Eva Olsson was born in Szatsmar, Hungary in October of 1924 into a poor family of Hasidic Jews. This was the beginning of her lifelong struggle against other people's attempts to control her.
She is a survivor of a repressive religious upbringing, the Second World War, the deaths of many loved ones, bigotry and racism and being ostracized because of her determination to live life on her own terms.
Olsson is a Holocaust survivor, but for 50 years she remained silent about her experiences, partly out of denial and partly out of fear it might happen again. Now, however, she has been sharing her story. Since 1996, in the hope that people will know that it is possible to survive the worst life has to throw at them, she has spoken in more than 3,000 schools, churches, meeting halls, conference rooms, colleges and universities.
She will be speaking to elementary students of the Battlefords Tuesday, May 5 in the morning at John Paul II Collegiate and again in the afternoon to high school students. Hosted by Light of Christ Catholic Schools, other school division students have been invited as well.
Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Olsson will speak in a presentation open to the public at St. Vital Church in Battleford.
Wednesday morning, there will be a breakfast for Olsson hosted by the supporters of her presence here in the Battlefords.
In her presentation, titled A Legacy of Caring, Compassion and Character, The honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Dr. Olsson, uses the Holocaust and her experiences in it as a springboard to discuss the following key issues:
• The power of hate and the need to stop it wherever it occurs. She focuses on bullying in society (including Nazi Germany), which has become an especially big problem.
• The importance of not being a bystander when bad things are happening. Evil thrives when good people stand back and let it happen. People must stand together to oppose evil.
• The importance of having compassion and respect for self and others. It must go beyond mere tolerance. Children have to see these qualities displayed by adults in their lives, especially at home and in their schools. Children model their behaviour on the adults around them.
• Education must go beyond the three “R’s,” and help students develop character as well.
Her media presentation contains pictures from the Holocaust and pictures taken when she retraced her life in 2007, visiting her birthplace and three concentration camps.
Olsson's book, Unlocking the Doors: A Woman's Struggle Against Intolerance, which was released in the winter of 2001, has sold 24,000 copies.
