Naz Jafferi
Staff Writer
Celina Fein found safety in the mouth of a lion.
A Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor, Fein used a false Christian identity to escape a Warsaw ghetto and work for a pro-Hitler family in Germany. A Jew escaping into Nazi Germany is odd, but it was the secret to her survival.
"You're too young and too pretty to die," said a young man to 15-year-old Fein, who was imprisoned in a Warsaw ghetto along with Fein's family.
Inspired by the man's words, she decided to escape. But Fein soon came back to the ghetto when no Polish family would house a Jew. When she returned, she learned her parents had been shipped to a concentration camp. Fein never saw them again.
A young man told Fein that he could help her escape if she produced a document stating that she was Christian. Her sister bought a false document through the underground for Fein. The man then arranged for Fein to work as a maid for a German family.
"Hitler will be the leader of world," said her employer as he proudly pointed to a huge portrait of the German dictator.
For two-and-a-half years, Fein feared that each day would be her last. In May 1945, American troops entered Germany and ended the young girl's nightmare.
Silver-haired Fein, who is now a grandmother in her 70s, recounted this painful story Thursday at the seminar, "Personal stories of faith and conflict."
The seminar was one of two events for the University of Houston Religion Center's annual Religious Awareness Week. This year's theme was "Faith under Fire" and was sponsored by Hillel (Jewish Student Association), Christian Science, Lutheran and the Roman Catholic Association.
"(Religious Awareness Week) provides opportunities for all the members of the UH community, students, faculty and staff to explore the various aspects of the world's religions," said Rev. Hugh Sanborn, campus minister at UH.
The root for religious intolerance, Sanborn said, is ignorance.
"Let's enjoy the differences between people," said Fein, who is a board member of the Houston Holocaust Museum.
Hector Effil, who also spoke at the seminar Thursday, was a worker and priest in Bogota, Colombia, from the early '50s to late '60s. Effil was labeled a communist for living and working with the poor in Pope John XXIII Barrio. The military regime opposed Effil's work and often burned the shanties he helped to build. Effil said his inspiration was the people of the shantytowns.