Zooming In on Genocide Education with Janet Singer Applefield
Janet with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh
Janet with Governor Baker at the signing of the MA Genocide Education Bill.
Transcript:
Melissa Milner 0:00
Welcome to The Teacher As... podcast. I'm your host, Melissa Milner, a teacher who is painfully curious and very easily inspired. This podcast is ever changing, and I hope with each season, you find episodes that speak to you in your work as an educator. This is the sixth season of The Teacher As... and it's exciting to see the growth in how many educators are listening. Episodes are released every other week. If you enjoy The Teacher As..., please rate it on Apple podcasts and leave a review. It helps the podcast reach more educators. Thanks for listening.
Janet Singer Applefield 0:42
I'm Janet. Singer Applefield, and I have written a memoir called Becoming Janet, finding myself in the Holocaust. And it's it's my story of surviving the Holocaust. I was born into a wonderful, loving family and had an amazing early childhood up to age four. And after that, Poland was invaded by the Nazis. And my family tried numerous times to escape and and hide and but when they ran out of options, they made this agonizing decision to give me away. And for the next three and a half to four years, I was with many strangers. I was passed around. I was four years old when the when the war began. So I was very young, and I miraculously survived after I was abandoned on this busy street in Krakow, Poland and saved by a wonderful Catholic family. I had many different identities. I was hiding in plain sight, and I always knew the importance of being silent and keeping a secret, and the fact that I was Jewish. It was so deeply ingrained in my brain that this is something I had to do. And miraculous, miraculously, I survived. My father found me in an orphanage.
Melissa Milner 2:22
Wow.
Janet Singer Applefield 2:23
And even after the war ended, there was tremendous amount of anti semitism, and several of my father's friends were murdered after the war. So at that point, my father made a decision that we... Poland was not a safe place for us to remain, and we we left Poland, and then, then came to the United States.
Melissa Milner 2:51
So you come to the United States, what happened from then until writing a memoir?
Janet Singer Applefield 2:57
When we first came to the United States. We came on a very short visa, only three months and and at that time, we had another visa to go to Venezuela, because we couldn't remain in this country. The only way we could remain is if my father married an American citizen. So the family found a wife, and so I had a new stepmother, and I grew up in New Jersey, and then it was many years before I started to write. But actually my dad, when the war ended, urged me to write down everything that happened to me, and I kind of resisted, but finally, I did give in, and I started to write. And later on, you know, I sort of always in the past, minimized the value of my story because I had never been in concentration camps. And I thought, well, that was what I went through was not that important. And so, you know, while to start to speak about my experiences,
Melissa Milner 4:08
But if I'm hearing this correctly, you lost a mother in the concentration camps, I'm assuming, because you said just your father found you.
Janet Singer Applefield 4:14
Right. I lost my mother. I lost the baby sister. Lost grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, most of my family perished in the Holocaust.
Melissa Milner 4:27
Right.
Janet Singer Applefield 4:27
Just my dad and I were able to come to this country.
Melissa Milner 4:32
So that's a valuable story of how you did survive and how your father did survive.
Janet Singer Applefield 4:37
My father survived different concentration camps, and when the war ended, he had no idea what happened to me. He was searching. And one of the letters he wrote to his brother, he said, How do you find a child in the city of 350,000 people?
Melissa Milner 4:58
Wow.
Janet Singer Applefield 4:59
I neglected to say that I had I changed my identity during the war. I took on the identity of a deceased Polish little Polish girl, and so I had a different name. And I also changed my name when I came to this country. First day of school, my uncle brought me to school, and he asked me, he said to me, you have to have an American name. So right on the spot, I had to choose a name. I said to him, I want to be called Jeanette, because we had a cousin who was French, and she she was in Paris, and she used to visit in the summertime, she was very beautiful and glamorous, and she had long red nails. So I said, I want to be called Jeanette, but my uncle turned to the school secretary and said her name is Janet. So that's how I became Janet.
Melissa Milner 5:57
Wow, that's a great story itself.
Janet Singer Applefield 6:01
I had different identities. And, you know, during the war, of course, my birth name was Gustava. That was my birthday. So, so how did I start to write? So I started to speak at schools. At this time, I speak to over 4000 students a year. Then I joined a writer's writing group, and I started to write short stories, and eventually I started to put everything together, and that's how the book came about.
Melissa Milner 6:33
That's amazing. I love, love that that you started with, like, I'm just going to become a right, like I'm going to speak about my experiences, but also just practice writing, right?
