The Grandpa’s Lesson
(My late grandpa, Billy Bob Gaddis)
The way I talk about my grandpa, you’d think he was a survior of the Holocaust, But the truth was, he wasn’t a survivor at all. The Holocaust was taught at such an early age and I’m glad it was.
ANNE FRANK: The first lesson was Anne Frank. I was nine years old when my grandpa put the Diary of Anne Frank in my hands. He said it was to give me a perspective. I’m not sure what kind of perspective I needed, but as someone who was an empathetic person towards the “underdog”, he wanted me to have something, as he called “a life of purpose”. When I was eight years old, I knew what Nazis were. He told me that there was evil in this world and they’re not all spiritual. For me, he said there were humans. Those humans were NAZIS. I have met plenty of those in my life, and believe me, I was told the story of my grandpa punching one in the face when he was fourteen. He was not able to fight in WWII. He was only a teenager when it began. He was thirteen, but his older brothers, Phillip (Phil) and Dan fought in the war, but he was unable to. My grandpa loved America, but he was the kind of man who grew up in parts of Texas that were particularly racist. For me, growing up overseas, I was surrounded by different minorities and religions. My grandpa, being the man that he was, warned me against different hate groups, or different extremists, who used religion as a way to rule the world (he meant Christian Nationalism). My grandpa was born in 1928 in Borger, Texas, which is in the Amarillo area, only five hours from Fort Worth, which is considered my home.
As for me, I am the kind of girl who loves all people, but when others are attacked and rights are evoked, that doesn’t sit right with me.
With Anne Frank being given to me at such a young age, he said “She’s going to guide you through life and give you lessons that I may not be able to teach you”. He also said she’d open my eyes to new experiences and bad things that he tried his best to shield me from.
When he was young, he moved to Fort Worth, a once small town that thrived with the cattle business and railroad work. My grandpa, being an non religious man, was a man who didn’t talk about religion, only this thought: Religion has caused so many unnecessary wars and problems. He said that people use religion to justify their bad behavior or in this case, racist behavior. My grandpa, being raised in Texas, knew that minorities were treated badly, and he respected all forms of life. For me, he made sure I gave respect to everyone. He said that I may not like everyone, but I needed to give them respect and dignity. He said that everyone is fighting a battle we know nothing about, and we should always treat our friends who are considered “different” from us, with more love, and dignity.
When he gave me Anne Frank’s diary in June of 2001, he made sure that I knew why he was giving her to me.
“There’s going to be times where you’ll have to fight for her life. She’s going to make sure you’re going to be ok. But, you’ve got to help her first, and she’s going to need all the help and support she can get.” I was not sure what he meant at the time, until it was 2009, when I was fighting for her life in schools, and other places. The times that I was fighting for her, my grandpa was cheering me on.
Anne Frank meant the world to me and when my grandpa said that she’d open doors for me, he knew what he was talking about.
If you were to ask my grandpa what he believed, when it came to religion, he said this:
“GOD. He’s complicated, and people misused his words, but I promise he has a plan for all of us.” I don’t know if he believed in Jesus or not, but he was not a religious man. When he was young, his father walked out on the family, leaving his mother with six mouths to feed (my grandpa was one of six children, three girls- Gwendolyn, Martha Sue, and Betty Jean, and three boys — Phillips, Dan and my grandpa). This was in the middle of the depression in America. My grandpa learned about hard work from the time he was young. He also saw hatred first hand. When I was growing up, he told me all about how Texas, especially in his area, were incredibly prejudiced against Asian Americans in the 1940’s. He told me that during the 1940’s, there were camps here too, but we called them “internment” camps, where we held all Asian -Americans. Unlike the Germans, we didn’t kill anyone, but it was still bad.
When I was thirteen ,the same age Anne received her diary, my grandpa, who had come to visit (we were living in Virginia at the time) and one day, he told me that he waa going to take me to the Holocaust Musuem in Washington.
My dad came with us, for he drove us. When we were walking up to the museum, I did not know what to expect. My grandpa held my hand and we walked into the museum together. The Museum in Washington DC is humongous. It is the biggest Holocaust Museum that I had ever seen (up until that point). I walked in and I told my grandpa that I was going to work here one day. He looked at me and said “We’ll make that happen together!” My dad held my other hand and we walked through the main exhibit. My grandpa told me to remember what I saw, because all of it was caused by hatred and this is what happens when hatred can get out of hand.
