International Holocaust Remembrance Day. For anyone unfamiliar, the Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jewish people by the Nazi regime and its allies and collaborators. Starting in 1933, the Nazi regime gained power and believed that they belonged to a “superior” race. The claim was that Jewish and other groups of people were “inferior” and considered a threat to the German “superior” race. As such, the Nazi regime and other allies systematically attempted to eliminate these “inferior” men women and children. 

Back in 2004/2005 as a sophomore in High School I had the opportunity to take the Genocide Studies class usually only offered to the juniors and seniors.  Taking this class at such a young age really opens the mind to the real life evils and life and death situations that people faced or are facing day in and day out; things are not as nice as people make them out to be. I really did enjoy the class, and when approached the next year by the teacher to come back and assist with a project I jumped at the chance.

The project was one of a kind and so incredibly powerful and moving and yet, so very simple. The project was based around a series of photographs showing areas of Germany during the Holocaust as well as pictures of survivors of the Holocaust. The pictures of the survivors were special because they were all holding something that was special to them during the horrible events they experienced. Some people had clothes they wore, pictures of family, toys; some had other personal items that they kept from the war. As students, our part was to meet with the survivors and learn their story. Over the next several weeks, we would then act as narrators and tell the tour groups that came in the story about each of our respective survivors. 

I am a huge history person, I love learning about it and visiting historical places and anything related to history. Being able to meet and speak with a survivor of the Holocaust was absolutely hands down one of the best moments of my life. I spent a long time talking with her and learning her story and what exactly happened and how she was able to survive. I then spent the following weeks giving as many tours as possible and telling as many people as possible her story. I made a promise to her (and myself) that her story would not be forgotten and that her story would be remembered and told. This is for you Cecile, fulfilling my promise and never letting your story be forgotten.

I am going to ask you all to do me a favor and try to remember back to when you were 5 years old. What was it like? Where were you? Did you have nice toys? Were you well cared for? A nice house? Any real cares in the world? Now imagine being a 5 year old little girl in Antwerp Belgium between 1940-1945. Picture a childhood consisting of Gestapo raids, bombings, threat of arrest, threat of death, imposed rules and curfews and fearing that every day would be your last. Welcome to CecileHolzman’s life.

At the age of just three her home town and country was taken over by Nazi German rule. At this very young age she was met with hatred and disdain by all the Germans that occupied her town. She was placed under strict rules and laws, and dealt with having her father arrested multiple times, and having to hide out in old abandoned buildings in order to avoid capture. After months of trying to hide in her home town, Cecile and her mother were smuggled out of the country by a close family friend named Joss. 

In late October of 1942 Cecile and her mother made plans with Joss to be smuggled out of the country and hide out with a farming family, the Spiessens. Not knowing where her father was, or what exactly was going on; Cecile was dressed in multiple of layers of clothing and climbed into the back of a pick-up truck with her mother and hid under hay and vegetables in order to sneak out of the country. Check point after check point Joss and her husband were able to sneak Cecile and her mother out of the area. On one of these check points one of the guards decided to take his knife and jab the hay to check for contraband. One of these knife jabs brushed the side of her mother’s ear and her mother whimpered in pain. The guard quickly took a defensive stance and questioned Joss and her husband. The two smugglers were able to play off the whimper as a pig under the hay getting stuck with the knife. For Cecile’s sake, the guards believed the story.

After what seemed like an endless journey the truck finally arrived at the Spiessen farm. Cecile and her mother were nervous; for they did not know how the family would react, how comfortable they would be and in fact, that didn’t even speak the same language. It took some time to get used to everything but the Spiessens offered Cecile and her mother hot drinks and homemade baked bread and butter, which was a luxury for Cecile. 

In order to protect Cecile and her mother as well as the Spiessens everyone had to pretend that they were related. The story they decided on was that Cecile and her mother were the wife and daughter of Mrs. Spissens late brother who had passed some time before. Since nobody had ever met the late brothers wife and child it was the easiest way to explain Cecile and her mother suddenly moving onto the farm. While Cecile was living with the Spiessens she made friends with the local children and was able to play and have a somewhat normal childhood, considering the circumstances. For the sake of appearance she attended the local Roman Catholic Church, and even struck up a friendship with the Priest.

While in hiding Cecile had developed some medical problems, and was taken by Mrs. Spiessen to the convent a few miles away for medical care. The town of Malines also happened to be the deportation center for all Jews from Belgium to theconcentration and work camps. While being treated, the Nunswere talking about all the children waiting in line to be transported by train to the camps. Mrs. Spiessen overheard one Sister say that “they are not ours” and “no need to worry about them.” Mrs. Spiessen was very upset and had to work hard tohide her emotions, for she did not think it was right and wished she could help all the children as she was helping Cecile. This was a striking reminder of the world Cecile was living in, to see children her own age being led to almost certain death was terrifying. Shortly after the trip the Nazis started searching house by house looking for any Jewish people that had not already been detained. 

