Janet Applefield, a Holocaust survivor, and Debbie Milley, her daughter, will be speaking with Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School eighth-grade students on Monday, March 15, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. in the auditorium about her experiences during the Holocaust, in conjunction with their English Language Arts program where they are reading "The Diary of Anne Frank". 

Janet Applefield is a child survivor of the Holocaust. She spent her early childhood in Nowy Targ, Poland, where most of her family had lived for years. Her parents made the difficult decision to give her away shortly after the German invasion, hoping to protect their daughter from Nazi persecution. Janet lived in hiding for the next five years, cared for by multiple people. When the war had ended, she was living in an orphanage and knew nothing of her parents' fate. Her father was the only surviving family member and eventually the two were reunited.   Janet and her father moved to the United States in 1947.

A recent article about the Janet Applefied states, "Though she never saw the inside of a concentration camp, Applefield's youth was one of real horrors caused by the rise of anti-Semitism throughout Poland.  Saved only by her blond Aryan looks and a vigilant and committed father, Applefield was uprooted from her home at age 5, and sent to live in a ghetto with her parents and other Jewish families. Her family and others once attempted an escape, but were found hiding in a field of potato plants, beaten, and sent back to the ghetto.  One day, the Germans put out a declaration for all Jews in town to report to a local sports stadium. Her parents decided to separate, in the hopes of remaining alive. Applefield is uncertain what happened to her mother after that day, when 5,000 Jews were marched from the stadium to the forest to digs their own graves before being killed by the soldiers.  "If you were pale — you weren't feeling well, etc. Who knows," said Applefield of the death selection process.  "It was done strictly on the whim of the officers."  Applefield's father was sent to Krakow, where he was put to work in a cable wire assembly line.  Meanwhile, Applefield was living in the home of her cousin's nanny, Maria, where she was subject to harsh treatment and the ever-present threat of discovery. She was often left alone for the day, in an apartment with no electricity.  On one occasion, German officers ransacked the apartment. More than 60 years later, Applefield still remembers the black boots of the officer and the ominous mixture of relief and dread punctuated by the staccato of his march.  "I remember his heels clicking down the stairs," she said.  Her father, born Alojzy Singer, was soon transferred to a new camp, where the commandant used to shoot prisoners from his window as a form of entertainment. Despite his imprisonment, Alojzy was able to obtain the birth certificate of a deceased Polish girl, and Applefield assumed the identity of "Christina." Her care was now transferred to her father's cousin. Lala Singer. Yet despite her father's efforts, her situation worsened." 

Parents are welcome to attend the assembly.  For more information, contact Ms. Maureen Walsh, Team 8C world history teacher, at mwalsh@melrose.mec.edu.

     Posted by Principal Brow - 03/11/10