98-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Shares Story at Florida School

At 98 years old, Ginette Hersh walked into Buffalo Creek Middle School in Sarasota with a mission that keeps her traveling across southwest Florida. She's making sure no one can deny the Holocaust happened.

"At my age I am still here, people deny the Holocaust happened," Hersh told the gathered eighth graders. "I want to tell the children for them to be able to tell their children that the Holocaust happened."

When Germans took over Paris in 1940, Ginette was just 12 years old. She hid in boarding schools while her family scattered across France, seeking safety in homes of people brave enough to help.

"How lucky I was to be a hidden child compared to a child in a concentration camp," Hersh shared. "I was hidden away from my family, and that was difficult because every day I thought I was an orphan."

For years, Hersh and her family dodged the Gestapo in constant fear. Against incredible odds, they all survived and reunited after the war.

At 22, Hersh arrived in the United States and married her husband two weeks later. They had met during the war, and their love story became a new chapter of hope.

Why This Inspires

Hersh doesn't share her story for recognition. She does it because she sees young faces who will carry these truths forward when survivors like her are gone.

Her visits to schools throughout southwest Florida represent more than history lessons. They're acts of courage from a woman who could have stayed silent about painful memories but chose to speak up instead.

"I am the proof of it," Hersh said with emotion. "It is very important for the children to know that it can happen again."

By meeting students face to face, this 98-year-old survivor transforms textbook pages into living memory. She's ensuring that when the last survivors are gone, their truth remains alive in the hearts of young people who heard it firsthand.