Tag: Holocaust survivors tell their stories

When Leon Bass, a Black American, joined the Army to fight Nazis, he began to question racism back home. Horrified by the “walking dead” he saw at Buchenwald, he realized German Master Race theory was like U.S. white supremacy. Years later, now with a doctorate in history, Bass was appalled by students’ ignorance about the Holocaust. He traveled the country, warning that racism could drive a society to inhuman extremes. While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans spoke out and saved lives. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Leon Bass, liberator and educator

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

“After Nazis confiscated my father’s store, we fled to the Philippines where there was a community of 1,200 Jewish refugees. My father became a peddler; my mother sewed dresses, aprons, and baby clothes for him to sell. We survived the Japanese occupation and the brutal battle between Japan and the U.S. over Manila.” Read about two Holocaust survivors in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

The Philippines saved 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn on the eve of the Nazi slaughter

“On Kristallnacht, a rampaging mob threw our infant son off the second-story balcony. Fortunately, our downstairs neighbors caught him and his nanny hid him until he could be sent to England on a Kindertransport. We emigrated to Palestine and were reunited with our son after the war.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Rampaging mobs destroyed Jewish homes and businesses on Kristallnacht

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn on the eve of the Nazi slaughter

“After the Nazis confiscated our business in 1937, my husband and I fled to British-occupied Kenya. When the war began, the British arrested German men as enemy aliens. Facing deportation, we found menial jobs at a hotel and stayed in Kenya for the rest of the war.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

British internment camp for German refugees in Kenya

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn on the eve of the Nazi slaughter

“After my brother and I, Slovakian businessmen, were arrested and beaten by the Nazis, Canada agreed to admit us if we settled in a rural area. So we became farmers in Ontario. Our sister and parents did not survive the war.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Canada only admitted Jewish refugees willing to toil in the fields

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn on the eve of the Nazi slaughter

“Hundreds of Polish Jewish children, aged one to eighteen, fled to a camp in Tehran occupied by the Soviets. For months, we suffered from illness and malnutrition until Zionist youth leaders from Palestine arrived to take care of us.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Zionist youth leaders treat Jewish refugee children in a tent camp in Tehran

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn on the eve of the Nazi slaughter

“An aid society sent me, my two older brothers, and my sister to Switzerland. My mother and baby brother hid for two years in a French castle with non-Jewish refugees. My father escaped from a work camp and joined the resistance. We all survived and reunited after the war.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Jews and non-Jews hid from the Nazis in a crumbling French castle

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn on the eve of the Nazi slaughter

“Clutching the few filthy possessions we’d salvaged while leaving the camps, we followed the Red Cross workers with uncertainty. We were suspicious when they took us to the showers, hesitant to enter, trusting no one.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

The American Red Cross aided people liberated from the concentration camps

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn on the eve of the Nazi slaughter

“We were divided into two groups, my father and I still united, when we heard my uncle shout, ‘Come to this side.’ Amid packs of angry dogs, we crossed to the other line. We were taken to a work camp. The other group was sent to the gas chambers.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Right or left? Work camp or gas chamber?

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn on the eve of the Nazi slaughter

“German soldiers shaved off half of my 85-year-old orthodox grandfather’s beard. My father went every morning to get our ration of milk. Like the others, he carried a huge pot to bring it home. One day, the Germans put the pots over their heads like a hat and made them walk around the camp; many tripped; some were injured. They returned home half dead, without any milk.” Read about two Holocaust survivors, German Jewish newlyweds sent to America by their parents to have children to “save our people,” in One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

The SS enjoyed humiliating Jews, especially the elderly

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn on the eve of the Nazi slaughter