“Respect is like a boomerang... you have to give it away to get it back ”
I had the pure pleasure to meet and photograph Oskar Knoblauch the other day when he came to my school to give a presentation to our eighth graders about his experiences growing up during the holocaust. From the moment I met him I could sense his excitement for life. I introduced him to the students and watched as he quickly gathered the attention of 400+ eighth graders and held their silent attention for over an hour as he shared his amazing story growing up in Germany and moving to Poland.
Oskar doing the near impossible, making 8th graders speechless...
I had asked him if I could take his portrait and he gladly obliged. It was one of those moments I will always remember as we chit chatted about history and I soon came to the cool realization, I was taking a portrait of history. I wish I had more time to talk with him but as I had to get back and actually do some teaching that day I walked him back to his car with a humble thank you and requested that he come back every year.
If you are a teacher in the Valley, Oskar does free presentations. He also has a book for sale about his life story titled "A Boy's Story - A Man's Memory" on his website. I highly recommend you reach out and have him come talk with your class/school/etc. He is an amazing man with an amazing story.