Holocaust Survivor Janet Applefield

Janet Applefield is a Holocaust survivor who lived through what was quite possibly simple luck and help from unsung heroes in her story. World War Two began when she was only a few years old, and she was thrust into the madness far too young. She was separated from everyone she loved, finding herself with family killed, transported to other nations, or having fled there, or held in camps. She found herself traveling between different caretakers, getting lucky and evading police who came mere inches from her, and suspected nothing of it. In her greatest stroke of luck, she was taken from a refugee center after the war, and entered an orphanage run by a woman, Lena. And one day during a pickup of supplies, she heard a man talk about his missing daughter. After hearing a description, she said she had her. It turned out that his daughter was Janet. She was reunited, and eventually moved to the United States after several years. Though just hearing a description isn’t nearly the same, her tale was a new perspective, beyond that of just those who suffered oppression in concentration or labor camps, but also that of those who weren’t captured, and instead found themselves evading the police in the dead of night. Ms. Applefied’s tale is incredibly fascinating, and truly reawakened the discussion and view of the Holocaust, showing the different ways that things happened during the Holocaust, and the effect it had on those who were able to survive. Her story was very moving, as you could feel her confusion as a child and her anguish as family died, or as she moved ahead without anyone helping her, suffering as she tried to make it out alive.