Horrors of the Holocaust

Mr Peter Gaspar is a Holocaust survivor and educator, who uses his experiences to help inform young people about the dangers of prejudice and discrimination. Mr Gasper spoke to a large group of College students today about his experience of surviving the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia, the people who helped his family stay alive, and going on to create a new life in Australia. The audience comprised of students studying History for either NCEA Level two or the IB Diploma, whose work includes the study of Nazi Germany from 1919 through to the end of the war.  Also, the Year 9 and 10 students who have been studying ‘Government and People’ which included looking at dictatorships such as Nazi Germany, alongside ‘Justice and Human Rights.’ 

Mr Gasper was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1937 and survived the war by going into hiding with his parents for three years. By the end of 1943, it became clear to the Gasper family that they couldn’t keep hiding in Bratislava; it was too dangerous for them and for their rescuers. After hiding on a nearby villager’s farm, Mr Gasper became very ill and his parents decided he would not survive if they stayed where they were there, so they handed themselves in. Mr Gasper and his mother were sent to Terezin Concentration Camp where they were separated from his father. At the end of the war, the family reunited and regained their health gradually.  In May 1946, Mr Gasper went back to school and in December 1949 the family arrived in Australia, where Mr Gasper still lives today. 

Throughout the presentation, the students sat in disbelief and shock as they listened to Mr Gasper’s first-hand experience of the horror and hardship he faced as a young Jew during the war. As part of the Jewish Federation of New Zealand’s HOPE Project, Mr Gasper was invited from Australia to New Zealand to educate school and university students about the realities of the Holocaust – not from a text book but from the view of those who had lived through the experience of it. As the number of Holocaust survivors diminishes, face to face accounts such as Mr Gaspers will become a rare historical source. 

We would like to thank Mr Peter Gasper and the Jewish Federation of NZ for coming to the College and sharing your Holocaust experiences with our students. It was a unique experience.