Eagle Edition
Enrico Fermi High School/Enfield High School Community Newsletter
January, 2016
Quarter 2
Mrs. Florence Post, Holocaust Survivor Visits EHS
On Thursday, December 17th, EHS was honored and pleased to host a holocaust survivor to speak to students. Mrs. Florence Post
volunteered to tell her tragic yet inspiring
story during periods 3 and 4. Post’s story
begins in Lithuania, where she and her family lived at the start of the Holocaust. At the
mere age of 9, Post and her family were
forced into a ghetto where conditions were
very bad. On a day to day basis people were
being murdered. After some time, her mother had heard that they were taking away
children. In an extreme act of courage she
cut a hole in the barbed wire fence and
brought her son and daughter to family
friends who would take them in as their
own. “Life wasn’t easy” Post said. Her brother had stayed at a family friend’s house while Post
and her sister stayed at a farmhouse of her parent’s friends. There she and her sister had posed
as their children, however, because Post didn’t have the same hair color as most Lithuanians, she
had spent duration of her stay in hiding. There were some very close calls, but luckily none of the
neighbors had reported her or her sister. The end of the war came with great news that her
mother was still alive and her father had escaped. Upon return to their old house, they were rejoiced to find a letter from their father, saying that he was alive and well. This story had a profound effect on every student in the room and truly shows the potential for courage, kindness,
and adversity. Sarah Pawlowski, one of the many students who listened to Mrs. Post’s story remarked, “It was a very humbling experience to hear a personal account from a survivor of the holocaust. We always read, see, or hear things concerning the holocaust, but oftentimes I feel as
though as we are desensitized to the true horror its victims witnessed. Hearing Mrs. Post recount
her miraculous story really opened my eyes to how the holocaust affected individuals, and how
bravery and luck were able to keep her and her family alive through the tragic time. I know that
the other attendees and I were grateful for the opportunity to hear her speak; she greatly influenced us to not let another genocide occur.” Mrs. Florence Post’s story had an impact on every
person in the room. It left everyone with a great appreciation for the power of up standers and
how they will be the ones who will prevent genocide from ever occurring again.