First place high school: Derek Jostead

Derek Jostead, a junior at East Valley High School, won first place in the high school division of the 10th annual Eva Lassman Memorial Writing Contest. Here is his essay:

Julian Bilecki: The Exemplification of Altruism and Sacrifice

“All I did was help. It is very pleasant that people remember. Now I am getting paid back by God.” These are the words spoken by Mr. Julian Bilecki in reference to his remarkably valiant efforts performed during a very well-known era in history known as the Holocaust. What is not as renowned, however, are the acts of bravery Bilecki performed when in 1943, almost two dozen Jewish escapees arrived unannounced at the Bilecki farm near a ghetto in Poland. Julian’s efforts, committed despite his young age and no obligation of loyalty to the Jewish people, were instrumental in saving 23 lives from the threat of the Nazi party and unquestionably deserving of increased recognition as a prominent hero of the Holocaust.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler began what was in his mind the cleansing of impure racial origin in order to create an “Aryan master race,” primarily targeting those of Jewish descent, of which about 6 million were murdered before 1945. Jews were segregated by forced relocation into small, enclosed sections of cities with horrible living conditions known as ghettos. The order to exterminate the inhabitants of one such ghetto was given in 1943, and it was as a result of the close proximity of the Bilecki family farm to this Podhajce ghetto that led to Julian’s heroic endeavors.

Julian Bilecki, born in 1928, lived with his family on a farm in Zawalow, safe from the effects of the Nazi regime as they were Christian natives of Poland. In 1943, when Julian was 15 and the Podhajce ghetto was liquidated, 23 Jews including friends and neighbors of the Bileckis escaped death and sought refuge at the Bilecki farm. The fugitives included men, women and children, and deciding they could not send away those in need or ignore the horrors they had observed, Julian and his family agreed to give their aid. With the help of his family, Julian built a bunker into a cave they found in a forest near their home, using foliage to provide camouflage. Julian was forced to identify a location suitable for another bunker, however, when numerous pedestrians passing through discovered their hidden shelter. This refuge was closer to the Bileckis home but was eventually also uncovered, as were several more sites throughout the entirety of the Jewish runaways’ time in hiding; yet Julian continued to find new places to conceal them in the forest, and additionally helped them to move there. As the result of a winter that ensued in heavy snow, Julian would climb up and then proceed to jump from one tree to another until he reached the Jews, this in an effort to avoid leaving footprints. When he arrived he would deliver rations of food such as beans and potatoes, as well as fresh clothing. Once a week, Julian would also travel to the current bunker only to sing hymns to the despondent Jews, restoring their hope, and furthermore sharing with them news of the outside world; he did all of this regularly for a year. “They gave us food for the soul,” Mrs. Grau Schnitzer, who was one of the refugees, later said of the Bilecki family and of Julian, also recollecting, “We had no choice, and we hoped that they would not report us; we said ‘here we are, help us’ and they helped us.” The surrounding area was liberated by the Russian Army in 1944 and all 23 fugitives had survived thanks to Julian’s efforts; none of them ever forgot how an astonishingly courageous young man with his family had saved their lives from the Nazis.

What makes Bilecki’s acts indisputably noteworthy is the utter selflessness with which they were given. As previously stated, Julian owed no debt of service to the group who appeared at this household unexpectedly; he did not share their religious beliefs, or in the persecution inflicted upon them, and it would have been immeasurably simpler for him to remain impassive and reject their need. Herein lies the cause of Julian Bilecki as a source of inspiration to me, a teenager of a similar age: he didn’t need to do any of it, yet he went above and beyond without complaint when he knew the demand would be great. It is so easy, especially in our society today, to be self-centered and accomplish only what is in our best interest, however the world is big and the demand is still great. If a young man in the midst of Nazi Germany can reach out and risk his life in an effort to save those who have nothing to give back, why can’t I likewise reach out, even if on a much smaller scale? Julian’s story resonates with me because lack of ulterior motive is almost nonexistent in the world I live in. With this in mind, his account teaches the profound effect altruistic behavior can have and the accomplishments to which this mindset leads, even to the point of saving lives.

The Holocaust and its events are in the past but nonetheless, forms of genocide still occur in the world daily in countries like Syria and Sudan. Preventing genocide demands the action of both political leaders and citizens globally, and necessitates an attitude of extreme unselfishness. We may believe that these events are not our problem, that our time is better spent elsewhere, or that we are too far away to lend our help. In spite of all of this, we must learn from the example of Julian Bilecki, a teen whose problem it was also not, and who regardless rose up and contributed his assistance in every way he could. May we take his chronicle to heart and use its illustration of a boy’s generosity in a time of devastation as a paradigm to change ourselves into individuals who will likewise confront apathy with altruism in our own generation.