Hidden Children Of Holocaust Open Up About ‘Unconscionable’ Family Separation
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
The Anti-Defamation League has issued a statement on behalf of a group of hidden children of the Holocaust, who felt compelled to respond to the Trump Administration’s policy of separating children from their parents.
In a video, Rachelle Goldstein, co-director of the Hidden Child Foundation, a New York-based organization which represents Jewish Holocaust survivors hidden during the war, spoke to the lifelong pain she and others have endured as a consequence of being separated from their parents at a young age.
“As former Hidden Children of the Holocaust, we know that the trauma of separation from parents lasts a lifetime,” Goldstein said. “Now in our late 70s and 80s, we still ache from the losses we suffered as a result of this separation. It is very difficult for us to see such inhumanity taking place today at our southern border. Let’s be clear: We are not comparing what is happening today to the Holocaust. But forcibly separating children from their parents is an act of cruelty under all circumstances.”
More than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents under the “zero tolerance” policy, according to the Washington Post.
The ADL video closes by urging views to sign a petition calling on the Attorney General to stop the horror at the border.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
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