Anne Ryder’s Blog

In the quiet, affluent community of Zionsville, Indiana, even the Middle School is an oasis of peace, set back on a former tract of farmland. It’s brick facade, carpeted hallways and decorative stair railings mirror the comfortable homes and lifestyles of its students.

“Where we live, people live charmed lives,” says Kristin Todd, mother of 3 daughters.

But four years ago, Audrey Todd, the eldest of Kristin’s daughters, then age 12, reached past her comfort zone into another time and place when she reached for a book.
Its message affected Audrey so deeply she didn’t stop with the final page. She went a step further, reaching out to its author–a woman with whom it appeared she had nothing in common except heart and intellect.
Audrey’s efforts 4 years ago resulted in an on-going, interactive Holocaust education program at her school, a legacy about which Audrey’s parents never knew until recently.

This year, an unexpected email arrived in their inboxes.
It was from Audrey Todd’s 6th grade history teacher, Diane Aurand.
“I have to let you know how much of an impact on my life Audrey has been,” wrote her former teacher.
”I don’t think people realize how much students can affect the lives of their teachers.”
“This is something that may seem insignificant to her. But because of a precious student three years ago I had named Audrey, I can’t tell you the impact (made) on my life.”

Diane Aurand explained that each year she assigns students in her class a World War II book review project. She makes available a list of books from which the students can choose. In 2006, Audrey was the first of her students to select “Alicia, My Story,” a chilling first-person account of the Holocaust.

Alicia Appleman-Jurman’s true story reads like a novel, and the account of her life from ages 9 to 15 covers a stunning, almost incomprehensible series of events.
The opening sentences give the reader a scope of Alicia’s loss:

“First they killed my brother Moshe..
Then they killed my father..
Then they killed my brother Bunio..
Then they killed my brother Zachary..
Then they killed my last brother, Herzl.
Only my mother and I were left.”

Alicia tells a story of narrow escapes and a childhood that took a horrific turn beginning with the Blitzkrieg of 1939. Her family lost their home, belongings, freedom and one by one—each other.

At age 12, Alicia masqueraded as her mother to spare her from Nazi capture. Starved, beaten and poisoned with typhoid water, Alicia was tossed into a mass grave.
A Jewish gravedigger found her, smuggled her out and helped nurse Alicia back to health.

Alicia Jurman became a young heroine of the Holocaust and the sole survivor of her family after even her mother was later murdered in front of her. Alicia saved dozens of lives and stood up to her oppressors at age 13. Confronting a group of soldiers who came to arrest them, Alicia turned them away with her the force of her words.
That she lived to tell the story, married and bore three children is in her own words—a miracle.
Alicia says writing the book years later as an adult was an emotionally taxing ordeal, but also a sacred duty. She wrote for the children of generations to follow.
“I bear witness to the truth,” Alicia says, “and children always know when you are telling the truth. Children are the bravest people in the world.”

When Audrey Todd picked up Alicia’s book, she couldn’t put it down.
“This book struck a chord when Audrey read about someone her age living in such dramatically different circumstances,” says Audrey’s mother, Kristin.

From her upscale Zionsville home, Audrey was transported to the ghettos of wartime Poland, and connected deeply to Alicia’s message and mission that the world never forget what happened to the Jewish people in World War II..
“I cried through much of the book,” Audrey recalls.
“The first time I read it I was struck by the loss. Every time Alicia turned around another family member of friend was gone. I recognize how terrible human beings can be to one another. It opened my eyes to how much we take for granted.”
Audrey was impressed that Alicia was often the sole source of income and food for her surviving family due to her skills, robust health and an appearance that helped her blend into the population.
“Alicia would work all day, risking her life to bring home a slice of bread and a bit of sour milk,” Audrey says. “We toss out sour milk. We don’t use it to nourish our bodies.
Alicia’s family gave away all of their fine things so they could live another day,” Audrey says.

Audrey was so inspired by the book told her teacher she wanted to interview Alicia as part of her book review.
“The first thing that came to my brain was no way.” Diane Aurand recalls. “The book was more than 20 years old and I didn’t know if Alicia was still alive. I did sort of discourage her but I didn’t squelch it. I just told her she needed a backup plan in case she couldn’t track her down because the deadline was looming.”
Audrey, however, was determined.
“ When you are in 6th grade adults often tell you what you can’t do. When you are younger you are not afraid to fail,” Audrey says.
Audrey used the “About the Author “ page to narrow her search to California, and contacted Alicia through her son.
While Alicia was no longer healthy enough to travel for speeches and appearances, she was eager to grant telephone interviews.
“Two days later Audrey walked into my room with this big smile on her face,” her former teacher recalls.
“Guess who I talked to last night? Guess who wants to talk to you?” Audrey announced.
Diane Aurand called Alicia that evening and made the arrangements.

Audrey’s perseverance yielded more than an “A” on her project. It seeded a connection that continues to bear fruit. Now Alicia’s book is part of the curriculum at Zionsville West Middle School. Alicia signs books for every student in the class each year and takes part in a teleconference, fielding their questions. Last year nearly 70 students took part.
“Alicia brings the Holocaust to life for them,” Diane says.
“Children today need to understand what happened so they can prevent it from happening again. They need to understand how fragile life is, and how fast things can turn.”

In 2009, Diane traveled to San Jose to meet Alicia who insisted she stay in her home for the three-day visit. They formed a friendship that resulted in Alicia
granting Diane permission to use a lullaby that her late brother Zachary composed as a young man.
“She is the only person I have ever given the music to, because I trust her,” Alicia says. Last year Diane’s class incorporated Zachary’s composition into a play they wrote based on Alicia’s life story.
“It would make Zachary so happy to hear your children playing his music,” Alicia told Diane.

At age 81, Alicia continues to defy death. She has survived her American husband and fought through several serious illnesses. “As the historian of my family, I carry my pain in my heart and lungs.” she says. “There is no such thing as getting used to it.”
Her view on God in the face of such horror is paraphrased eloquently on a page in her book—a conversation between Alicia and a young man that took place in the rain.

“Do you see those raindrops?,” Alicia asked him. “They could be tears falling from the skies.
Maybe God is crying with us, for he has lost so many people he also loved.
Somehow we will have to prove to him that people aren’t all evil, that we
are capable of love–love of one another and love of him; unconditional love.
We will have to do good deeds to have God respect us and thus regain our
self-respect. We will have to fight evil with good.”

Alicia has devoted her life to fighting evil with good through education and service. She says her early education (part of it in a Catholic school) sustained her self-worth and dignity through the most difficult days of the Holocaust.
“I knew who my people were, and who I was,” Alicia says.
Service to others helps her balance feelings of hatred with the power of love.
“I told my own children that a human being is like a stream,” Alicia says.
“What goes in must give out. If you don’t give, you have a stagnant pool that goes nowhere.”
The ripple effect of Alicia’s gift is growing in Zionsville, Indiana as the reach of “Alicia: My Story,” expands each year, more than 2 decades after it was written.
My editor calls the book a ‘sleeper’” Alicia says with a smile.
It’s message woke up a 12-year-old girl named Audrey, her teacher Diane, and their entire school.
“It took a 12 year old for me to understand to expect the unexpected and not to turn your back on a potential opportunity,” Audrey’s former teacher Diane says.
Each year Alicia sends bookmarks to Diane’s class along with the signed books. On them, are words that connect her past with their present, and shared vision of the future:
“There is a destiny that makes us sisters and brothers. None of us goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own.”