OTTAWA — The popularity of reality survivor shows on television is evidence that the public loves to see people struggle against seemingly insurmountable odds.
From left, Sima Blitzer, Saul Stermer, Yetta (Stermer) Katz and Sam Stermer [Peter Waiser photo]
But the story of a family of real-life survivors is more incredible than any TV show.
Amid the many stories of tragedy and heroism during World War II, the story of the Stermer family ranks among the most daring and unusual. Faced with being sent to a Jewish ghetto, the Polish family instead hid in bunkers they had built beneath their barn. From there, they made their way with two other families to a series of caves, where they found shelter and remained for 344 days underground.
The four surviving members of the Stermer family told their story at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre on Oct. 26 to launch the series of events marking Ottawa’s 2008 Holocaust education program.
The story was by now familiar to many in the audience who had followed journalist Andrew Duffy’s eight-part series in the Ottawa Citizen last year, or who had perhaps seen the family interviewed by Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today Show.
Seeing them in person, and hearing their recollections first hand and in their own voices, was, however, compelling and extremely moving for those in the packed auditorium.
Sima Blitzer, who was a young child in the cave, introduced the audience to the many family members of the next generation who had accompanied the senior Stermers to Ottawa for the presentation.
“I am here this evening to give testimony of what happened more than 67 years ago so that Holocaust deniers cannot say that this never happened… we have to tell the story so that our children, our grandchildren and the world will know how we fought to survive,” she said.
The children and grandchildren of the Stermers are productive, talented, contributing members of Canadian society, people who would not have existed if the Nazis had succeeded in their goal to kill every Jew, Sima said.
Though grateful for the lives they have led in Canada, the Stermers might not have had to endure their ordeal in the caves if Canada had been more welcoming to refugees.
In 1938, with war looming in Poland, the family applied to emigrate to Canada, but Canadian officials dragged their feet, taking their time to assess the family and issue travel permits. In the end, Hitler’s army invaded Poland just a week before the Stermers were set to leave. Their emigration to Canada was, as a result, delayed by several years and much hardship.
Though their ordeal was treacherous and arduous, brothers Saul and Sam regaled the audience with stories and anecdotes that made it seem like a wonderful adventure.
Each of them praised their late mother’s strength, courage and ingenuity in orchestrating the survival of 38 people in the cave.
Sima acknowledged that there were several “miracles” that helped them to survive.
“One of the miracles was that nobody ever got even a cold. If one person had been sick, we would all have died… truly, we felt it was the hand of God. It didn’t just happen by itself,” she said.