[nc_reb]

I was super fortunate to be invited to Ebenezer presbyterian church tonight to hear the remarkable story as told by holocaust survivor Abe Piasek. We take so much for granted! This man was forced to go 5 years without so much as a bath! That was probably the easiest part. He was in four different camps, Radom, Auschwitz, Weinhausen, and was liberated near Dachau after being on a train that was strafed and bombed by US aircraft. While in work/concentration camps from age 11-16 he was forced to make pistols, work on trains, and sort clothing of the Jews being stripped and then sent to gas chambers, as well as repair damaged runways. He said that during those 5 years he never had a cold or sickness, but he did get an infection in one foot that turned gangrenous, and the doctor told him that if he saw him any more he would never see the light of day again. He kept it wrapped and hidden and nearly lost his foot. The US liberation forces treated him and saved the foot. When he was freed he weighed 70lbs and was daily forced to repetitively carry 100 pound sacks of concrete to repair runways being damaged by Allied bombing. During his presentation he asked if we had seen the movie "Schindler's list". His response was that it was 2000 times worse than the movie portrayed. When asked if he harbored any hard feelings, he said he had no hatred for the Germans. At 86 years old he still works as a baker and makes cookies for school children, and delivers food to homeless and poor. What a blessing it was to hear him, as well as a reality check. He was indeed a part of the Greatest Generation!

 

[IMBLITZVT]

I met a Holocaust survivor once in middle school. They brought her into our school cafeteria and told the whole school her "story". She told us of her years at Auschwitz. She told us how she when 2 winters with no heat and nothing more than panties. No clothing or blankets. I thought how could one survive those winters? She told us how they would take Jews and throw them down 97 (or whatever large number it was) steps, she went back and counted the exact number, to a pack of starving German Sheppard at the bottom that would rip them apart and eat them. I thought, boy if you threw me down a stair case with 97 steps and there was a pack of dogs waiting to eat me at the bottom, I would sure as hell stop myself before getting to the bottom of 97 stairs! She told us how she was some extremely low weight, like 65lbs, for 2 years. How could one survive that long at that low weight? She told us how she was tattooed across her chest, but she was to modest to show us. She told us how she made this little comb and kept it with her the whole time and how the Germans never found it because if they did they would have killed her. I wondered where she managed to hide it with no clothes on? There was more horrible things of course but I left feeling very funny about her story and the more I thought about it the less I believed her.

Years later in high school I told a nerdy friend about her and how I did not believe her. About a month later he brought me in an article from the only major news paper in the area telling how this woman had been faking her Holocaust story for years! Someone had recently questioned the story and it was determined she may have spent as long as 4 DAYs in Auschwitz but it could have been as little as several hours on a transfer. She had been scamming people with this story for years! She had just enough truth in it that most did not question it. She was also part of the "Greatest Generation" which when you balance off with the person in your story I guess leaves you with just "generation". Just goes to show you for there are people willing to do anything for a little fame and fortune! I am glad your experience turned out better than mine!

 

[Hershmeister]

Thats a real shame

Our synagogue has a number of people who were touched by the holocaust, including a woman who was hidden as a child, and us army veteran who participated in the liberation of buchenwald.

Here is a brief interview with local nashville veteran Jimmy Gentry of the42nd division who participated in the liberation of Dachau


http://youtu.be/ZIY6ZrQCuTo

 

[mt-ac]

Survivors, sliders, and the others

Nc very interesting opportunity to meet another of the Greatest Generation. In my family the uncles were all part of the Greatest Generation and had their stories to tell. In relation to yours I was told they did not leave two bricks together when leaving some areas (prison camp area). Ike hated the Germans for what they had done.
One of my best friends spent her school years in Saudi Arbia, of interest because? The text books there made no mention of the death camps. Just as some here deny it happened.

How can evil happen? Easy to give some reasons: I'm to busy to get involved. It's none of my business. They are exaggerating. I'm only one person I can't change it. I don't like "pick your group". Or if I try to do something they will come after me.

As to those here that made the 4F rankings, my Mom is forgiving by commenting that our troops needed what the 4Fer's produced. How many are even aware that Charles Lindbergh was high on the list of "don't get involved in a European war"? Wisconsin was prime ground for the movement, Lindbergh flunked out at what is now UW-Madison. To say the least FDR was greatly at odds with him until he finally got on board to take action.

 

[CaptMax]

I used to know two "older" Jewish brothers whom lived in my hometown. They didn't speak of the camps much but they didn't need to, the tattoos on their wrists told the story.
I was fortunate enough to know and have had many friends from "The greatest generation".
CaptMax

 

[ScottD]

I had a college professor (super liberal anti American type) (teaching a US history class......)

He stated, several times, that the United States was well aware of the Holocaust as it was happening and that the US actually ALLOWED it to happen. Unable to keep my mouth shut, I asked him 'what the hell we could have done to prevent it?'....His answer...."The United States should have flown bombers over the concentration camps, dropping bombs on the fences and thus freeing the prisoners'....My mouth still agape over this mans total ignorance, I reminded him that 'a bomb of that period, dropped from a airplane above AA range is lucky to hit within 50 meters of is target....do you realize that your 'solution' would have killed half the camp as well??'

 

[steamer]

"Ya can't fix stupid" Ron White

I have listened to a few survivors and I don't know how they survived.
Steamer

 

[L999here]

...blunt statement..

Not only did FDR know about the camps...so did Churchill and Pope Pius X. FDR would not let the AAC or 8th AF bomb the railroads that led to the camps either. Known fact that this was allowed to happen. Came out at the Nurimburg trials in 1946-47. Same thing with the japs in China and the atrocities that they did to the Chinese. Very few Japs were held accountable. War truly is HELL.

 

[Lone Ranger]

Yes, the USG knew and if you listen to interviews with former internees or better yet read a book or two written by survivors, some say they wanted the camps to be bombed. I don't think they are/were stupid, just different thinking than most Americans in modern times in that they placed the overall good in front of their own personal benefit. Birkenau, Treblinka, Sobibor, etc were reducing thousands per day - a bombing would have killed many inhabitants, but would have slowed the process substantially by removing the chambers and/or ovens plus possibly diverting men and material that otherwise would have gone to the front if the Germans opted to rebuild.