Holocaust survivor talks on heroism

More than 50 years after escaping his Nazi captors and liberating Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, this year's recipient of the Wallenberg Medal hopes to show that one person can make a difference in the world.

A crowd of about 250 gathered in Rackham Auditorium last night to hear Simha "Kazik" Rotem give the eighth annual University Wallenberg Lecture. The lecture and medal honor those who have made extraordinary accomplishments toward liberty and human values.

"I am here because I believe it is my duty as a survivor to tell human beings, especially the young generations, what they can do for their fellow humans," Rotem said, noting that he is "not a professional speaker" and apologizing for his heavy accent.

After receiving a standing ovation, Rotem spoke about his dramatic experiences in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.

In 1943, at age 19, Rotem and a friend not only escaped from the ghetto, but returned to rescue 60-70 members of the Jewish Fighting Force by organizing escapes through the sewer canal systems of Warsaw.

"We had the question whether we had the moral right to take upon ourselves the responsibility of the thousands still living," Rotem said.

While telling his story, Rotem told stories about digging underground tunnels, making weapons, posing as a Nazi soldier, crawling on his stomach through sewers and fighting hunger and hopelessness in order to survive. He said that there are no words that could even begin to express the horror of the Holocaust.

Even though there were times when life passed before his eyes, Rotem said he somehow managed to keep his spirit.

"I had begun to lose all sort of survival - my only weapon of revenge," he said.

Fortunately for those 60-70 Jews and their loved ones, Rotem retained his hope and survived to tell his story.

Rotem was introduced by University President Lee Bollinger, who later presented Rotem with the Wallenberg Medal and shared his thoughts about the award's meaning.

"The Wallenberg Lecture raises among us, on the campus and beyond, a perennial and ever-lasting question of what we would do if faced with a world of evil," Bollinger said.

LSA junior Cynthia Epler said she was moved by the speech.

"It is shame that there weren't more students here. There won't always be that opportunity to hear something as unbelievable as this," she said.

The Raoul Wallenberg Endowment, which funds the lecture and medal presentation, was established in 1985 to commemorate Raoul Wallenberg, a 1935 graduate of the University's School of Architecture.

After graduation, Wallenberg returned to Europe where he worked as a foreign representative for a central European trading company in Budapest. During this time, Wallenberg came in contact with many Jewish refugees. In 1944, Wallenberg was selected by Jewish organizations to lead Sweden's effort to save the Jews of Hungry.

In six months, Wallenberg saved almost 100,000 lives before disappearing after the Soviet invasion of Hungary. Historians believe Wallenberg was taken prisoner and eventually killed by the Soviets.

Aside from the annual lecture and medal, Wallenberg is memorialized on campus with sculptures near the Rackham School of Graduate Studies and the School of Art and Architecture Building. He also was featured on a stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service this past summer.

11-20-97