Students learn first hand about the Holocaust

Kati O’Hare

Daily Press Writer

MONTROSE — Columbine Middle School students closed their history books Friday and listened instead to a man recall his experiences of the Holocaust.

Rudolph Jacobson was born in Insterbur, East Prussia, Germany on May 11, 1933, only months after Hitler gained power in Germany. (See related feature.)

“I believe this is a once in a lifetime experience due to ages of the remaining Holocaust survivors,” seventh-grade Social Studies teacher Roman Hassell said.

Hassell set this up for his students through the Jewish Community Center in Denver, who asked the Arizona resident to make the trip.

With him, Jacobson brought original documents, passports, Jewish identification cards, postcards from concentration camps and photos. The material was on hand for students to experience.

“There was a Holocaust, because I saw it with my own eyes,” Jacobson said.

In 1938, Jacobson witnessed his synagogue go up in flames by the hands of Hitler’s “brown shirts” on the night of broken glass called Kristallnacht.

His stepfather was arrested the next day and sent to Dachau, one of the first concentration camps created by the Nazis.

His family tried to leave Germany on the S.S. St. Louis, which was headed to Cuba in 1939. The trip was dubbed “the voyage of the damned” because the 937 passengers were not allowed to get off the ship in Cuba. Negotiations with Cuba President Frederico Laredo Bru and Untied States President Roosevelt broke down and the ship eventually had to turn back to Germany.

“The incident gave the Nazis the green light to do whatever with European Jews,” Jacobson said.

After spending several months in a Dutch camp, the family finally made it to the U.S., where they obtained citizenship.

He has been sharing his story since 1995, discussing the events he remembers and the struggles of his family.

“I thought it was nice of him to come down and give these presentations,” Columbine student Aaron Giloeece said. “(I learned) how hard it was to get into the U.S. and how he was always known as a Jew and not accepted.”

Contact Kati O’Hare via e-mail at katio@montrosepress.com