunteers weekly at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history...

and continues to speak out against the horrors of genocide

Genocide

Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

, violence

Violence

Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...

, and hate.

"Why I Volunteer:"

As you know I was a prisoner from the age of 13 to 17. I lived through a ghetto, concentration camp, four labor camps and a death march. I was not strong, I was not smart, I was a little girl. I think that I survived the Holocaust by the grace of the Lord above and by the kindness of Jewish women that gave me a bite of bread, wrapped my body in straw to keep me warm, held me up when I was hurt by the guards, gave me hope, but also asked me to promise them that if I survived I would not let them be forgotten. Remember and tell the world what hatred can do. I feel that the USHMM is fulfilling my promise that I made to those women that did not survive. I am proud to be a devoted volunteer in our most wonderful institution of education as I call our USHMM.

External links

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