Janet Singer Applefield 6:45
Right. I started a little bit, of course, my son, my older son, was a writer, and he urged me, and he was a big influence to encourage me to write.
Melissa Milner 6:59
Well, it's good to hear that you had your own family.
Janet Singer Applefield 7:02
I did. I married and I had three children. Sad, very, very tragically, I lost my older son in 2020, biggest tragedy in my life. I have two children, a daughter and a son.
Melissa Milner 7:16
So did the memoir lead to trying to get some legislation passed, or what led you to that part of it?
Janet Singer Applefield 7:27
Because I have spoken so widely and throughout the state, and I've been to hundreds of schools, A state legislature, legislator got in touch with me and asked me to address the Massachusetts State Legislature. And I did that, and they were considering passing the Genocide Education Bill, and I spoke. That bill was passed, and I was very, very humbled by that experience.
Melissa Milner 8:04
Did you have a chance to help write the bill?
Janet Singer Applefield 8:08
No.
Melissa Milner 8:08
You were just the voice to try to convince.
Janet Singer Applefield 8:12
Exactly. I was invited to the signing of the bill. Governor Baker invited me, and then I was given a copy of the bill, and the pen there was, there was a little ceremony. So I'm very proud of that.
Melissa Milner 8:28
Yeah.
Janet Singer Applefield 8:29
Massachusetts is one of 23 states that has passed the genocide education bill. So I hope that this will happen in other states,
Melissa Milner 8:41
Absolutely. I have some questions about the bill. I have not had a chance to actually find it online. Is it just about the Holocaust, or is it about education of all types of genocide?
Janet Singer Applefield 8:52
It's education of all types of genocide.
Melissa Milner 8:55
Okay, good. So what...what do you feel our listeners need to know about genocide or about your experiences.
Janet Singer Applefield 9:04
It's my hope that that students will become more aware and understand the dangers of prejudice, discrimination and any type of intolerance. And I hope that each and every one of us will become proactive and stand up to any kind of injustice. And I feel very inspired by the way my talk is received by students. I also try to impress upon them that they we all have stories. So I encourage them to speak to their family members, to to hear their own stories, of their own family survivals,
Melissa Milner 9:53
Absolutely. So, I mean speaking of like like you said, writing a memoir, and how. You said your father encouraged you to write stuff down, yeah, and now you're obviously passing it forward, paying it forward, and encouraging students to do that. When you were writing your memoir, just from a writing topic, what was the hardest part of writing a memoir?
Janet Singer Applefield 10:16
It was always a challenge to to be authentic and truthful and to get everything right. You know, I'm not a historian. I was just writing about my own experiences. And the book, it took a long time. It's been written and rewritten and edited and reedited. So it was not an easy endeavor, but very worthwhile. It just was exciting as it started to take shape. And I was in a wonderful writing class, and we read to each other our stories, and we critiqued our writings. And that was very, very important.
Melissa Milner 11:02
Yes,
Janet Singer Applefield 11:03
Gave me some confidence.
Melissa Milner 11:05
Amazing. How did you know where to start your memoir? Like, did you start with the present, then go back? Or did you start... You know, that whole styling of...
Janet Singer Applefield 11:15
I didn't know where to start. I just was writing individual stories.
Melissa Milner 11:21
Yeah.
Janet Singer Applefield 11:21
And the format of the book is in the structure. It's... I think it's interesting because it starts when I am speaking at a group to a group of students. And every year I would go to the school, and they had a big billboard in front of the school, and when I came there was a big sign that said, welcome Janet. And so I... the story starts with that, and I'm standing in front of group of students, and I'm beginning to speak. I also show a PowerPoint. So the PowerPoint is behind me as I'm speaking, and that's how the story unfolds.
Melissa Milner 12:04
Excellent.
Janet Singer Applefield 12:05
The story is told from the perspective of a child, and so it's a little differently structured book,
Melissa Milner 12:15
Very interesting. So it's a memoir, but it's almost like a first person story. It's like a novel that's very cool. It's like a hybrid.
Janet Singer Applefield 12:26
The other thing that's very, I think, interesting about this book is that this has been really a family affair. So the cover of the book was designed by my grandson.
Melissa Milner 12:40
It's stunning. My gosh.
Janet Singer Applefield 12:42
Well, he's a designer, and then the mapping in the book was done by my other grandson. So my whole family's involved and has been involved in the production of the book.
Melissa Milner 12:54
That's amazing. And you're still speaking at schools, right?
Janet Singer Applefield 12:57
Oh, yes, I'm still speaking at schools. I'm 89 years old.
