Name: Dylan Shokar

Social Justice Group: 2022-2023, Technology: Free Speech v Hate Speech Online

Date of Fieldwork: February 24, 2023

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?:

On Friday, February 24, my group and I had an amazing opportunity to speak with a Holocaust survivor, Leslie Held.
My group and I met up at 12:15 to get ready for the interview, which started with some technological difficulties. He is 92 years old, so unfortunately his memories have faded, but he still made some really interesting comments about the Holocaust. When we questioned him about his experiences, he revealed that he had spent time in two concentration camps and prior to this time, his mother had worked in a library while his father was imprisoned in a labor camp. After he reunited with his father, the family lived in Hungary until 1956, when Hungarian revolts sprung up about the Russian rule which was horrifying. This meant that they had to survive on food rations immediately following the Holocaust. Mr. Held and his family escaped the revolution to Vienna, and soon after, in 1959, he obtained a visa and traveled to the US. During the time Mr. Held was in a concentration camp, he advised us that he remembers the routine which was roll calls to do work, no matter the weather, whether it was rain, snow or sunshine. Finally, one last thing that he told us was that even though the Holocaust was one of the most impactful moments in history, he said that he would still be the same person he is today because he was 8 years old at the time and hardly affected the rest of his life. Even though this interview was tricky, we were still able to get vital and enlightening information from Mr. Held.