Cecile and her mother could no longer stay with the Spiessensfor fear of getting caught, and fear of putting the Spiessens in danger of getting murdered for aiding a Jewish family. Cecile did not wish to leave but was left no choice by her mother. In the middle of the night, they packed what little they could carry, said goodbye and were on the run once again. This time, Cecile and her mother did not have a nice farm to hide in. They went to a nearby village and hid out in an old abandoned house with no heat or water for some time. There were no kids to play with or people to talk to. They spent their time talking about their home and how they missed their neighbors and family and wondered if they were still alive. Days turned into weeks and then months as the two spent every day on alert for the Nazi troops and trying to find food and survive day to day. To add to the horrible situation, it rained for many days and the area became flooded. Now they were running from Mother Nature as well. The twowould double back in times of desperation to the Spiessen Farm to retrieve food and other items before fleeing again.

With nowhere to go and places to hid becoming harder to find the pair, with the help of Joss, made it back to their apartment in Antwerp to retrieve a brick of gold hidden in the wall. Her father was a jeweler and hid the brick of gold for emergency use. Cecile and her mother deemed this a very big emergency and retrieved this gold to assist in bribing border guards so they could escape farther away from Nazi controlled areas. With the help of Joss and another family Friend Mr. Flamand they were able to set Cecile and her mother up with a group of other escaping Jewish families with a way out of the country entirely. 

The group of escaping Jewish people had to travel for days to reach the border with Switzerland. Traveling by nightfall to avoid detection and spending days bunkered down to avoid foot patrols and tracking by dogs, Cecile and her group made it to the border. After bribing the guards with the gold and other items from the rest of the group they were able to climb a fence and finally made it out of Nazi controlled land and into Switzerland.

Once in Switzerland they found the way to a refugee camp and Cecile and her mother were separated. This camp had different housing accommodations for children on one area and for adults in another area. During her time in the refugee camp, Cecile had learned that her mother had completely disappeared and nobody could or would tell her where her mother had gone. Cecile was now completely on her own. With no answers the refugee camp placed Cecile with a foster family. The first couple she was placed with were elderly and did not have any children and the foster mother gave Cecile tons of attention. The foster father became extremely jealous and started threatening Cecile and eventually took her back to the refugee camp and abandoned her there. Now abandoned by her foster family, and still with no information on her mother, Cecile was then placed with a second family, the Stettlers, who were a kind, warm and loving family. With the second family Cecile started to once again have a childhood. She became friends with the other children in the area, helped care for the house and pets, and even started schoolfor the very first time.

During her time with the Stettlers the refugee camp finally advised her that her mother had gotten very sick and was taken to another city for medical treatment but was now feeling much better. One day, while she was in the bath, Cecile was told by Mrs. Stettler that she had a phone call. This was a very new and exciting thing for her as this was the first time she had EVER received a phone call. What made it even more special was that it was her mother on the other end of the call with even bigger news that her father was also still alive. Cecile was extremely excited to talk to her mother for the first time since being separated at the refugee camp, and now to learn that her father had made it also made her very nervous since she had not seen him in over 3 years. She was afraid they wouldn’t recognize each other.

Not long after her first phone call, Cecile was reunited with her mother and they started making the trek back home. In September of 1944 Antwerp was liberated from Nazi rule and it was once again safe for them to return to their home without fear of arrest or death. Reuniting with her father was difficult. It was an amazing feeling to know that he was alive but he was a totally different person from what she remembered. They didn’t even speak the same language anymore. It took almost a year after they reunited for things to feel like normal again, but they were just very happy and excited to be together again.  

After the horrible ordeal and the almost 3 years spent running and hiding Cecile and her mother and father often refer to the Spiessens as their “Righteous Rescuers” who had saved their lives from almost certain death. When you ask the Spiessens if they consider themselves as heroes they will say no, but it doesn’t matter to Cecile, they will forever be the family that saved her.

 Cecile immigrated to the United States in 1954 and completed her education at Rutgers University. Married to Norbert Seiden, they had two daughters who married and gave them 10 grandchildren. After she retired from her position as Educational Director of the Summit JCC, Cecile devoted much of her time teaching children, youth, educators, and the general community about the Holocaust. A contributing editor to the Holocaust-Genocide curriculum of the State of New Jersey, she strove to impart the message that one person can make a difference.

Cecile never let her horrible experience dictate who she was, rather she made it a driving force in trying to educate the world about what happened as well as educate the world about how to prevent it from happening again. I can honestly say that I am honored to have been able to meet such an amazing and strong person. I will forever remember her story and will do my best to keep her message that one person can make a difference alive.

For More Information please visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum at  https://www.ushmm.org/ 

Cecile Seiden Nov. 25 1937 to June 16 2007