SCRANTON — After her Jewish family fled for their lives from Germany to Belgium in 1938 to escape the growing Nazi menace, 9-year-old Dorothea Szczesniak had a one-year respite of relative peace until Hitler’s troops invaded.
When the Gestapo came, a Belgian woman who sheltered the family saved Szczeniak and her younger sister by claiming they were her granddaughters. But her parents were apprehended and sent to Auschwitz, where they later died.
Szczesniak was one of four Holocaust survivors who told their stories Tuesday to hundreds of high school students from throughout Northeast Pennsylvania and beyond during the 37th annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center.
“I’m sitting here before you by the grace of God,” Szczesniak told a group of students assembled to hear her story.
Now 96 and a resident of Honesdale, Szczesniak recalled her family’s ordeal.
“The Germans came and our freedom was kaput,” she said. When the Gestapo came, she realized what was happening and told her younger sister, “You keep your mouth shut.” The Gestapo spoke to them in German but they remained silent and pretended not to understand. The woman sheltering them intervened and feigned sending them off to school. As they walked past their parents, Dorothea feared her sister would cry out to them and give up the deception, but she did not.
“We looked at our parents for the very last time,” she said.
After the war, she married and the couple came to America in 1953 with their six-week-old son, settling in Long Island.
“Ever since I came to America, I have a soft spot for this country,” she said.
About 800 students attended the symposium Tuesday. It will repeat and conclude Wednesday with the same agenda and speakers and 600 students attending. The 1,400 students are enrolled at 33 schools, including 23 public and 10 Catholic schools, mostly in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.
Opportunities to hear stories of survivors and liberators in person are dwindling as their numbers inevitably shrink. Other Holocaust survivors participating in this year’s symposium include Ruth Hartz, Mark Schonwetter and Peter Stern. Descendants of 10 other Holocaust survivors who are now deceased also participated as speakers.
Some students said they appreciated the symposium’s opportunity to learn more about the Holocaust and to hear directly from survivors about their struggles and perseverance.
“I was aware of it a little bit but not as in-depth as what I learned here,” said Caroline Morton, 17, of Dickson City, a junior at Mid Valley Secondary Center in Throop. “I think it’s a really important time that should be remembered.”
After Szczesniak’s talk, Morton said, “I think she did a great job in telling her story. It’s very nice to learn more about that time in history, especially from a first-hand point of view.”
Many students took photos with Szczesniak. Her talk resonated so much with Lilly Russin, 17, a junior at Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre, that she was compelled to ask if she could give the Holocaust survivor a hug.
“Hearing her story and how much she went through, I was really moved and felt like I had to give her a hug,” Russin said.
Szczesniak noted she went decades without mentioning her past much but it’s important for her now to relate her experiences to younger generations.
“As long as I can still remember and speak, I will do it. I just have to do it,” she said.
Holocaust survivor Dorothea Szczesniak waits to be introduced by Holocaust Symposium facilitator David Hollander before speaking to students at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center in downtown Scranton Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Holocaust survivor Dorothea Szczesniak prepares to speak to students at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center in downtown Scranton Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Lilly Russin, 17, a junior at Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre, embraces Holocaust survivor Dorothea Szczesniak, 96, of Honesdale, at the 37th annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust in Scranton on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Lilly Russin, 17, a junior at Holy Redeemer High School in Wilkes-Barre, embraces Holocaust survivor Dorothea Szczesniak, 96, of Honesdale, at the 37th annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust in Scranton on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Caroline Morton of Dickson City, a junior at the Mid Valley Secondary Center, at left, and other students, listen to Holocaust survivor Dorothea Szczesniak, 96, of Honesdale, at the 37th annual Teen Symposium on the Holocaust in Scranton on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Holocaust survivor Dorothea Szczesniak prepares to speak to students at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center in downtown Scranton Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Holocaust survivor Dorothea Szczesniak speaks to students at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center in downtown Scranton Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)