Marist Holds 30th Annual Holocaust Remembrance Event

In 1938, at only eight years old, Fred Biermann’s life was forever changed when the Nazis annexed his home country of Austria. Being a member of a Jewish family, Biermann had to navigate life during the Holocaust as his family tried to survive.

“Things changed drastically overnight,” Biermann said. “I was going to school with a little girl and she used to come down to the door of my house and we would walk to school together. The day after being annexed, I went downstairs and waited for her and she walked by me like I didn’t exist. She didn’t give me a second look and that was only the beginning.” 

On April 26, Marist held its 30th Holocaust Remembrance Event which began with a virtual performance from the Marist College Chamber Singers. The main focus of the event was an interview between Matthew Leeds ‘21 and his grandfather Fred Biermann, who is a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor, originally from Vienna, Austria. 

“Tonight, as a community, we remember the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and we also remember the millions of non-Jews who were murdered,” President Dennis J. Murray said. “I'm proud to note that the Marist Brothers, the founders of this college, are given credit for saving between 60 and 70 Jewish families.” 

Leeds is a student representative on the Holocaust Remembrance Committee at Marist and is currently taking a class called “The History of the Holocaust” with Dr. Michael E. O'Sullivan. During the interview with his grandfather, Leeds asked questions and was able to hear his grandfather's story of survival for the first time. 

“When we started thinking about doing this interview for Marist, I wanted his voice to come through,” Leeds said. “The Holocaust shaped his thinking and gave him the strength to speak to us and recall his experiences so we can ensure this never happens again.” 

After annexation, Vienna became unsafe for Jews as community members denounced their Jewish neighbors and schools discriminated against Jewish children like Biermann.  

“The teacher came over to me and she took me by the hand and placed me in the broom closet, closed the door and kept me in there,” Biermann said. “It was dark, smelly and I sat in there until the class was dismissed again, which was about noon. I didn’t tell my parents because I thought I did something wrong, but the following day was a repetition of the day before.” 

Although Biermann’s family soon escaped Austria, they were denied access as refugees to Switzerland. Boarding the train from Austria without the proper paperwork, they were kicked off near France. His mother and father then walked him and his younger sister through the night to the border of France where they asked for asylum. There, they were granted asylum for one week which then had to be renewed every seven days. 

“In Paris, my mother had sold some of her jewelry so that we could live,” Biermann said. “We ate in soup kitchens and any place we could get some food. We lived in a hotel that was close to the circus and the circus people also lived there because it was the cheapest thing we could get.” 

The memories of trauma and Antisemitism were ingrained in Biermann’s brain for much of his childhood and teenage years. 

“I had a recurring dream every night and it was the Nazis throwing me off my terrace and before I hit the bottom, I would wake up,” Biermann said. “I had that dream absolutely every night until I was 15 years old.” 

After eight months of living in France, Biermann’s parents, who were members of the Zionist movement, were permitted to relocate to Palestine where he and his family played a role in the founding of the state of Israel.

“We had hardly any money to pay for the tickets to Palestine so my parents bribed the captain and he gave us cots down in the bottom of the boat next to the horses,” Biermann said. “It took us five days to cross the Mediterranean and we didn’t know where to go. We went to an absorption center for refugees and there we got separated, my mother and my sister to the women's barracks and my father and myself to the men's barracks.” 

The first time Biermann felt free was at the age of 15 when he joined Haganah, the Zionist military organization which represented the majority of the Jews in Palestine from 1920 to 1948. It was there that Biermann learned how to fight, protect himself and survive. 

“I really never spoke about my experience,” Biermann said. “My family knows very little and my friends know very little about it. It’s something that I want to forget, but you don’t forget. My experiences made me believe in a cause and I’m proud of what I did, I would do it all over again in a second.”

Eventually, Biermann came to the United States to study dentistry where he met his wife, Rose Biermann, a Holocaust survivor from Poland. Rose passed away at the age of 80 in December 2013. 

“Rose was a Holocaust survivor, but she had it worse than I did,” Biermann said. “Rose lost her parents in Uzbekistan and she had to become a mother at the age of five to care for her little sister who was two.” 

After the interview concluded, the Director of Campus Ministry at Marist, Brother Frank Kelly conducted the lighting of memorial candles. Ending the event, Rabbi Rena Blumenthal, a campus consulting rabbi from New Paltz gave a benediction. 

“By remembering and retelling small acts of kindness, we honor the capacity for love that rises from the ashes of human cruelty,” Rabbi Blumenthal said. “We light sparks of hope to illuminate for our children and for all generations to come.” 

The lighting of memorial candles at Holocaust Remembrance Event. Photo by: Greta Stuckey ‘23