Holocaust survivor shares her experience
CRANBERRY TWP — God, good luck and the sacrifice of one woman are what allowed Shulamit Bastacky to survive the Holocaust in Lithuania as one of the “hidden children.”
Because she lived, Bastacky now shares her story to make sure others do not forget about the millions of Jews who died during the Holocaust and the non-Jewish people who risked their lives to save others.
“I am here today because of this one person who made a difference, a Polish Roman Catholic nun,” she said. “I do this to honor her.”
Bastacky, of Squirrel Hill, spoke and answered questions from a crowd of about 40 people Monday evening at the Cranberry Public Library.
Bastacky was one of the Holocaust's “hidden children,” Jewish children that were put in hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Some children adopted new identities to pass as Christian while others, like Bastacky, survived in small hiding places in cellars or attics.
She came to Cranberry at the request of Samantha Condrick, a Seneca Valley High School junior who met Bastacky at an event commemorating Kristallnacht at Heinz History Center. Condrick took it upon herself to set up the presentation at the library so her fellow students and the public also could hear Bastacky's story.
“I wanted to give them all the opportunity to hear about her life,” Samantha said. “She's fantastic.”
Bastacky was born in August 1941 in Vilna, Lithuania, shortly after the Nazis took over that area and created Jewish ghettos and labor camps. Recognizing the fate of many Jewish children, her parents gave her to a nun who hid her in a cellar, she said.
The nun had to be careful sneaking Bastacky food and not drawing any attention to her hiding spot, Bastacky said.
“She truly risked her life,” she said.
When the Soviets liberated that area, the nun did not know if Bastacky's parents had survived or not. So she placed her on the bank of the river, where Bastacky was found by a man who took her to a Lithuanian Catholic orphanage.
Her parents survived the labor camps in Vilna, and her father came looking for her and found her in the orphanage. Because it had been several years since he'd last seen his daughter, and because she was so malnourished, he only recognized her by a birthmark.
Her parents didn't tell her about her time as a hidden child until she was 12 years old, Bastacky said.
Bastacky met the nun who saved her life when she was 14 years old.
“It was the only time I met her,” she said. “She is one of those endless examples of those who saved us because it was the right thing to do … I honor her almost every time I speak. For me it's absolutely crucial to do that … because unfortunately we're living in a hateful world.”
Bastacky came to the U.S. in 1963 after living in Israel and serving in the Israeli army. While in the army, she lived and worked on a kibbutz, or communal farming community, near the border with Lebanon.
Once in America, she learned English and got college degrees in social work, focusing on work with the elderly.
While she's experienced anti-Semitism throughout her life, Bastacky said she is heartened by her friendships with those from different cultures and religions. She brought with her to the library two teddy bears given to her by a German friend “because it's a symbol of the opposite of hate,” she said.
“The concept of hate is destructive. Ask yourself what you're accomplishing. Zero, zilch, nothing. It's not good for your health either. So if we can spend energy on hate, we can spend it on the opposite … When we talk with each other, we'll find more things in common than are different,” she said.
