Vera Goodkin [Annotator's Note: née Herman] was born in a small town of Uzhgorod, Czechoslovakia [Annotator's Note: now Uzhhorod, Ukraine]. Her country was a fine young democracy. It was a very new republic formed just after the First World War. Its first president, Dr. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, formed as close to an ideal democracy as possible. It was wonderful. Goodkin's parents originally came from disputed territory in the Carpathians [Annotator's Note: Carpathian Mountains, Central and Eastern Europe]. Her father came from one of the few farms Jews were allowed to have. He went to the big city to study in a gymnasium, an academic high school. He attended medical school in Budapest [Annotator's Note: Budapest, Hungary] afterward. While there, the new Czech president gave an open invitation to all Jewish students in Central Europe who had been attending classes on a quota basis to come to Charles University in Prague [Annotator's Note: Prague, Czechoslovakia]. Goodkin's father accepted the invitation and left Budapest even though he spoke no Czech. The transition was eased by classes being taught in German for a year so the new students could be mainstreamed. Completing medical school, Goodkin's father became a great Czech patriot. After completing an internship in psychiatry in Vienna [Annotator's Note: Vienna, Austria], he returned to his hometown and married his high school sweetheart. He and his new wife established his practice in Uzhgorod where Goodkin was later born. Life was idyllic. When Goodkin reached the age of three, things changed. People stayed with them as guests but were strangers. The strangers would stay for short durations and then disappear and be replaced by others. Two years later, Goodkin's wise grandmother questioned Goodkin's mother about taking care of the German Jews passing through their home. The grandmother thought Goodkin, and her parents would be better off finding safety for themselves. Her mother spoke up and defended what the family was doing. The German Jews were being picked on because Jews had been favorite scapegoats for 2,000 years. Goodkin's mother said Czechoslovakia was a utopia [Annotator's Note: an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect] for them and nothing similar would happen there. Goodkin's mother never forgave herself for saying that because some of her family members would have been saved from death at Auschwitz [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland] had she heeded the warning. Disbelief cost many lives. Even the German Jews fleeing their country were in the minority. Most of the Jews they left behind never considered their cultured homeland turning into a land of killers.

In March 1939, Vera Goodkin [Annotator's Note: née Herman] witnessed German troops entering her town in Czechoslovakia [Annotator's Note: Uzhgorod, Czechoslovakia; now Uzhhorod, Ukraine]. Things deteriorated for the family as scurrilous propaganda was written on her father's business sign. He had to clean it in the middle of the night so his patients would not see it. A few weeks later, he was prevented from practicing medicine. All the learned men were put into forced labor brigades to work in a quarry. Other parts of the Nuremburg Laws [Annotator's Note: anti-Semitic laws adopted in 1935 by the German Nazi government after it came to power in 1933] were enforced. The Hermans [Annotator's Note: her family name] could have left the country but Goodkin's father could not get a passport from Czechoslovakia. He did not want to leave illegally even though the United States immigration quota had registered them, and their number had come up. At that point, they went into hiding. It has taken Goodkin 37 years for her to be able to tell of her experiences and she has not stopped since. Between the Fall of 1939 and the Spring of 1943, the family continuously moved and stayed in hiding. They neared capture and were forced to move so that the family protectors would not be persecuted for their kindness. They traveled through Bohemia [Annotator's Note: historical region in Czechoslovakia; now the Czech Republic] and Moravia [Annotator's Note: historical region in Czechoslovakia; now the Czech Republic] and reached Slovakia [Annotator's Note: Slovak Republic] before they were betrayed. They were visited by the Jewish Confiscation Team which consisted of one member of the SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization], a member of the local secret police, a local collaborator who was probably their betrayer, and a poor Jewish attorney who was drafted into filling out the confiscation paperwork. Ironically, the Hermans had nothing left to confiscate. The event did alert the family that they would likely be on the next transport to Auschwitz [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland]. Goodkin's father had given up but her mother did not. She had heard of a group of farmers who had property across the Czech and Hungarian border. They were willing to transport refugees across the border to Budapest, Hungary which housed the only intact Jewish community left in Europe. It was exempt because Eichmann [Annotator's Note: Otto Adolf Eichmann was a major organizer of the Holocaust] was told his office in Budapest would not be bombed if he did not harm the Jews in the city. It gained the Jews in Budapest survival time. People who knew what was happening in Budapest tried to get there. Goodkin's mother had success finding a young farmer on the border. They were instructed to leave their hiding place with no luggage and remove the six inch yellow star badge of shame [Annotator's Note: Jewish badges, Judenstern, worn on the clothes of Jews in Nazi Germany]. They boarded a local train and fortunately were not asked for identification. The family got off the train and met a poor farmer who took them to his tiny cottage. Goodkin and her family were moved into the attic. They were asked to be very quiet because the man's mother-in-law was a Nazi sympathizer. The attic contained rats that frightened Goodkin. They stayed in the attic for about a day and then a ladder was propped up against the attic. That was the signal for them to begin their crossing [Annotator's Note: into Hungary].

