Schools

Holocaust Survivors Share Life Stories

Pace School hosted two local men who shared their stories of survival during the time of Nazi Germany.

Sam Weinreb returned home from Hebrew class just before his bar mitzvah at 13 years old to find a padlock on his family’s door and no one home.

That afternoon was the last time he would ever see any member of his immediate family.

It was the time of Nazi rule and the Germans had just invaded his home country of Czechoslovakia. After fleeing to Hungary and eventually locating his uncle in Budapest, his struggle of surviving the Holocaust had just begun.

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“When my uncle opened his door and saw me standing there, the look on his face told me that he knew something was wrong and something bad had happened,” Weinreb said.

The White Oak man spoke to a group of attentive students Tuesday morning at Pace School, along with Forest Hills resident and fellow Holocaust survivor

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The men shared their biographies with the students in honor of National Library Week. Ottenheimer’s own memoir, “Escape and Return,” sat on a table displaying biographies and other books written about the horrors of the Holocaust.

The survivors took time to tell their stories. After living on the streets of Budapest for about six months at 13 years old, eating from garbage cans and being rejected after attempting to work in restaurants and shops for just a bit of food, Weinreb went to the police, thinking they wouldn’t harm such a young boy on his own.

After going to the authorities for help, he was slapped in the face and thrown into jail for two years.

When he was released, he moved in with his grandparents, whom he had located in Hungary. Two months later, the worst happened.

“The Germans invaded Hungary,” Weinreb said, “We were put into cattle cars and taken to Auschwitz. A number was tattooed on my arm and I was told I no longer needed to remember my name – I was now a number.”

Weinreb described the horrors he saw while living in a concentration camp, of those who committed suicide, of the women and children taken to gas chambers under the guise that they would soon take a hot shower, of the garbage he was served for meals.

While lining up before a Nazi soldier, he witnessed two men being shot and killed for being too weak to work.

“The soldier had a sarcastic smile and looked at us after and said, ‘This I am sure you will never forget,’” Weinreb said.

Just before WWII ended, Weinreb was walking in what would later become known as a “death march.” It was then that he made the decision to run out of the line, knowing that he would die soon if he didn’t at least try.

“I couldn’t go on much longer, so I decided to run,” Weinreb said. “To this day I do not know how far or how long I ran.”

Russian troops found him laying in a field and took him to a hospital. Soon after he gathered his strength, he returned to his hometown in Czechoslavakia to find devastating news. No one in his family had survived.

“The only thing that kept me going was the hope that one day I would be with my family again,” he said.

Later, he returned to his grandparents town in Hungary, only to receive the same news. They were dead.

Next door, he met a young girl who also had lost her entire family. That young girl eventually became his wife and they shortly after immigrated to America. Weinreb is still married to Goldie today.

“It is now more than 65 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and we have survivors today who still cannot talk about what happened,” Weinreb said. “It took my wife and I many years to even talk to our children, but it is so important for us to talk about to make sure it never happens again.”

Weinreb and Ottenheimer took questions from the students after they spoke, introducing their wives as well – both named Goldie.

During the question and answer session, Weinreb said he eventually had his number tattoo removed. The scars and the nightmares remain.


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