Home for Holocaust Survivors Sees Last Generation: Listen to the many harrowing stories of war, suffering and survival, all under one roof: On the third floor, theres Margie. A prisoner of Nazi labor camps, she hauled back-breaking cement bags and was beaten with clubs. Sometimes, she had only a piece of bread to eat every other day. She weighed 56 pounds when she was freed. Down the hall, theres Edith. Though pregnant, she miraculously avoided the gas chamber at Auschwitz. She lost her mother, father and husband in the camps. After liberation, she faced even more heartbreak: Her son died days after his birth. Up on the eighth floor, theres Joe. As a boy of 10, he was herded onto a cattle car and transported to a concentration camp — the first of five hed be shuttled to over five cruel years. These Holocaust survivors share a history and a home: a retirement community founded more than 60 years ago for Jews whod been victims of Nazi persecution. For decades, it was a refuge for those whod endured the living hell of Auschwitz, Theresienstadt, Mauthausen and other camps. And a haven, too, for those whod fled before the dark night of German occupation fell over their homeland. In its heyday, the Selfhelp Home, as its called, bustled with Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, the dining room a babel of central European tongues. Hundreds were on a waiting list. But that was long ago. As time passed, the need for a special sanctuary faded. Others who had not endured the genocide moved in. Only 12 Holocaust survivors — the youngest in their mid-80s, the oldest 102 — remain. So do a few dozen other Jews who escaped Hitlers reach, often leaving behind family as they started new lives in Kenya, China, Colombia and other distant lands. Theyre now the last generation to bear witness to one of the greatest horrors of all time, a resilient community of friends and neighbors sharing what once seemed impossible: long lives. When theyre gone, their stories will be preserved in history. But for now, their voices still echo in these halls.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 08:06:31 +0000
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