Vera Goodkin [Annotator's Note: née Herman] was sinking in mud and soaked by rain by the time she reached the end of the ladder [Annotator's Note: she and her parents had hidden in the attic of a farmer's house on the border of Czechoslovakia and Hungary]. The family was being guided by a farmer. The guide became concerned when he saw a flicker of light, so he took them to the attic again. After a few days and being fed a bit of food, the family successfully crossed the border. Goodkin and her parents took a local train to Budapest [Annotator's Note: Budapest, Hungary]. The Budapest Jews were still in their own city but restricted by the Nuremburg Laws [Annotator's Note: anti-Semitic laws adopted in 1935 by the German Nazi government]. Deportations started two months later. Eichmann [Annotator's Note: SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Adolf Eichmann was a major organizer of the Holocaust] decided to make up for lost time. Budapest Jews were jammed into ghettos. Jews not from Budapest like the Hermans were labeled as alien Jews and put into holding prisons for the death camps. The Herman family was forced into a medieval fortress called Tolonc [Annotator's Note: unable to identify]. It had a moat, drawbridge, and dungeons. When the Hermans entered the courtyard, there were so many people they could only stand. They slept standing that first night. Men were separated from women and children so Goodkin and her mother lost contact with Goodkin's father. 2,000 of the inhabitants were sent away. Goodkin and her mother went into the dungeon with no better living conditions. A month later, they were transported to a place called Kistarcsa [Annotator's Note: Kistarcsa concentration camp in Kistarcsa, Hungary] which was near the Austrian border. Goodkin's mother worked in a factory making uniforms for the SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization]. The children tried to survive the best they could. One morning, the prisoners were ordered out for roll call. The commander of the camp spoke more humanely to them and introduced them to three men across the courtyard. The men were said to be representatives of the Swedish Red Cross. They were on an inspection tour and had convinced the commandant that the camp was not a nice place for children. As a result, all the children between the ages of five and 14 were to be released under their custody provided their mothers agreed to let them go. Many mothers did not. Goodkin's mother thought any place would be better. As Goodkin entered their automobile, the men acknowledged that they did not work for the Swedish Red Cross but instead were trying to help a Swedish diplomat named Raoul Wallenberg [Annotator's Note: Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg, Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, humanitarian]. Wallenberg wanted to save as many innocent victims as he could. He was particularly interested in saving children as the hope for the future. Goodkin did not understand but was taken to a Swedish children's home. She became very ill and was removed because there was an epidemic of scarlet fever [Annotator's Note: type of infection]. She was perhaps the last Jewish patient admitted into the hospital. When she was discharged six weeks later, she was taken to a different orphanage run by the Swedish Red Cross. The Germans were careful not to anger the Swedes who were neutral and considered the ideal Aryans [Annotator's Note: a term that denoted Indo Iranian peoples in ancient times; Nazis used it to refer to describe a Germanic, pure, race of people]. The Hungarian Arrow Cross [Annotator's Note: Arrow Cross Party, Hungarian-nationalist party in power 15 October 1944 to 28 March 1945] had no such scruples and murdered 26 children in the Swedish children's home. Goodkin only found out about the incident much later in life.

