Crismon High School students had the rare opportunity to hear about history from someone who has lived it. Dirk Van Leenen, 82, a Holocaust survivor and Mesa author, recently spoke to the students about his experience as a young child living through World War II in Holland.
He spoke of his father, who helped the Jewish people during the war by providing documents and rations, sometimes smuggling them with the help of Van Leenen, who was just 2 years old. Students hung on to every word as he described life during the war, from the difficulty of getting food to the risk of everyday activities like playing at a park.
When Van Leenen was 5 years old, he and his family were captured and transported to Bergen Belsen, a concentration camp in Germany.
“The British Army came to liberate us,” he said. “And they brought food and clothes and medications, and they started working on all the people.”
Fern Otero, Queen Creek Unified School District academic coach for social studies, worked with the Phoenix Holocaust Association to arrange for the guest speaker event.
“These stories are so important, and it’s important that students hear from the people who lived through it,” he said.
After the event, several students lined up to shake Van Leenen’s hand and thank him for his message and for helping them make a real connection to history.
