Holocaust Survivor Story

This past March Kathy and I attended the Holocaust Memorial Service at the Jewish Community Centre.

This annual memorial was very well done and it was our first time to join the Jewish community to remember the Holocaust where an estimated 6 million Jews were systematically murdered.  The information on the displays indicated 2 out of every 3 European Jews died during this horrific period.

There are people who feel there is no need to revisit the stories of the Holocaust.  For me, given the sheer magnitude of what happened, makes it very relevant for the Jewish community to host an annual memorial service.  One clear message I came away with was that there are still people who deny that the Holocaust happened and continue to spew hate messages in books, online in Internet blogs, and on Synagogue buildings and property. The memorial presenters were not speaking of  “feel sorry for us”.  They were asking people to be vigilant and to be vocal when people question the existence of the Holocaust.

Bill Glied was the keynote speaker.  Mr. Glied was almost 15 years old in 1944 when the Nazi’s took his family from Yugoslavia and sent them on a two day trip to Auschwitz by cattle car.

They left their town where their family operated a flour mill for 200 years.  In 1941, when the area was ceded to Hungary by the Germans, Jews were no longer permitted to walk on the sidewalks and had to walk in the middle of the street and they wore the yellow star.  Mr. Glied had to move to the back of his classroom and his best friend was no longer permitted to talk to him.  His passion for soccer diminished as he could no longer be an active player.  All their property and possessions were confiscated.

On the railway platform at Auschwitz, Mr. Glied’s mother, sister and grandmother were moved to a separate line and he never saw them again.  Mr. Glied and his father were deemed worthy to go to a work camp and were sent to Germany as slave laborers.

Their day started at 4:00 am with a cup of something that resembled coffee and then they marched to work for 12 hours.  After they were done, they marched back and were given a bowl of potato peel soup and bread.  The decision to eat all the bread at once versus saving some for breakfast was a big issue.  As the worker’s health deteriorated, there had to a determination if they could continue to work or not.  Every two weeks the workers were assembled and each worker had to climb up on a chair.  If they could perform the task, they continued to be worked to death as a slave laborer.  If they could not, they were sent to a death camp.

In the spring of 1945, Mr. Glied’s father could not climb on the chair and was sent to the death camp.  Mr. Glied was overcome with grief and asked to go with his father.  They went together and the conditions were even worse then they had just experienced.  They both contracted typhoid and Mr. Glied’s father died 9 days before liberation on April 29, 1945.  Mr. Glied received treatment and survived.

Mr. Glied returned to his home town in Yugoslavia and found that all his relatives and the other Jewish people were all gone.

In 1947, as a 17 year old, Mr. Glied came to Canada.  He married, started a business and they raised 3 daughters and now have 8 grand children.  He has testified at war crimes trials and speaks regularly to schools so they better understand the Holocaust.

His talk was pure and humble.  There was no sense of feeling entitled, vengeful or “woe is me”.

Mr. Glied now represents one of the few survivors of the Holocaust.  Their stories will soon have to be relayed second hand.  I feel privileged to have heard Mr. Glied’s story.

My second cup is now empty…………..