Melissa Milner 13:03
Oh my gosh. You look amazing.
Janet Singer Applefield 13:07
So I think they're not that many survivors that are still doing this. And my daughter and I very frequently speak together. She speaks about her experience of being a descendant of a survivor and so, yeah, so we do that together.
Melissa Milner 13:27
Well, that's a great... that's a wonderful, like perspective too, to have someone you know how, how did your life then shape their lives? Yeah, fascinating. Can we go back in history a little bit?
Janet Singer Applefield 13:44
Sure.
Melissa Milner 13:44
I'm just curious. When you said you were taken in by these different people, like, so did you mostly come upon the helpers and the positive stories of that time, like, or did you have some negative ones too?
Janet Singer Applefield 14:01
There were people who were good, very good to me and and others were not. And what's paradoxical is the fact that the person that was not kind to me was was related to me. One of my caregivers was a cousin that I had never met before, and she was, she was cruel to me. She used to beat me with a fireplace poker. So, you know, there were people who were not kind and and, of course, the family, the person that found me on the street and kept me, the family that kept me, were wonderful people. So it's there were forces of good and evil.
Melissa Milner 14:51
And that was still in Poland?
Janet Singer Applefield 14:53
Yes.
Melissa Milner 14:53
Okay, and were they... They were Catholic, you said, right?
Janet Singer Applefield 14:58
Yes. So, when I was left on the street. I was left on the street because the cousin who was taking care of me was meeting someone in a cafe. She told me to wait for her in a church, and I waited for hours and hours, but she did not come back for me. And when I walked out of the church, I saw that the whole street was cordoned off, and there were people standing and talking, and I overheard that the Gestapo had come and they arrested everybody in that cafe.
Melissa Milner 15:35
Oh, wow.
Janet Singer Applefield 15:37
Left on the street. I was seven years old, and I did not know what to do. I was walking around, and a woman came up to me and very quickly put me under her coat, under her cape, asked me what was wrong, and I explained that my cousin was gone. And I said, Could you please take me to the to the bus I was going to go back to my village. And she said, No, no, no, you're too little. So she took me into a building, the same building where the cafe was to an apartment of a woman by the name of Alicia. Go on. Alicia asked me, What happened to you? You know why? You know what? What's wrong? And I explained that I I I practiced a story to tell if I was ever captured, and I told her that I was a daughter of Polish officer, and both of my parents were killed in a bombing raid, and I was living with my cousin, and now she was gone. Alicia said I could stay there, but actually I couldn't stay in that building, because there was an SS officer living in the building, and also, at least his mother was in the Polish resistance and in her house, in her apartment, she ran a hospital, and she had shortwave radios and ammunition. The third reason was when the Gestapo made an arrest, they always returned for the second time. Yeah. So that evening, the oldest son took me out and we went. We walked for several miles, and we came to a farm that was owned and operated by the Catholic Church, and Alicia's brother in law was the administrator of the farm. So I remained on the farm.
Melissa Milner 17:23
Wow.
Janet Singer Applefield 17:24
And that's, that's where I stayed till the end of the war.
Melissa Milner 17:28
So anybody listening to this right now really would like to get your book I can. I have no question. So how do we get your book? Is it just Amazon, or is there a way to get it where it helps you money wise?
Janet Singer Applefield 17:40
Well, it's available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and any independent bookstores.
Melissa Milner 17:47
Why don't you remind the listeners of what it's called, and I'll put, I'll put the title and a link on the episode page.
Janet Singer Applefield 17:53
Yes. So, it's called Becoming Janet.
Melissa Milner 17:55
Yeah. And the cover, like you said, is stunning. So can you, could you hold it up again. Sure the cover is split. There's two faces.
Janet Singer Applefield 18:04
Yes, this is this side.
Melissa Milner 18:07
Yeah.
Janet Singer Applefield 18:07
This was was right after the war in Poland, and the one on this side is my eighth grade graduation picture.
Melissa Milner 18:22
Wow. So it's split in half. I'm just trying to describe it to the read to the listeners.
Janet Singer Applefield 18:26
Yes, yeah, split in half.
Melissa Milner 18:29
That's amazing.
Janet Singer Applefield 18:31
And I'm also on social media @JanetApplefield. I'm on Facebook and Instagram, and I would appreciate if people would follow me.
Melissa Milner 18:43
Of course, I'll share those links in the episode page.
Janet Singer Applefield 18:46
Very helpful. Yes.
Melissa Milner 18:48
Amazing. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?