We walked and walked through the museum and I absorbed all the information and I thought to myself, why would all this happen when someone could have done something to stop it? When I asked this, he said “If someone were to try to stop it, they would be shot”. This was my first introduction to Human Rights. Human rights seemed to stay with me all throughout my elementary and middle school year, where I would debate with other classmates on what was considered a “human right”. My first debate was that other religions can go to school together. Of course, we had those “I’m better than you” kids, because their parents had a lot of money, and they would tell other students, who happened to be muslim, that they were not welcomed in the school. Well, being me, that didn’t sit right with me and I would call them out on the BS. But the hard things, to not get into too much trouble.
If I did, my grandpa would ask me why and I would tell them. He’d tell me to appeal the issue, and fight for the problem. But, most of the time I was in trouble, because I was either fighting about rights, or explaining to teachers what exactly the Holocuast was, because in my mind, they were sugarcoating it. I hated that and I know he did too. My grandfather knew what it looked like when certain people did not have the inalienable rights that we are supposed to have: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Though he was not affected by this, his friends, and coworkers were. He said that there was segregation and antisemitism as well as those who were against the other people who worked with him.
My grandpa had a deep appreciation for history professors. He said that they have the hardest job in the world. He said this:
“They have to tell us the story of men’s failures and some successes. But mostly, men’s failures. But sadly, they are getting to the point where they no longer can teach it the right way, but a sugar coated way.” My grandpa had taught me that the Holocaust was graphic and it was not great, and there were some silver linings in some stories, but many ended dead in a camp or in a forest, or somewhere they shouldn’t be. He told me the Holocaust did not start with the Jews, though it ended with them, it began with the disabled and mentally handicapped. There were so many doctors who legally killed people with disabilities and he thought that was bad enough. He said they were the ones gassed first, not the Jews. He said the program was called the T-4 program. So many parents tried to hide the fact that their child had a mental or physical disability for they would be targeted and murdered. But these doctors who murdered children, never had what was coming to them. Karma got them in other ways, according to my grandpa.
The way that Hitler targeted groups of people was disgusting and according to my grandpa, sometimes in other countries, they do the same thing. The problem with Hitler is that he used the historical hatred against Jews to make them look like they were the problem. People like to think America was a safe haven for Jews during the Holocaust. My grandpa argued this:
“It was and it wasn’t. We wouldn’t help them, but we would want to take advantage of their situations where we would let only so many in and make it hard for them to situate themselves in our society”. After the war, 140,000 survivors were able to make it to the States, for they felt it was going to be easier living in the “Land of the free.” The problem was that many of these survivors that came over from Europe, sometimes didn’t speak English and had to learn, had to try to assimilate in American society and try to “move on” with their lives, while still mourning their loved ones, who they left behind. They had the hardest time assimilating. America was and still not the easiest place to live, unless you’re a white, Christian and straight male.
My grandpa had wished that FDR would have done something. He wished that more people could have been helped, but of course, he said, “We had to be idiots and let innocent women and children die, all because America had to be an asshole to let them in. Yes, I know that we’d be a little over crowded, but at least they would have been safe.” I reminded my grandpa that the Germans made it almost impossible to leave, making the other country’s hands tied. He explained that it was hard, but we could have been more open with our borders. He explained that America, to the Jewish people, was almost a right of passage, almost like Israel was their rightful home, but at the time, Israel was also limiting their immigration policies, which really hurt so many, and according to him, could have saved so many. Again, my human right’s instinct was kicking in.
In college, I took a human rights course. They talked about Elie Wiesel, and I was so glad they did. The thing about Elie Wiesel, is that my grandpa also gave me the book Night when I was fourteen. He said this was another voice to learn about during the Holocaust. He told me that I should try to research other people, other than Anne Frank. I would learn about others later, but the people that I had, at the time, were Anne Frank or Elie Wiesel.
My grandpa knew that I could relate to Anne, but he did not know I’d relate more to Moshe Flinker later down the road. The thing about Anne was that she was thirteen and I was nine when I was given her. Why wasn’t I thirteen when I received her? My grandpa thought nine would be a perfect age and going to a school that I felt so alone (I was a loner growing up, I had little friends between sixth to ninth grade), but with Anne’s words, I may not feel so bad. When I was going to school, the school was concerned that I already knew who Anne Frank was. My grandpa told the school that I was learning about people that should be taught about in schools, but it was a ‘crying shame’ that they would have to question someone who was trying to study history. In some states, Anne Frank was banned from classrooms, because of the diary itself. But I always carried her with me, wherever I went. I usually buy different and new editions of the book that come out at least once a year. But he thought it was absurd that she’d be banned from schools. If only he knew now that she’s not the only one that’s being banned from schools. If he only knew what damage the American schools are making by banning the Holocaust from even being taught and if it is, it’s not even the right way to teach it.
