On Thursday, March 20, 2025, the Junior Class at Xavier High School arose as if it was a typical school day. It was an (X-1) order day and people did not pay much attention to the programming scheduled for the morning. Soon enough, though, all of those who participated would become encapsulated within the story of our guest speaker Maud Dahme.
Before we plunge into the knowledge that Dahme spread to our class, I must first mention that she is 89 years old. Being 89 years old is something that I will not understand for a long time, however, listening to her talk you could only marvel at her health and ability. She spoke for well over an hour, walking around the whole time with no help and gave a beautiful, personal, and compelling talk. I could not even comprehend her strong ability and health at such an elderly age.
As a Jew going to Hebrew School, I was always taught the importance and bravery of survivors of the Holocaust who choose to share their stories. From firsthand knowledge, I know that most people who survived the Holocaust were not encouraged to share their experiences with the world.
On the one hand, the traumatic nature of the content creates an uncomfortable and scarring moment for the person sharing their story. Would you go around telling the world about your most traumatic moments? Also, the Jews that had survived the Holocaust were focused on the present rather than looking at the past.
My grandfather’s family, who immigrated from Germany in 1949, were more focused on putting food on the table and working than they were reflecting on past plights. They were focused on getting ahead and living their American dream, instead of getting caught up in the past.
My grandfather told me that his parents, along with many other Holocaust survivors, would barely even share their stories with their kids. Post-Holocaust, the American-Jewish community was focused on rebuilding for a better future, they were looking ahead in time, not behind.
All that information goes to show the bravery that Maud had to muster in order to share her story publicly with the world. Originally, she did not speak about the Holocaust publicly until the early 80s. However, once she started blessing the world with her wisdom and life story, she has never stopped. She has provided the world with a first-hand account of the massacres and fear that the Nazis instilled.
Unlike Anne Frank who left behind a diary to remember her by, Maud tells her recollection of her experience during the Holocaust from her memory, allowing her audiences to become immersed within the history, trying to empathize as best as possible with her story. The power within her experiences and voice was extraordinary, as she is literally, living proof of the Holocaust and its horrors. It is even hard to get words to describe how powerful her experience was.
The odds would imply that we would never have ever gotten to hear Maud today, but it was evident that Maud does not care about things like odds. She persisted through hiding in the Netherlands, and then persisted through a post-traumatic life, in order to be at Xavier High School, doing the godly work of educating our Sons of Xavier about the reality of the Holocaust.
Speaking of the Sons of Xavier, the Review thought that it would be a good idea to ask some of these students how Maud’s talk impacted them and if they could reflect it on anything from their own lifes. When I spoke with Gideon Facher ‘26 whom I went to Hebrew School with at the Jewish Community Project in Lower Manhattan, he said, “At JCP we learned about Jewish history, traditions, and the resilience of the Jewish people. Maud’s firsthand account really brought these lessons to light and deeply affected me in a personal way.”
When asked about how he felt about Maud sharing her story at Xavier, he said, “Maud’s talk was inspiring. Hearing her story as a Jewish student in a Catholic school reminded me of how it’s important to share our history beyond the Jewish community, and made me feel a strong sense of responsibility to continue educating others, ensuring that nobody forgets what happened.”
Maud’s talk served as the climax of all we learned during Hebrew School; the main message around the Holocaust was always to educate and to never forget. The second that we as a society begin to forget about the history of the Holocaust, we will see the next Holocaust start to form. In order to prevent future events like the Holocaust from ever occurring, the number one thing is education so that we can see the signs in the future before it becomes too late.
Holocaust Studies Scholar Lucas Nguyen ‘26 shared with me that, “I am always left in awe by the overwhelming resilience they [the Jewish people] demonstrated in the face of unimaginable horror. In her suffering, she [Maud] held on to her dignity and character, something that reminds me a lot of Anne Frank’s story.
Both Maud and Anne endured unfathomable trauma yet remained strong through their experience in hiding; as someone who was older than they were during their ordeals, I am inspired by their perseverance and strength [at such a young age].” From someone who has done extensive research on the Holocaust and Anne Frank, it was fascinating to hear the things that stuck with him, and it must have been fascinating to see what he has been studying come to life in the form of a real life witness to the horror.
