January 11, 2008, Yarmouth, Maine: Charles Rotmil, a survivor of the Holocaust who now lives in Portland, Maine, spoke to two of Mary Beth Feldman’s senior English classes on January 7, 2008. Before Rotmil spoke, students had read two other accounts by survivors, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus and Eli Wiesel's Night. They also viewed the film Aux Revoir Les Enfants, filmmaker Louis Malle's account of his own experience at a French private school where Jewish students were hidden from the Nazis.
Rotmil was himself a hidden child, who was sheltered, along with his brother, by a Belgian monk, Père Bruno Reynders. Rotmil lost his mother and sister in a 1940 train wreck that occurred when the family was fleeing the Nazis. His father was later picked up on the streets of Brussels and deported to Auschwitz in 1943. Rotmil came to the United States in 1946 as a teenager. Since that time, he has painstakingly researched his family’s history.
The students were able to see much of Rotmil's work through his PowerPoint presentation of photographs and documents. "The students were able to ask questions and get a much more personal and real account of what it was like to live through the Holocaust. It was a very moving presentation," said Feldman.
North Yarmouth Academy is an independent, college preparatory, coeducational day school serving students in grades 6 through 12. NYA is dedicated to fostering integrity, character and intellect in young adults.
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