Liesel Appel’s birth was dedicated to Adolf Hitler, but her life was not.
Appel was born in 1941 in Klingenberg, Germany, to Nazi criminals who made their dedication to the German leader official at a ceremony when she was 2 weeks old. At the age of 9, she decided she could not be one of them.
“I was taught such a deadly culture that it still blows my mind,” she told a crowd of about 40 gathered at UF Hillel on Tuesday night.
“Everything about me must be offensive,” the blue-eyed blonde said. “My accent … the tone of my voice, the way I look.”
A converted Jew, the 73-year-old has spent her lifetime searching for forgiveness — especially from Jewish neighbors whose businesses were ransacked during the Holocaust as her parents watched in support.
Appel has told her story on radio and television, at educational seminars and countless Holocaust Memorial services across the world.
Hillel, located at 2020 W. University Ave., hosted the speech as part of its genocide awareness week.
Campaign chairwoman Rachael Cain, a 20-year-old UF music junior, said Appel’s story provides an alternative view to the traditional survivor’s saga.
“In any given situation, a bigger problem is the population that stands by and watches it happen,” she said.
Appel said the time to stand up for those in need is now.
“Courage does not have to be loud,” she said. “It often is the quiet voice of reason.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 4/9/2014 under the headline "Daughter of Nazis speaks at UF about Holocaust"]
