Filmmaker Shares Holocaust Experiences

On December 20, Newtown Middle School hosted Holocaust survivor Agnes Vertes, a documentary filmmaker, writer, and educator. Mrs Vertes, at the invitation of GATES teacher Patrice Gans, shared her story of survival with the school’s gifted and talented class as part of the group’s unit on human rights and genocide. 

Thanks to the foresight of her parents, who were able to secure false papers for her and her younger sister, Mrs Vertes was able to avoid detection and survived the horrors of the Holocaust that claimed 75 percent of her family. 

Mrs Vertes began her tale by asking “one out of ten” students to stand. Warily, the few selected stood as Mrs Vertes went on to explain that during the Holocaust, only one out of ten children survived. This demonstration brought home the miracle of Mrs Vertes survival and the magnitude of the devastation that her family suffered in her native Hungary.

The seventh graders were visibly moved by her story.

“It was really sad, a lot different to hear it firsthand,” said seventh grader, Alex Taylor.

“Words can’t really describe it. I have heard sad stories [before], but that [Agnes Vertes] was definitely the saddest,” added Jessica Lajoie.

Currently living in Weston, Mrs Vertes recounts her story, along with other child survivors, in her award winning documentary film, 1 out of 10.