By: NBC4
Published: April 20, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Holocaust Remembrance Week commemorates the memories of the millions of victims of the Holocaust, including six million European Jews who were killed by the Nazis in Germany during World War II.
“I went to Germany in 2004 with a group to study what is called the Nazi’s T4 program, which is a program that systematically eradicated people with disabilities,” said Ohio State University Professor Brenda Bruggemann.
Burggemann has been deaf since birth and taught herself to read lips.
She was drawn to an upcoming film about a true story of Holocaust survivor Ingelore Herz Honigstein, who was 15 years old when she left Germany in 1940.
“When I talk about the T4 program with students, they are often, they’re shocked. They have not known any of this history,” said Bruggemann.
“Approximately 702,073 people with disabilities were killed in six psychiatric institutions using the ovens and gas chamber technology,” she said.
Before World War II, immigration statutes often prevented people with disabilities from entering the U.S. out of a fear that they would become a public charge.
An office suspected Ingelore was deaf, so he turned his back to her and said the word “America” to test her hearing. She saw his reflection in a mirror and read his lips, saying the word and passing the entrance exam.
“She lives in the U.S. today. She has since she was 16 years old and this movie is her story of her early years growing up as a Jewish deaf woman,” said Laura Herron, a history graduate student at OSU. “At the end of the movie, we are able to see that she is able to escape through a very exceptional set of circumstances. In being able to escape, she and her family were lucky, not at all representative of the majority of Jews in Germany.”
The film, “Ingelore,” which will be shown at the Gateway Film Center Monday as part of the Holocaust Awareness Week, has a message that transcends the Holocaust.
Source: http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2012/apr/20/osu-professor-touched-story-holocaust-survivor-ar-1007571/
