“Class after class our children sneaked into their school”
Here are two testimonies – one of a teacher and the other of a student – describing the atmosphere at the ghetto school. Although these are different testimonies, they both describe a similar experience:
- Both testimonies tell that the students were hungry.
In each of the testimonies, look for a sentence describing the hunger of the students, and highlight it in blue. - Both testimonies tell that despite the hard conditions, the students' desire to study was strong.
In each of the testimonies, look for a sentence describing the desire of the children to study, and highlight it in green.
|
“My job was to manage the ghetto school. It was a unique school. Our oppressors had forbidden us to educate our children, therefore we had established an undercover school: We have arranged the children in small classes and distributed them in rooms all over the ghetto […] Class after class our children sneaked into their school, they crowded the rooms and for two hours listened to lessons from their teachers, then they went out secretly to make room for a second class. They came to school hungry and naked, and only once a week, on Friday after taking a hot bath, their teachers could also provide them with a slice of bread with some jelly. Nevertheless, there have never been students so dedicated to their school, their teachers and their studies, as the ghetto children. During all the scores of years I worked, I have never had such a concentration of talented children like the children in this school for the poor […]” “I had the privilege of being warmed by the light of our wonderful teacher P. Zelitzka… She managed to open before us a new world… We used to come to her for a lesson. And there, in her shabby apartment, the roof was leaking… Because of the extreme cold we did not take off our coats… We sat for a long time and our legs became numb and tormented us, but we dared not make a noise and stamp our legs because we did not wish to lose a single word of her lecture… Her personality was radiant… It was easier to deal with things after being in touch with her. We found it easier even to get over the hunger, to restrain ourselves and not to eat tomorrow's food ration.” |
