Connecticut history teacher honors Holocaust survivor
Updated: Feb 15
• Celebrated Avon High Teacher Celebrates His Best Teacher
This article has received an SPJ award and was previously published in Today Magazine, our monthly publication
By Stuart Abrams
Special to Today Magazine
Editor's Note — This is the speech given by social studies teacher Stuart Abrams at the dedication of the Abby Weiner Holocaust Memorial Library at Avon High School in Connecticut
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THANK YOU ALL for coming together to share in this wonderful occasion. I am humbled and honored to be here and to participate in such an inspiring, poignant and meaningful program.
I am a social studies teacher at Avon High School. I teach a Human Rights class, a Social Psychology class and a course in Genocide and Human Behavior. I began my teaching career ... I believe it was around the time of Lincoln’s second inaugural address!
I tell you this because, while there is so much I have to be grateful for, I want to tell you about the greatest teacher I ever had — a Holocaust survivor by the name of Abraham “Abby” Weiner.
“Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.”
These profound words are those of — perhaps — the most famous Holocaust survivor, a Nobel laureate and Abby’s boyhood friend, Elie Wiesel. Since Abby’s passing, and with the words of Wiesel in my head, I have often thought about Abby’s legacy, his influence on me, and his impact on all those he met, especially my students. In short, he symbolized a humanity that brought people together. Abby wore his personal history of those dark days as a cloak of dignity.
In April of 1944, 14-year-old Abby was transported with his parents to the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival, he was separated from his mother. He would never see her again.
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He wore on his arm a tattoo: the number A-7705 — Wiesel’s number was A-7713. It bore testimony to the authenticity of his witness. A young man’s memory of Auschwitz.
As World War 2 would grind on to its conclusion, Abby would be forced to endure all kinds of deprivation, indignities and hardships.
Eventually, he would arrive, with his father, at Buchenwald. Abby was liberated on April 11, 1945 — he would always call this his second birthday … his father would not. A story of heart-wrenching sadness.
In the aftermath of the Holocaust, at a time when many in the world could not bear to remember, Abby could not bear to forget.
Because of his moral leadership, integrity, intellect and eloquence, he gave voice to those who had been silenced forever and devoted his life to fulfilling the promise of “Never Again” for all future victims of genocide. Abby is a messenger to a time he would not see … and yet he remains an emissary and a model to humankind.
At times, the dimensions of the Shoah are almost too great to grasp. At times we can feel paralyzed to do anything for fear that we simply cannot make any meaningful difference.
Courageous survivors like Abby Weiner are among those voices who argued against complacency and forced us to remember the catastrophe so that we can effect change.
So … what am I grateful for? How has my life been altered because of Abby Weiner? What did I learn from Abby?
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Somehow, miraculously, he was able to hold the love and the beauty and the joy alongside the grief and the fear and the pain
SEO keyword: History teacher honors Holocaust survivor
I learned what it means to be a mensch, as Abby was the embodiment of what it means to be a person of integrity and honor. He helped me to understand what truly matters and how to strive to live a life of unbending principle. He taught me to aspire to live a life of kindness, integrity, nobility and courageous empathy.
I would like to close with a brief passage from a student’s reaction paper after one of Abby’s many visits to my classes — she writes:
“Hearing you moved me to tears. The honesty with which you presented your story was moving. I will admit that prior to hearing you I was nervous. I am Jewish and hearing stories of the Holocaust has often brought me grief. I was afraid that after hearing you speak I would be left feeling a sense of disgust for the human race, knowing that we are capable of committing such horrible acts.
“However, the most prominent feeling that I left with that day was hope. I feel hopeful that humans are resilient and strong. I feel hopeful that more people are like you in your compassion, empathy and kindness. I feel hopeful that people can unite like before to stand up for what is right and defend those that need defense. Thank you for sharing your hope with me.”
The world, at least to me, feels incomplete without Abby Weiner.
I could never get enough of visiting with Abby. I think it might have been because when I would lean in for a kiss — I can still feel his touch on my cheek — he would frequently whisper and call me his “kid brother.” For me, there was no higher tribute.
With grace, heroism and honor, the life of Abby Weiner demonstrates the surpassing of the limits of the human spirit I did not think were possible. A transformative figure, Abby was an exemplar of the ideals and virtues we all, as human beings, aspire to achieve.
Somehow, miraculously, he was able to hold the love and the beauty and the joy alongside the grief and the fear and the pain.
I am unabashedly grateful to have had Abby Weiner in my life. I wish for everyone here the blessing of the gift of friendship like I shared with Abby. He has left an enduring imprint on my mind and an indelible handprint on my heart. +
Stuart Abrams began teaching at Avon High in 1994 — the Abby Weiner library was dedicated in April 2023 — Abrams has been recognized as the Teacher of the Year by the Avon Public Schools
He won a first-place SPJ award for this article that initially appeared in the June 2023 edition of our monthly Today Magazine under the headline "Teacher Honors His Best Teacher"
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