HIGHLAND HEIGHTS — A century separates the “underground railroad” Kees Oudegeest witnessed his parents operate out of their home in Holland and the one Carl Westmoreland teaches about.

Kees Oudegeest, whose parents hid Jews from the Nazis, speaks about his experiences as Carl Westmoreland of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center listens at NKU. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        Yet they are similar. Each had “conductors” who acted courageously against prejudice in the face of hatred and indifference. One, in World War II Europe, saved Jews from the Nazis. The original one, in the United States, helped fleeing slaves find freedom in the North.

        Thursday, in a dialogue at Northern Kentucky University before about 125 students and faculty, Mr. Oudegeest and Mr. Westmoreland urged others to commit their lives to acts of goodwill and justice.

        The program was part of the second annual Holocaust Awareness Weeks, which resumes this morning with a program at Clark Montessori School in Hyde Park.

        “At times you have to make a commitment,” Mr. Oudegeest said after the program. “It is with fear, but you have to follow your commitment to the causes you believe in.

        “Sometimes you have to stick your neck out.”

        Mr. Oudegeest was 8 years old when he first witnessed his parents run an underground railroad — from 1942 to 1945 — that saved the lives of more than 150 Jews. His parents were active in the Dutch Underground Resistance Movement against the Nazis, selflessly opening the doors of their home.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Today     • 9 a.m. — Clark Montessori Secondary School, 3030 Erie Ave., Hyde Park. (Moderator: Helen Elfenbein, daughter of Holocaust survivors).     • 12:30 p.m. — Walnut Hills High School, 3250 Victory Parkway. (Featuring Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent Steve Adamowski and Rabbi Abie Ingber, son of Holocaust survivors).    Sunday • 10 a.m. — Christ Church Cathedral, 318 E. 4th St., downtown (Featuring Dean Diamond and Stan Bard, editor, American Israelite).     • 4 p.m. — Community dialogue at the World Peace Bell, 421 Monmouth St., Newport.

        “Things got tough in our house,” said Mr. Oudegeest, 66, who lives in Little Rock, Ark.

        When the danger increased that informers would turn in the couple, they had to make a decision:

        Stop saving innocent people or send their son and daughter to a safe place until the Nazis were defeated.

        Mr. Oudegeest and his sister spent more than seven months apart from their parents.

        Mr. Westmoreland, a senior adviser for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, said people must be willing to commit brave acts.

        “You can be conductors,” Mr. Westmoreland told the attendees. “They were simply human beings who expanded their field of vision. They shared human kindness. Now, it's your turn.”

        Dr. Racelle Weiman, director of the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education at Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion, organized Thursday's program.

        “Each individual makes a choice about where he or she stands when injustice and bigotry takes place,” Dr. Weiman said. “These are some of the lessons of the parallels between the underground railroads and the hope and optimism about the essence of the human spirit.”
       

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