The German Soldier Who Had to Die
The German soldier described here portrays my feelings toward him and all the German soldiers I met, who never recognized me as a Jew.
Start of Main Content
Read reflections and testimonies written by Holocaust survivors in their own words.
Clear filter for "aftermath of the holocaust "
Polana, Czechoslovakia
My grandfather, Mayer Weiss, lived in Polana before World War I, when the village was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I, Czechoslovakia was established and included the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Karpatska Russ (Carpathian Russ), where we lived.
Sachwerte
The German term sachwerte means “non-cash value.” The term was often used in Germany and countries around Germany after World War I. The economic depression made cash lose its value soon after it was printed.
Tommy Guns and Other War Toys
Following the liberation of Belgium in September 1944, my parents, siblings, and I came out of hiding and our lives started returning to normal. As a child born shortly before the start of World War II, my memory of a “normal” life was very limited. We got back together as a family and soon after moved into a row house at 33 rue Paul Leduc, in a quiet neighborhood of Brussels where we knew no other Jews. Whether that was a choice or happenstance, I don’t know.
Why I Feel that We Must Move On with the German People
Like many Jewish children who were victimized during World War II, I grew up hating the entire German people for the Holocaust. How could a nation commit such crimes as killing men, women, children, and elderly people and still look at other people in the eyes without being ashamed of themselves? How could they round up millions of Jews, Roma (Gypsies), slaves, homosexuals, and handicapped children and send them to gas chambers or perform experiments on twins, among others?
A New Era
In 2011, I was surprised to get an e-mail from someone in Philadelphia asking me to get in contact with a Mr. Thomas Walther, an attorney in Germany. He was one of two main prosecutors of World War II criminals. When we finally talked, he asked me if I would be willing to join a group of Auschwitz survivors who were being asked to fill out testimonials that Oscar Groening had been the bookkeeper in Auschwitz during the time I was there. He did not promise a positive outcome of the trial, but he promised that they would put forth their best effort.
A Monument, a Museum, a Sculpture
There is no other monumental structure more powerful than the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The Yellow Badge
My grandmother had a box filled with buttons, threads, and pieces of fabric.
A Furtive Thing
When you are five and a half years old, at what point do you start crying because you haven’t seen your mother?
The Price I Paid for Survival
Our feelings are always there—waiting, attuned, alert, and yearning for attachment. So we were created. Such is the path of our lives.
This Section
Survivor Reflections and Testimonies
Listen to or read Holocaust survivors’ experiences, told in their own words through oral histories, written testimony, and public programs.