Nguyen also provided me with a truly unique and nuanced perspective on the situation, explaining that, “[w]hen we look at the actions of the Nazi soldiers, we are often left questioning their humanity: how could humans commit such gruesome and horrible acts on other humans? Maud Dahme—a direct victim of the Nazis and someone who went through much suffering because of that—was able to see the humanity in the Nazi soldiers who let her live after seeing her feeding a Jewish boy in hiding; instead of shooting her and the family sheltering her, they let her go.
Although her acknowledgement of their humanity does not grant them forgiveness for their actions, it offers a new perspective on the complexity of some of these soldiers who have been branded as monsters.” This quote connects all the dots from the Holocaust Studies to Maud’s talk to explain that even some of the Nazis could see humanity within the horror.
From my conversations, the main takeaway that I have been hearing all my life is still ringing loud and clear, talking about the Holocaust is a necessity. Anti-semitism is not talked about as frequently as it appears and in modern American schooling, we barely even brush over the Holocaust, not long enough to truly conceptualize the horror of the event.
When a couple people die it is a tragedy but when many see the six million Jews that were ruthlessly slaughtered during the Holocaust, all they see is a statistic instead of the humanity within each person. At Xavier, I felt privileged this year when our class read Man’s Search For Meaning by Victor Frankl. In religion class, we were able to read this firsthand account of the Holocaust by Victor Frankl, who discussed the horrors of society within the concentration camps. He connected the Holocaust to topics about human suffering and dignity, allowing us to evaluate the Holocaust and its horror’s from an ethical and spiritual lens.
Despite what we have learned at Xavier, around the country, hardly any thought is given to Holocaust education and that needs to change, otherwise we will see the continuation of the highest rise in anti-semetism since World War II, in America and around the globe.
Anti-semitism has risen in recent years and has exponentially increased since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. According to CBS News, in February, there were 28 anti-semitic hate crimes in New York City, one for every day of the month. That is a 200% increase from February 2024, and yet 2024 is a substantial increase from 2023.
In fact, In June 2024, my dad’s childhood synagogue where he became a Bar Mitzvah, Park Avenue Synagogue, was vandalized by anti-semetic, pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Since the Pittsburgh shooting at the L’Simcha Congregation in 2018, security around Synagogue’s and other Jewish spaces have increased dramatically.
Still, in the Jewish enclave of the Upper East Side, only a couple blocks away from my grandmother, criminal anti-semites came and vandalized the synagogue to instill fear. However, as per trends, the fear did not work and I recently visited that same synagogue last week, standing proud.
Other anti-semitic incidents that made the 2024 news cycle include, but are not limited to, criminal demonstrators throwing red paint on the houses of Jewish board members of the Brooklyn Museum, and the praising of Hamas and Hezbollah outside of the Nova Festival Exhibit in June 2024.
This does not even account for the scene on college campuses that has been tormenting Jews on campuses for years at this point. One and a half years from Oct 7 and Jewish students still are facing severe hate and prejudice. “Are things better this year? The answer is no,” said Columbia student Noah Lederman. Another student told CBS that “[Jewish] Students are dealing with being called awful slurs on the way to class. There are still flare-ups everywhere—anti-semitic language being hurled.”
It is my hope that if America can be adequately and truthfully educated on the terrors of the Holocaust and the shape shifting virus of anti-semetism, we can curb anti-semitism and create a city and country where Jewish people are able to feel safe and secure once again.
Lastly, the Xavier Community has the utmost respect and gratefulness for Maud and her ability to tell us her story and that would not have been possible without the help of Cole Harris ‘26 and his family to connect the Xavier Community to Maud. This talk has had a big impact on me and others and I will be forever grateful and appreciative of Maud, her sacrifice, her willingness to share and educate others, and to the Harris family for giving the Xavier Junior class the ability to hear such an extraordinary person share her wisdom.
