“Student Perspective: Julian Wolff” Family Holocaust history inspired Price student to pursue public policy

Each semester at the Price School, professors repeat the same words of encouragement, “One day you and your peers will be testifying before Congress and state legislatures. That’s what we’re preparing you for.” Their words remind me to speak concisely and get my point across quickly. I never thought my first address to a government body would be abroad, in a foreign language, and as a Price student.

I am the proud grandson of a German-Jewish Holocaust survivor. My opa, Gary “Günter” Richard Wolff, was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1928. Hitler’s rise to power overshadowed his formative childhood years. He remembers anti-Semitic graffiti around his home city and non-Jewish children hurling slurs, stones, and even hanging a young Jewish boy from his arms. In 1935, my Grandfather was forbidden from attending public school and enrolled in a private school at the local synagogue, which was later burned down and destroyed on the infamous Kristallnacht.

Kristallnacht occurred two weeks after my opa’s 10th birthday on November 9th, 1938. It was a terrifying reality check for my great grandparents, and they quickly searched for ways to leave the country. Each visa was highly expensive, and when they eventually secured access to Cuba, WWII broke out one week later, and travel was impossible.

Opa and his family remained in Düsseldorf until 1941, continuing to search for ways out. In October, the remaining Jewish families were rounded up, paraded through the city, and deported to the Łódź Ghetto in Poland, where opa and his family remained until 1944. That summer, they endured a long and grueling passage in cattle cars until they arrived at Auschwitz, a place they had never heard of where women and men were separated upon arrival. My opa never saw his mother again. He vividly remembers a speech delivered that day, “If you think you are getting out of here, forget it. The only way out is through the chimneys.” My great grandfather quickly became ill and died, and at 16, Opa was on his own but determined to survive.

My grandpa regularly shares his story with my sister and I to preserve our family’s memory and understand what he endured. His experiences profoundly impact our lives and the careers we’ve chosen, leading me to enroll at Price so that one day I can influence public policy that respects all human dignity.

My Price educational career allowed me to further explore my family’s history and become a public policy maker. In Summer 2018, I participated in the Price on the Rhine study abroad program, one of the many resources that attracted me to the school and that affords students the opportunity to study public policy and administration in Germany. That summer, I traveled alone to my great grandfather’s home village, Kobern, on the Mosel River where I spent the day at the small Jewish cemetery cleaning my ancestors’ gravestones. Upon completing the program, I traveled alone to Poland to witness Łódź Ghetto and Auschwitz-Birkenau, the sites where my family suffered. Price on the Rhine prepared me for my trip to address the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament and meet with government dignitaries.

With my textbooks, pressed suit and lots of warm clothes packed, my grandfather, sister and I boarded a Lufthansa flight from LAX for an emotionally strenuous visit to Düsseldorf in January 2020. Our close friend and director of the Düsseldorf Mahn und Gedenkstätte (Museum of Remembrance), Dr. Bastian Fleerman, greeted us and served as a guide throughout our trip. Opa often joked that Fleerman and his team knew more about him and his experiences than he did.

We spent our afternoons visiting with the Lord Mayor, State Parliament President, conducting press interviews, and sharing coffee and cake with the museum staff in their archives.

The pinnacle of our visit was my sister and I addressed the state parliament and Governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschett, in German recounting our grandfather’s experiences and sharing our connection to our German ancestry. We expressed that our grandpa didn’t raise us to be angry or spiteful; instead, we embraced and respected our German culture by obtaining German citizenship and indulging in the country’s sweets and delicacies. As children, our weekends were split between German language school on Saturday and Hebrew school on Sunday. This dichotomy still confounds our peers, but my sister and I celebrate and embrace our heritage, culture and religion.

As a future public policy professional, I felt it necessary to address the current political climate in the United States and Europe, relating rampant antisemitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, homophobia and other forms of hate that divide the world today to the discriminatory policies that harmed my family and many others in the past.

“Unfortunately,” I told them, “rather than addressing these issues head-on, our leaders fear monger and campaign against ‘the other.’ My opa’s story is why I chose to study public policy and why I hope to preserve and strengthen all persons’ rights regardless of their religion, race, nationality and other identities.”

I owe my life and my very existence to my opa. Despite incredible odds, he survived so that I could live and pursue my professional and academic goals. I am incredibly grateful and proud to be a student at USC Price, where my educational experiences combined with my reverence for my ancestors, prepared me to meet with and share my family’s story with policymakers.

Julian Wolff is entering his fourth and final year at Price, pursuing his B.S. in Public Policy and a progressive MPA. He previously interned for U.S. Congressman Raúl Grijalva and is an employee of Coconino County in Northern Arizona, conducting government affairs work.