Janet Singer Applefield

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70 appearances 2 recordings 1 series first heard Aug 2024 last heard Aug 2024

Janet Singer Applefield’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Let's Talk Legacy · Finding Myself in the Holocaust, with Janet Singer Applefield · 21 Aug 2024 podcast

Each time I have been in Poland, I've spoken in different places, and I was reunited with the family that saved me. Wow. It was very emotional. My family stayed downstairs, and I climbed up three flights of steps, and I knocked on the door, and they opened the door, and The parents were already deceased, but the children, the adult children were still there. And it was very emotional.

Then my family came up and then they pulled out photographs of me, which was amazing. You know, my family couldn't believe I was there, you know, seven years old.

Well, for me, it was very confusing having to change my name several times. It was a loss because I didn't understand what was happening. You know, no one really explained what was going on. Being so young, I didn't have the concept of war, what it really meant. So it's been slightly hard for me to adjust to the different situations. names and accept those names.

Because when I came to this country, the first day of school, my uncle brought me to a school and he said to me, what name do you want? You have to have an American name. So right on the spot, I had to choose a name.

Again, so I chose the name, I said Jeannette, because we had a French cousin who lived in Paris. She used to visit us in the summertime, and she was beautiful and glamorous. She had long red nails, and her name was Jeannette. So I said Jeannette, and my uncle turned to the school secretary and said, her name is Janet. Suddenly, I was Janet.

So over time, I thought about changing back my name, but I never did.

I was born Gustava, and then my family called me Gija, which means baby.

But I was never Gustava again.

It does.

Singer.

Yes.

I always tried to understand human nature. I didn't understand what made people, some people evil and others good. And I chose a profession of social work because I thought I could do a little research and get a better understanding of people and human nature. Because so many survivors turned to the helping professions. It's really interesting.

I'm very fortunate because my dad, who was my hero, did not believe in general responsibility. He felt that there were good Germans and bad Germans, good Poles, bad Poles. And because of that, I adopted the same philosophy. I judge people on the basis of their character and actions. I will never forget what happened, but I'm not hateful. And of course, I don't know who I can forgive.

For me, forgiveness means that someone has to acknowledge what they did wrong and then have some remorse and then I could forgive. But there's no one I can forgive.

Legacy means that what I leave behind has some meaning. I speak to thousands of people a year, approximately 4,000 students, mostly students, middle school and high school. And I feel that It's my responsibility to try to stop hate, to impress awareness and understanding of the history and inspire people to be good people.

Because what's interesting about my memoir is that ordinary people did wonderful things and terrible things. And I think I want people to know that and understand that. Even the smallest acts of kindness have a ripple effect.

A student came up to me very sheepishly and sort of secretly after I spoke to an auditorium filled with 1,100 students. This young man came up and he asked, he said, how do I speak to my family who are racist? Because here in school, I'm learning about being a good person and accepting people for who they are and not be hateful. And then at home, I hear, otherwise, how do I speak to them?

I was very touched that he trusted me and he was able to ask that question. And I gave him a few suggestions. And later on, he emailed me, and I was very fortunate and very happy that he was able to engage his family in a conversation that was ongoing. And I'm not sure if he completely changed their minds, but at least they were having a conversation.

And I've had so many students write to me, thousands of letters. One girl wrote, you were so brave and you helped me to be braver. You know, we all have stories and we all deal with difficult circumstances in our lives. It's what you do with those experiences, right?

Well, sadly, the world today is very divided, more so than ever in my lifetime. And I think hearing my experiences and hopefully learning some lessons from that, hopefully it does help some people to change and to Be proactive and stand up to injustice. And I think today we all need to be proactive and stand up to hatred.

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