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After Kristallnacht in World War II, Jewish children were prevented from going to school. Jews were subject to curfews and eventually sent to concentration and death camps. Friday Fred Voss was awarded his diploma at Lansing High School's Commencement ceremony after telling his story of persecution and escaping from the Nazis to sophomores at the school for ten years.

"I wish to make it very clear, that I am accepting this diploma, with great honor, but not only in my name, but also in the names of the one and a half million of Jewish children, from little tiny babies to young teenagers who were killed by the Nazi's, throughout Europe," says Fred Voss, who at 92 was awarded his diploma 77 years after he would have graduated had he been allowed to go to high school.

Voss was 12 years old when the Nazis came into power in 1933.  On his confirmation day on April 1 he came home to find that the Nazis had begun boycotting Jewish stores, including his family's.  They could not have his confirmation party because they couldn't get into the store where they lived upstairs.  Two years later he was beaten by fellow classmates because he was Jewish.  His father was taken to a concentration camp, and his mother gave the Nazis everything the family owned to get him out.  Soon after they escaped Germany, eventually ending up in England.

Voss met his wife Ilsa in England in 1939.  When he emigrated to the United States he immediately Volunteered for the U.S. Army, where he served from 1944 to 1946 in France and Germany.  Ilsa continued to live in England during this time.  The couple married in 1946 after he was discharged.  They have two children and five grandsons.  


When the Holocaust museum was funded by the Carter administration Elie Wiesel called Voss to ask him to become a charter member.  That led to a speaking engagement, which led to many more.  Voss conservatively estimates he has told his story to 10,000 people since that time.  More than 1,000 Lansing sophomores heard him speak in the ten years he has spoken here.  He began when he met English teacher June Martin shortly after moving to Ithaca.  Martin has hosted his speeches every year since then, often buying copies of his book with her own money to give to students who heard him speak.

Voss continued lecturing until he was 92 with his last lecture at Lansing High School in April.  He finally decided to stop lecturing because of a heart condition and other medical issues.  But he isn't exactly retiring from speaking: he has agreed to come to Dan Ferguson's history class during the section on the Holocaust to answer questions about his experiences.


Voss's degree is awarded by Lansing High School and Operation Recognition, a collaborative program between state education departments and the U.S. military.  The program grants high school diplomas to veterans who left school to serve their country during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.  

"I think it is safe to say we have never done this before," said Lansing High School Principal Eric Hartz at the close of Friday's ceremony.  "I will never have this opportunity again, and I don't believe that you, the class of 2012, will either, to have honored an 92 year old gentleman with his first high school diploma. It is something that I will think about at different times in my life, and I would ask you to do the same.  When things don't seem to be going the right way stop and reflect on tonight."

When Martin called Voss to tell him he would be receiving a degree he balked.

"I said the kids worked hard for four years," he says.  "She said 'you worked here for ten years!'  I said I would only accept it on one condition: that I be able to mention the one and a half million Jewish children who were killed in the Holocaust.  I don't want them to be forgotten.  Some of them were little babies.  I had one in my family who was only four years old."

Ilsa and family members were seated in a special section Friday to see Voss graduate. Martin introduced him.

"The gentleman I have the honor and privilege of introducing to you tonight is the most unique, and perhaps the most esteemed member of the graduating class of 2012," Martin said.  "For the past ten years  Mr. Fred Voss has enriched and empowered the lives of thousands of Lansing students, and by extension, their parents and the entire community by sharing his knowledge of history and personal experience of being a World War II Holocaust survivor and an American veteran."


Voss was awarded his degree along with a golden apple to signify his many years of teaching and learning.  He congratulated his classmates, and talked about his experience as a child in Nazi Germany, noting he was lucky to survive when so many Jews were murdered.

"These children never had the opportunity to receive their high school diploma because, being of the Jewish religion, they were forced out of their schools, like myself, and many were too young, to have even entered a school.  Rather than being educated, they were killed."


Because of health issues Voss was driven up to the Lansing track for the ceremony.  After he was awarded his degree he was driven behind the entire graduating class, waving to thunderous applause before he was driven back down the hill.

Remarkably, Voss is clear that he does not blame Germany and especially today's Germans for what happened during the Nazi era.  He stresses that the holocaust was the worst example of what results from hatred, and preaches tolerance when he talks about his experiences.  His lectures were a striking merging of a history lesson with a personal experience.  They were most effective for Lansing students, because he was about their age when he experienced the horrors of Nazi Germany.

He has certainly touched the lives of many Lansing students.  But did they really listen?

"I was in Wegman's with Ilsa the other night and a guy came up to me with his girlfriend.  He said, 'You spoke to me about the Holocaust when I was a sophomore, and I told my girlfriend all about the Holocaust because she had no idea what that meant'," Voss says.

Then he smiles.  "Mission accomplished!"

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