The Israel Arbeiter Essay Contest
By Colby Hoffman
Standing up for the truth is not always easy, but many important
people from history have proved that it is possible. To stand up for the
truth is to stand up for what you believe in, whether standing up with
others or alone. The increasing numbers of Holocaust deniers, the 13
active hate groups in Massachusetts, and the 56 countries who reported
significant numbers of hate crimes last year all say the same thing – that
many people have a different point of view. However, you cannot
change what events transpired during time periods in the past. These
deniers are in doubt or unaware of the things that took place during this
dreadful time known as the Holocaust. People can believe what they
want to believe, but in the end, the truth stays the truth. That being
said, I think that hate crimes should not be the result of trying to prove
a point. There are many forms of truth that the Holocaust existed.
These people should learn that people hear your words and not your
actions. If everyone followed this rule, the world would be a much
better place. To me, the truth is standing up for what you know
originally happened, and not listening to the many changed versions of
the story. Many people in history have stood up for the truth. People
like Nelson Mandela, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Rosa Parks. If it were not
for the people in history who stood up for the truth, the world would be
a different place than it is today.
There are many historical figures that stood up for the truth.
There are also people from our everyday lives who fight for the truth.
My grandmother, a Lithuanian immigrant, lived in Europe during the
Holocaust and World War II. She fled from her homeland during the
night away from the Germans who were going to separate her family
into labor camps in Siberia. Later on, she was placed in a Displaced
Persons’ Camp with her family which consisted of her parents and four
younger siblings. Life was okay in the camp and although she was not
Jewish, she still experienced many unimaginable events. One night, my
grandmother awoke to a German soldier standing over her with his gun
to her head. A small group of German soldiers had come into her
family’s apartment inside the camp and arrested my great-grandfather
because someone had told them that he had spoken out against Hitler
and the Germans. This was completely false. The soldiers took him
away to prison. My grandmother and her family had previously made
plans to sail to America for new opportunities with the help of a
Lithuanian sponsor. It was too late to change their plans after seven
years of living in the camp and being labeled a “Displaced Person”. The
day finally came when it was time for my grandmother and the rest of
her family to leave. They went to a very small port nearby to board
their ship to America. It had been two weeks, and they had no idea if
my great-grandfather was dead or alive. Ready to board the ship, my
grandmother and family spotted a figure in the distance running,
screaming their names, and calling for them to wait. It was my greatgrandfather who had just come from prison. They had all cried tears of
joy and relief as they reunited as a whole family. Although the German
soldiers had done horrid things to my great-grandfather such as
minimal food and not allowing him to bathe, he stood up for the truth,
an action that put his life in jeopardy. He had begged the Germans to
let him go with his family to America, and he finally convinced them
that he had never spoken against Hitler or the Germans.
After arriving in America and seeing the Statue of Liberty, my
grandmother and her family cried tears of joy and relief again. They
checked into Ellis Island and then continued on to Cambridge,
Massachusetts with their sponsor who supported my greatgrandparents with jobs. My grandmother has had many good and bad
experiences in America. She still continues to be great person who
shares her pictures and stories about her experiences with me. Over the
past summer, I traveled to Lithuania with her, and I was able to better
understand what happened. Although my great-grandfather is now
deceased and buried back in Lithuania, I look up to him with
admiration because he fought for the truth in a life or death situation all
by himself and still managed to succeed. Even though it is still difficult
to stand up for the truth, it has not stopped people such as my greatgrandfather and others from trying. The well-known saying, “It is okay
to fail when you have tried and tried again, but you fail if you stop
trying” is true. If you keep on trying you just might succeed.