The Episcopal
Academy Meller was 8 in 1941 when Italy invaded her home-
town in what was then Yugoslavia. Her father and
brother fled to the mountains to hide with the par-
tisans, but Meller stayed with her mother. Her father
thought Germans wouldn’t hurt women and children.

Meller and her mother eventually fled as well.

They lived in hiding with a farmer for six months,
then fled for the mountains.

The British liberated them. She and her family
eventually came to the United States as refugees.

“People should know what happened, and it
should never happen again,” Meller said. “People
should know how terrible Hitler was. He killed
so many.”
The final speaker was Holocaust survivor
Anneliese Nossbaum, whose testimonial is included
in the iWalk app.

Nossbaum grew up in Germany. The war started
when she was 12. She survived Theresienstadt and
Auschwitz,but lost her family in the Holocaust.

Her speech, she said, was a tribute to her family.

“When I speak to students, my message to them is
this: Try to understand other people,” she said. “Try
to be tolerant, be kind and maybe even a little bit lov-
ing. Know right from wrong, and demand justice.” l
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