Dr. Eva Olsson has been paying close attention to the news and can’t believe that the tragedies of nearly 80 years ago are seemingly taking place again; speaking up is her advice to those wanting to make a change.
The well-known Holocaust survivor will be at Collier Street United Church located at 112 Collier St. in downtown Barrie on Wednesday, June 20 from noon until 2 p.m.
While it is a casual affair with the church’s Fellowship Lunch being served, it will be full of stories that Olsson is famed for telling.
While Olsson visits many schools throughout the year talking to kids about her experiences in the Nazis' infamous Auschwitz concentration camp, she also enjoys speaking to adults with a very clear message.
“It is a little different when I speak to the parents because I need to be very clear to them on their responsibility,” said Olsson. “The parents need to be responsible for the upbringing of their children; they need to leave a lasting legacy for them to hold on to. I still try to live up to the legacy of my mother and I will be 94 years old in October.
"I have one 12-year-old girl tell me when she is up in her room texting with friends her parents think she is doing homework; be more involved as parents so you can show right from wrong.”
Olsson has a schedule that is nearly full for the year and will be touring the country speaking to kids and adults about her four day ride of Hell cramped in a train car during a time from when an estimated 11 million people were murdered. If people didn’t die on the way to the camps from suffocation, they were surely killed in the genocide that took so many millions including members of her family which is motivation enough for Olsson to keep going.
“People do ask why I don’t slow down, why at my age do I keep speaking and go from place to place,” said Olsson. “I have five nieces who were murdered in those camps and I survived; this is my responsibility after being given the gift of life. I must keep telling this story so that it lives on and that my family’s story lives on.”
Olsson is happy to be living in her Bracebridge home and loves the country she and her late husband came to in 1951. Olsson has toured the world sharing her story and follows the news closely as well to keep up with current events, always hoping that the world never repeats its worst moments; Olsson is very scared about what she is seeing in the United States right now with the “zero tolerance” immigration stance that has been separating children from their parents and keeping all detained in chain-link holding areas- a situation that Olsson says she can’t believe is happening 74 years after the Nazi camps.
“I cry thinking about those children being taken from their parents and how scared they must be,” said Olsson. “Can you imagine being given the knowledge to prevent what is considered one of history’s darkest atrocities and instead you repeat it; that is what is happening right now in the United States. I have three grandchildren and I am very concerned for them and the world they are growing up in.”
While Wednesday’s event will speak to a mainly adult audience, Olsson knows that she has many school trips lined up and is eager to talk to the kids about bullying and how to stop a bully.
“If children are being given something of value to listen to, they will listen,” said Olsson. “I’ve had a 15 year old girl write to me from Ottawa and thank me for opening her eyes and heart. This young girl said that she knows she is just one person, but if she can make the difference in one other person’s life then she is making a difference overall; she will use that voice to stand up to bullying. That’s what is needed to stop a bully from becoming a dictator, people to speak up and not to be bystanders. People are angry right now at what Trump is doing, but anger never solved anything, it only fuels the problem. Speaking up loudly together, that is what will stop the bully.”
The event at the Collier Street United Church on Wednesday starts at 12 p.m. and costs $13 and includes a hot lunch.
