Holocaust Survivor Presented With High School Diploma

PLYMOUTH, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota woman has received her high school diploma more than seven decades after the Nazis robbed her of the privilege.

KARE-TV reports that Holocaust survivor Esther Begam was 11 years old in 1942 when Germany invaded her native Poland. She was forced to work, first in a Jewish ghetto, then in a forced labor camp.

Wayzata High School in Plymouth presented Begam with a diploma this month. The 88-year-old grabbed her blue graduation cap and tossed it skyward as she received a standing ovation.

Teacher Candice Ledman came up with the idea to give Begam a diploma after she shared her story in class seven years ago, but the school administration turned it down.

The opportunity presented itself again when the school got a new principal who supported it.