GCDS Middle School “Bears Witness” to Holocaust Survivor Stories

GREENWICH, CT - Dec. 20, 2023 - Two Holocaust survivors, Ellen and Jerry Kaidanow, aged 87 and 90 respectively from New Rochelle, shared their poignant stories with Greenwich Country Day School (GCDS) Middle School students on Dec. 14. Their accounts, as told by their daughter-in-law, detailed their harrowing journeys to freedom.

Ellen Kaidonow, formerly known as Shira, belonged to a thriving middle-class Jewish family in Ukraine. In 1941, at the age of five, as the Nazis took control of their city, Dubno, Shira was sent to a Jewish ghetto, where she remained with several family members. By eight, as her family faced being 'liquidated' into concentration camps, Shira was smuggled out of the ghetto with the help of her beloved nanny Lena, a Christian woman. She found refuge on a farm, assuming the identity of “Marysia” to conceal her Jewish heritage. Reunited with her aunt and uncle in Russia, she was renamed “Shura.” At nine, she voyaged alone with her cousin to New York City. Her cousin Bernice, only 16, welcomed Muricia and renamed her “Ellen,” taking care of her along with her younger cousin. A year later, her aunt and uncle joined them. Ellen later married Jerry, also a Holocaust survivor from Poland who had survived for two years with a small group in the woods. The couple settled in New York's suburbs, raising three children and seven grandchildren.

The Kaidanow’s daughter-in-law, also Ellen, expressed to students that by listening to this story, they were “bearing witness to the Holocaust,” emphasizing their responsibility to share these learnings with others.

Marshall Spooner, Head of Middle School, reflected, “Today was an incredibly powerful and special opportunity for our Middle School students to see history come to life. As the years pass, and memories of the Holocaust begin to fade, to be able to hear and experience two Holocaust survivors and their story is something that our GCDS community will remember forever.”

Ms. Kaidonow imparted crucial lessons, urging students to embrace diversity, understand others' beliefs, and celebrate differences. She emphasized the importance of being an “upstander” in the face of injustice and reminded students that the Holocaust commenced with words and the dehumanization of others. “Words matter,” she emphasized.

Following the presentation, students engaged Ellen and Jerry Kaidanow with specific questions about their early years in Eastern Europe.

“Hearing about the luck involved in both Ellen's story of being hidden by her babysitter and Jerry's story of a soldier seeing him hidden in a chicken coop but not turning him in really brought their tales to life,” remarked Ellie Damashek, an eighth-grader. “It made me feel grateful for my own childhood, where I get to make decisions for myself and feel safe."

Pictured: Holocaust survivors Ellen and Jerry Kaidonow with their daughter-in-law Ellen Kaidonow and GCDS Middle School students

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