Vera Goodkin [Annotator's Note: née Herman] saw Raoul Wallenberg [Annotator's Note: Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg; Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, humanitarian] at an orphanage where she was taken. Wallenberg loved children and played games with them. He was a wonderful man. He brought food to them. Meanwhile, her mother was en route to Auschwitz [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland] in a cattle car. The train was rerouted because of one passenger who was not supposed to be there. She was the Jewish wife of the son of Admiral Horthy [Annotator's Note: Admiral nagybányai Miklós Horthy; Hungarian admiral and statesman; Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary between World War 1 and World War 2]. The Hungarian authorities had promised Horthy that his daughter-in-law would not be transported to a death camp. A mistake had been made. With no passenger lists, all wagons had to be unsealed and that one individual had to be located out of 2,000 prisoners. As Goodkin's mother tumbled out of the cattle car, she looked across the way and saw someone who looked like her husband. As the man neared her, she knew she was right. He disappeared and returned with something he placed in her hand. He was a camp physician and had handed her a vial and indicated for her to drink it. When she did, she lost consciousness and was placed on a stretcher. The plan almost did not work as one of the guards ran toward them and told Dr. Herman [Annotator's Note: Goodkin's father] that he had to deliver 2,000 bodies to the death camp. It did not matter if they were alive or dead. The guard was summoned by his superiors and told not to continue the transport. Instead, he was to line up the passengers against the outside wall and machine gun them. Only four survivors of the transport managed to escape the execution. Goodkin's mother was one of them. Horthy's daughter-in-law and two other resourceful souls were the other three survivors from the transport. The four of them were held in the camp. Goodkin's parents did not see each other for the next three months. As the Russians approached Budapest, partisans set charges off at the camp gates. After the explosions, many of the inmates escaped only to be captured later. In the turmoil, Goodkin's parents were reunited and managed to get away. They journeyed through bombed out remnants of the Hungarian countryside. They foraged for food and slept in destroyed farmhouses. They managed to reached Budapest. They heard about the legendary Swede who was providing freedom passes [Annotator's Note: Wallenberg]. Within a few minutes of meeting Wallenberg, Dr. Herman had passes for his wife and himself. It was then that Wallenberg informed the doctor that the Swedes had his little girl. Goodkin rejoined her parents in the embassy. They were taken to a protected location for the last ten weeks of the Battle of Budapest [Annotator's Note: Battle of Budapest, or Siege of Budapest, 24 December 1944 to 13 February 1945]. In January 1945, sewer covers lifted up and Russian soldiers came out for a house-to-house battle for the city. Goodkin and her parents were liberated and were free again. Wallenberg needed food and decided to meet with the Russian conqueror of Budapest, General Malinovsky [Annotator's Note: Soviet General Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky]. Wallenberg sought to purchase food for his protected houses but was warned not to leave the embassy. His good friend and Swedish Ambassador Per Anger [Annotator's Note: Per Johan Valentin Anger; Swedish diplomat] said that Wallenberg told him that he did not save all those people only to have them starve. Wallenberg was never seen as a free man again. Within two days, the Herman family walked away from Budapest toward where the Russians were better established. They were in Czechoslovakia within a month and took up the life they had left in 1939.

Vera Goodkin's [Annotator's Note: née Herman] parents had an American visa to escape Czechoslovakia but did not. While hiding in a safe house in Hungary, the family heard of the atrocities that the Arrow Cross [Annotator's Note: Arrow Cross Party, Hungarian-nationalist party in power 15 October 1944 to 28 March 1945] committed. That included actions like laying out their victims in the shape of the Star of David [Annotator's Note: also called the Magen David, or Shield of David, recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism]. Once, her father looked out of the cellar window where about 128 refugees were hiding and saw movement on the part of one of the victims. He saved a young woman. The inhabitants of that cramped cellar did not know whether they would survive or not. Goodkin and her family did not know until much later when they reached Budapest [Annotator's Note: Budapest, Hungary] how bad the situation was for the Jews. Disbelief was common until the abuses and atrocities reached them. When the Hermans returned to Czechoslovakia following liberation, her father opened his office [Annotator's Note: Dr. Herman was a psychiatrist in Uzhgorod, Czechoslovakia; now Uzhhorod, Ukraine] and Goodkin went to school. It seemed wonderful but her father did not want to live under another tyrannical government. They reclaimed the United States visa number given to them in 1939. They went to America and never looked back. The Holocaust [Annotator's Note: also called the Shoah; the genocide of European Jews during World War 2] experience is best incapsulated by Goodkin's memory of her grandparents being taken to the ghetto. A friend of her mother in the Carpathians [Annotator's Note: Carpathian Mountains, Central and Eastern Europe] witnessed the transport. He could not look at Goodkin's proud grandfather. The old man was sitting on the top of a wagon with his icy blue eyes staring straight ahead with contempt while his collar was pulled up. That is the image that Goodkin sees when visualizing the Holocaust. Goodkin had been a spoiled child until the Germans invaded. That life disappeared. She has given her life to teaching children to be Upstanders [Annotator's Note: a person who speaks or acts in support of an individual or cause]. That is an important aspect of saving humanity. Few have the ability to put their own lives on the line to save someone else. Everyone can stand up rather than stand by. Survivors who have decided to talk, hope that they will influence young people to say you cannot bully my schoolyard friend. We are all humans. Love and humanity are more powerful than hate. To those in the future, Goodkin would like to remind them that there was a mass suicide of Holocaust survivors ten years after the end of the Holocaust. In their farewell note, they said the world had learned nothing since the Holocaust. Victims are different and perpetrators are different but ethnic cleansing and horrors are still alive and well. Rampant hatred results in man's inhumanity to man. The Holocaust was a unique event in history because the most educated nation in the world bent all of its technology into destroying an entire group of people. Genocides exist everywhere you look. The lessons of the Holocaust should serve to prevent that. Young people have to learn where hatred can lead.