As a child survivor of the Holocaust, Janet Singer Applefield has spent over 40 years speaking to raise awareness and understanding of the dangers of prejudice, and leave a legacy of acceptance and love. Hear the story of her escape, survival, and reuniting with family, and how the experience has led her to a mission of preserving the Jewish legacy and fighting hate speech and injustice by connecting the past and the present.
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Legacy means a lot of things to a lot of people. To some, it's lasting integrity. It's building and maintaining a history of greatness. It's making an impact on people and community. For others, it's dependable security and assurance in an uncertain time. To us, it's all of that and more. It's a mindset, a brother and sisterhood of hardworking people dedicated to doing the right
thing for you and those you care about of growing today for a better tomorrow that's what legacy means at southwestern legacy insurance group what does it mean to you let's talk legacy
Welcome to Let's Talk Legacy. My name is Gary Michaels, the host, and we're just so excited to have Janet Singer-Applefield on the show today.
As a child survivor of the Holocaust and social worker, Janet Singer-Applefield has spent over 40 years speaking with thousands of students, educators, religious groups, government officials, and others to raise awareness and understanding of the dangers of prejudice. and encouraging audiences to stand up any kind of discrimination and leave a legacy of acceptance and love. Love that part.
Her memoir, Becoming Janet, Finding Myself in the Holocaust, is available now. So Janet, let's dig right in. It's such an honor. to have you here. The word Holocaust conjures up so many emotions for people, even now, almost 80 years later. You have an incredibly unique vantage point as an actual survivor of that event.
So tell us about your perspective and share your story of how old you were when your home in Poland was invaded, how your small town was impacted, what happened to your family, and how this whole thing came about for you, that you're still a survivor.
Well, I was born in Krakow, Poland, and I lived with my family in a little town 50 miles south of the city of Krakow. And I had a wonderful, idyllic childhood. First grandchild in the family. I was loved. I was pampered. September 1st, 1939, all this came to an abrupt end. At first, my family tried many, many attempts to escape. We first ran away to Russia, then we returned.
And after so many attempts to escape, my parents ran out of options. And they made this amazing, most difficult decision of their lives, and that is to give me away. And for the several years after that, three and a half years to be exact, I was with different caregivers. I was away from my family. My identity was changed completely. several times, and I ended up on the street.
I was abandoned, and I was picked up by a righteous Christian woman. Ended up on a farm where I spent most of the time with very kind people. I always knew I was Jewish, but I was able to keep my Jewish identity a secret. I was just seven years old when I was separated from my parents. But I was able to keep that a secret. And I ended up in an orphanage after the war.
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