CEDARVILLE — After reading a fictional novel set in Nazi Germany, some Cedarville High School students had a chance to hear a real-life story about that era.

Renate Frydman, director of the Dayton Holocaust Resource Center, recently spoke to students in Benjamin Young’s English classes about what it was like to live in Germany during the Nazi reign. Frydman and her family escaped from Germany on Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass) in early November 1938 when Nazi thugs terrorized Jewish people all over Germany, destroying their homes, businesses, and synagogues.

After settling in Dayton, she met and married Anschel Frydman, a Polish Jew whose entire family was killed in Nazi concentration camps. Frydman later authored “Anschel’s Story: Determined to Survive,” which recounts the events of her late husband’s teenage years.

During her visit, Frydman told the students, “Once people are gone, their stories are gone forever. So ask those who know, so that their stories can be spread.”

She also implored students not to bully or put others down.

“That is the start of something very wrong,” Frydman said.

Students said Frydman was “very knowledgeable” and “told a great story.”

“I really enjoyed the part of her speech about her husband’s story,” said sophomore Josh Duncan. “It was very persuasive and interesting.”

Added junior Olivia Townsley, “Her speech was very inspiring, and historical. It showed how she made through all of the difficult events of that time.”