My grandpa loved history and he gave that love of history to me as well. WWII history is what I always seemed drawn to. My grandpa knew more about that part of history, because he was a teenager through that. Living in the 1940’s as he put it was not easy, because there was so much hatred in the United States. “All people were hated, not just Jews. The hatred against our Asian American friends and our hispanics down here in the south was horrible too.”
When I first learned about what the Holocaust was, my grandpa taught me that there was an evil man named Hitler who was really mentally ill who was also very antisemtic. In 1933, he was elected Chancellor, which he described to me, like being President. He thought that he would take over the entirety of Eupope and attack the Jewish people. Why? Because of years of Anti-semtism, which began after the death of Jeusus, then in the 13th, 14th and 15th Century where Jews were expelled and hated for no real reason other than they wouldn’t convert to Christianity. This is what my grandpa hated most. He said that no religion should be a threat to others, but here we are.
“They were murdered by the thousands in those times and they will still continue to be, because of their beliefs,” My grandpa once said to me.
I also learned that Jews were, for a long time (and still some idiots believe this theory) that they killed Jesus, which they did not, because crucifixion was a Roman punishment, not Jewish. Jews wouldn’t have had that power, and sadly, it’s the number one reason why Jews are hated. My grandpa told me that the stereotypes against Jews are dangerous. He said that there were so many stereotypes given in the 12th- 15th Century. He said that Jews were, the 12th Century to 13th Century were to have thought to be in liege with the devil, which to him was idiocy, since they weren’t. He said if anyone was like that, it’d be these greedy Pastors. He said you cannot be a pastor and preach hate, you just cannot. He thought that was one of the many reasons he hated religion. “If we are to teach religious texts, we take that at face value, not literally. You cannot take this shit seriously, especially the New Testament.”
I later learned from him that there were crusaders, that on the way to attack the muslims, Jews were murdered by the thousands. Why? Because they were Jews. My grandpa told me that restrictions on Jews were nothing new. They had so many restrictions placed on them throughout history. They were kicked out of their homes, they couldn’t work where Christians worked, which he again thought was idoitic. He said they were expelled from different countries because of people’s irrational fear of them. Why? Because people believed these irrational stereotypes of them. He told me a few, and I’ve heard these over the years:
Jews are Greedy ( he said, EVERYONE IS GREEDY.)
Jews kill Christian children (my grandpa thought this one was the most pathetic one, because why on Earth would a Jewish person do that?)
Jewish women were brats (He said everyone can be a brat, not cool to prioritize Jews as this)
Jews hate other religions (My grandpa said that there are Jews who do, but not everyone does. A lot of them are some of the most accepting people )
Jews want to take over the world (My grandpa said he’s seen so many damn Christian Nationalists try to do this and not one Jew. So where would they get this awful idea?)
He has seen so many papers in his time where there were job applications and there, in plain black and white, said “JEWS NEED NOT APPLY.” He said he’d call the people and ask why?
My grandpa was a railsman, meaning he worked on the railroad. He began when he was seventeen and he continued working for the Santa Fe Railroad for forty-four more years. He became a signal engineer. Now, when I tell this story, it’s not to say he was the best man working there, but my grandpa was a man who had a tenth grade education, then a GED. A G-E-D is basically the equivalent of a high school degree. My grandpa was self taught and was an avid reader. The man he replaced in his field for the job he wanted, had a four year degree, while my grandpa only had a GED. He never went to college, but he made sure his granddaughter would have money to go to college , which I did. When he wanted to learn more about the Holocaust, though it happend while he alive, but like I said, he lived in Texas, the Holocaust didn’t happen in Texas, he wanted to read about what happened and everyone’s thoughts. He wanted to read what he called the “fuckery” about people praising Hitler for his work, while there were other authors trying to make sense of it all. He was a man who read about either side and knew that evil was not just made out of boredom, it was made because there was an evil man who thought that a group of people would be better off extinct. He couldn’t understand the Christian movement of people trying to convert those of another faith to Christianity. He told me this :
“All religions have their truths. The Muslims have their truths and so do the Hindu’s, or the Buddists. The word of God is formed into different places in religion. Whether it’s Chrisitan or another religion, God’s word is interpreted differently for others. It is not the same for everyone. I wish that these Christian nuts would leave the Jewish people alone, after all they are stealing their texts for their bibles! It is unnecessary for them to do that. They have their own texts. But according to these religion’s Gods, they all have a different destination that they are following. To say that Jesus is the only way, is not only dangerous, but it is simply a slap in the face to other religions, who are trying to pray and have religious freedoms.” If only he knew what hell we are in now, especially in the United States. My grandpa used to say “We are the UNITED States not the CHRISTIAN States, but UNITED. This means EVERYONE.” My grandpa said that “freedom of religion” also should mean “Freedom from religion” as well. He knew that the minorities of the United States would be treated worse as time went on, and I think he knew what he was talking about.