Janet Singer Applefield 18:50
You know, I'm often asked about resilience.
Melissa Milner 18:55
You're very resilient clearly.
Janet Singer Applefield 19:00
I like to say that with every experience, there is an opportunity to learn. And I certainly had a lot of those opportunities to learn about so many different things. Sometimes I'm asked the question, you know, how did you keep your hate, your hope? It took me a while to figure this out, but I think what was so important was remembering having those early memories of my family I grew up in a very loving, nurturing family with lots of extended family members, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles. I remember the Jewish holidays. I remember preparing for the holidays and cooking and baking with my mother, my grandmother. I had an uncle who had a motorcycle with a little sidecar. Used to put me in there, strap me in my gosh. Candy store, taking for rides. So those memories were so very important in maintaining my my sanity, so to speak, during those very difficult years. Because what was most difficult for me was not understanding what was happening. Because I, you know, I grew up with with this wonderful family, and then next I was with strangers and people who were not always kind to me. So it was, it was hard to understand, and yet I always knew that I was Jewish. I always knew that I had to keep that a secret. So I was really hiding in plain sight, you know, and I had to not reveal, you know, my identity. And sometimes I wonder how a child can do that, you know?
Melissa Milner 20:54
It's absolutely unbelievable. And even you're, you know, you're left alone in a church, and you come out and you're like, can you just tell me where to get to get to the bus? Like you weren't even like, help me. You were just like, I just need to know where the bus is. You were very independent at such a young age.
Janet Singer Applefield 21:08
There was a...there was a neighbor where my cousin and I lived. Her name was Yanina, and she was very kind to me. I remember when once I was beaten so severely that all my fingernails turned black and blue, and eventually felt, my nails felt and Yanina, the neighbor, was very kind. She made bandages for my fingers, and she sometimes would, my cousin would go out for the day and leave me outside, lock lock me out, and she my, I mean, I would, you know, give me some something to eat, or she would let me play with her baby. So, so that was my reason for wanting to go back to the village, because I had nobody else in the world. And so I thought of her.
Melissa Milner 21:57
It just reminds me of the Mister Rogers, you know, where he says, always, you know, there's always helpers.
Janet Singer Applefield 22:04
In the neighborhood, yes.
Melissa Milner 22:06
Yeah, there's always helpers and a tragedy. And...
Janet Singer Applefield 22:08
Right?
Melissa Milner 22:09
So you, you eventually found the helpers, which is amazing.
Janet Singer Applefield 22:14
Yes, yes.
Melissa Milner 22:16
Well, I mean, clearly, you're a very strong person, and I think a lot can be taken from your story. I'm glad you're talking to students. I'm glad you're sharing your book, your memoir with everybody. And I do urge the listeners to go to the episode page because that will... I'll have all the links there for the book. Do you have a website so that they could have you come to their school if they want?
Janet Singer Applefield 22:40
I do. My website is Janet applefield.com.
Melissa Milner 22:43
Perfect. That's easy.
Janet Singer Applefield 22:46
Yes, that's easy. The website is really gives a lot of information about my my background. I'm a clinical social worker. That was my career.
Melissa Milner 22:58
Oh, wow.
Janet Singer Applefield 22:59
I just would like to mention my dad. My dad was my hero. He taught me so many important lessons, but one of the lessons was that was a very forgiving and loving person. He didn't hate, and he taught me that, you know, you have to accept people on the basis of their character, and not their religion or color of their skin. And that lesson has been so important for me. I so because I I'm not hateful, I'm not resentful, and he taught me to be, you know, loving and accepting person.
Melissa Milner 23:43
That's amazing. You just mentioned your what you had as a career. Can you quickly explain, like, why you went into that field and your work there?
Janet Singer Applefield 23:52
Growing up? I always try to understand human nature and why some people became hateful and and others not, yeah, and I guess I was just trying to understand how the Holocaust could have happened. So I was searching for a career, and I decided that social work, clinical social work, would be the one for me, and it's interesting because so many survivors went into the helping professions.
Melissa Milner 24:26
Yeah.
Janet Singer Applefield 24:27
So that was my reasoning and attraction for the...
Melissa Milner 24:31
Amazing. Well, I I'm very honored to have you on the podcast, and I wish you all the health and happiness that you deserve.
Janet Singer Applefield 24:40
Well, thank you. Thank you so much.
Melissa Milner 24:43
For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned visit my website at www.theteacheras.com you can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @melissabmilner and I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. Thanks for listening, and that's a wrap.