Holocaust Survivor Shares Positive Message With Deer Park Students

DEER PARK, NY – Jeannie Parnes Wechsler survived the Holocaust along with her parents and six siblings, and it's a story her mother asked her to share with the world.

Wechsler honored her mother's wishes recently while opening up to Deer Park High School students and staff about her Holocaust experience.

In the high school library, Wechsler spoke to librarian Evan DeNaro and students in social studies classes taught by teachers Joe Alo, Marissa Caruso, Hunter Hayes and Kerry Walsh.

"Jeannie’s story is one to remind the people of today that events such as the Holocaust must never again come to pass," Alo said. "It reminds us that we must remain vigilant in taking a stand against the hate and intolerance against people of other religions, races, and ethnicities so that no one experiences an event like this."

According to school reps, over the course of World War II, the Parnes family "experienced many miracles that resulted in all nine members surviving the war and remaining together."

Before Wechsler left, she was asked if she had "any lasting messages for those in attendance."

"I look out at all of your beautiful faces and I see people of different races and religions all together and learning as one," Wechsler said. "This is the way things should be. The similarities in our lives must outweigh the differences and by working together, we can make a better world, a world that we will all be blessed to live in."