My grandpa was a man who tried to make sense of evil in the world. Though sadly, was a Republican all his life, and my parents are one too, but not me, I don’t like what they stand for now. But when he was a Republican, he was trying to find what politicians would be equal for all, but he was met with a lot of disappointment. Now, had he lived now, I’m sure he’d be appalled with all that’s going on. I am sure. My grandpa was a man who lived simply. He said he loved his family and he worked for a living. My grandpa learned so much about mental health, especially from me and my older brother. My grandpa tried to make the best decisions and he tried to make the best calls of judgment, but sometimes, he was met with people who would try to hurt others, and like me, that didn’t sit well with him.
When he was fourteen, he saw some white nationalist and got into a big fight with them and he didn’t even get in trouble. My grandpa thankfully didn’t see the Tr*mp presidency. The way that he became president, my grandpa would have said, “sounds like another Hitler.” Well, it was. When I was going to school, I went to school with all different kinds of people. But there were groups of people who tried to promote “white power”. That of course, didn’t sit well with me. I feel like people should be able to choose what religion they practice and should have the same opportunities as everyone else.
When I was twelve, he presented me with a book called Hitler’s Willing Executioners by Daniel Goldhagen. It was written in 1996, but my grandpa knew I needed to read about how could simple men and women become murderers overnight. It was an interesting read and it was a book that he talked about often enough.
It was a book about how Germans were willing to murder Jews, but he argued a lot of different points in the book.
With my grandpa giving me this book, he thought I should read other books on the Holocaust. I was given Number the Stars, because he didn’t want to make it too graphic. But literally the book he gave he was about Germans murdering others.
He said that when Germany began this killing process, a lot of Germans were actually proud of this and you’ll run into people who want to kill other people.
Little history lesson for Non-Americans. America had SLAVERY and the MURDER OF INDENGIOUS PEOPLE. Americans try to cover that up now. But no, that’s not right with me. Between the years 1619–1865, thousands, if not millions of African-Americans were enslaved here in the United States.
After the slaves were considered “free” in 1865, segration began. Jim Crow laws began, which seemed a lot like the Nuremberg laws in German. Jim Crow laws were awful and they were despicable. They were meant to separate blacks and whites. Whites, especially in America, can get you anything. Being ‘different’, is not always looked upon well here in the States (and you can get mad at me, but you know it’s true). Then there was the Aids epidemic in the 80’s an we discrimatnated against the LGBTQ, especially the Gay population. The worst part of America is that it thrives on Christian values, while saying “Oh we enjoy everyone here!” Jews immigrated here in thousands. They wanted to have the same freedoms as everyone else and for a while they did. But, it seems like they are being looked over and so are our Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim friends.
My grandpa acknowledged everyone. He believed that if you have good values and you want to work, you should be able to enjoy a happy life. He believed that if you have a good heart, and your intentions are good, then you should be able to pray, and do what you want. But, I don’t know what he’d think about all these attacks on Jews, and other minorities. He would be appalled and I know this. He was the kind of man who was quiet about protesting, but he was very vocal about his rights and his opinions. The Jewish people, as he said, have been through enough hell and should be able to be treated as everyone else, with dignity and class. The man who was very vocal on rights, was very quiet on how to obtain them.
This was him. He was not a man who resorted to violence, but if it came though that way, he would . He raised his two sons to have a good work ethic, and to make sure they would treat women well. My uncle came out gay, and I never knew what grandpa’s thoughts were on the matter, but he did love him as much as loved me.
My grandpa’s love for his wife lasted for almost 70 years. It stung him when she died. The woman who let me grandpa teach me about history, loved him as much as she loved me.
My grandpa came from a very close knit family. The family members were all working by the time they were ten years old..
The Holocaust was a long time coming. The Jews of Europe were already under pressure, as my grandpa said. He said that Hitler was going on through age-old stereotypes and ideas. As he created this new kind of hatred, he created a hatred that would go on still, even today.
What does it mean to be hateful? Sadly, so many Americans listen to these extremists who think they know the world better than its own people.
My grandpa warned me of these kinds of groups. Now, it seems like they are all over the world. The Nazis never died, and they never broke up sadly. It seemed like when I was going to school, I had to fight one neo-Nazi nitwit every week, or have to give lectures on why the Holocaust was improtant to study.
My grandpa died in August, 2009 at the age of eighty-one, but my dad, was also a man who enjoyed history and taught me great things.
