Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

photos by eric zitz

Remembering the Holocaust

by jennifer valentine

javalentine@vwc.edu

He stood behind the podium, eyes unblinking as if watching a movie. But, there was no fiction in the scenes that flashed in David Katz’ mind.

Majority faculty and students gathered in the Blocker Science Auditorium on Nov. 8, to hear Katz speak about his personal experience of surviving the holocaust.

“You may ask why I’m speaking on the holocaust, which ended 60 some years ago,” he said.

Part of the reason is the invitation by the History of the Holocaust class section 451, who invited

Katz to speak as part of their campus effort to commemorate Kristallnacht. Nov. 9, marked the 69th anniversary of the systematic effort by the Germans to kill Jews.

According to Ronnie Cohen, director of the community relations council and holocaust commission at the Tidewater Jewish Foundation, Katz has never declined an invitation to tell his story.

Katz said that he continued to speak about the holocaust for two reasons: for the preservation of its memory and for the people that do not believe it ever happened.

In 1930, Katz lived with his parents and grandparents in Leipzig, Germany, the “musical capital of the world,” he said.

Most of his family members were classically trained musicians.

In Jan. 1933, Adolph Hitler took power in Germany, where the Jewish population was less that one percent. Katz was three years old.

By May 10, 1933, there was a “massive book burning,” where even the work of Ernest Hemingway was burned.

The year 1935 marked the meeting in Nurmeburg that resulted in the Nuremburg Laws, which was applied to German Jews. These laws prohibited the Jewish right to vote, play sports or sit on benches, with such signs as “No Dogs. No Jews.” on the benches. They were prohibited from walking on the sidewalks. Instead, Jews were told to walk in the gutter, “where we belong,” Katz said.

Katz was scheduled to start school in 1936, but did not because Jews were not allowed to attend schools with Germans.

“It was a common occasion that we would be accosted by Hitler Youth,” he said. The Hitler Youth would harass them, yelling slurs like “dirty Jew.”

On Nov. 9, 1939, Kristallnacht, all Jews were subjected to persecution. On that night, Jewish stores were looted and destroyed. The Gestapo ordered Jews to leave their homes. Jews were dragged through the streets where around 90 Jews were beaten to death, said Katz.

By this point, Katz’s family knew it was not safe for them to remain in their home. Because Katz’s grandparents and parents were born in Poland, his grandparents carried Polish passports. They were given time to pack and emigrate back to Poland. Katz’s parents feared arrest. However, Katz’s father knew of someone willing to hide them.

“A Christian friend gave shelter,” Katz said, “at the risk of his life.”

Katz’s father eventually found a way to escape to Brussels, Germany. In Feb. 1939, Katz and his mother escaped there too.

“I was finally able to pay a smuggler,” he said.

Life in Brussels was good for the Katz family, until on May 10, 1940, Katz heard bombs and sirens. Katz’s father crossed the border to France illegally, but was arrested and sent to a labor camp. Not longer afterwards, Katz and his mother made their way to France.

On June 23, France surrendered to Germany.

Katz and his mother were arrested and sent to a concentration camp for women and children. The food was “non existent” he said.

“With that nourishment, we were constantly sick” he said. Food consisted of coffee made from roots, black bread and watery soup.

Katz was eventually moved to an immigration camp, thanks to the help of relatives who immigrated to the United States. The situation at that camp was just as bad as the previous.

“It was never meant to hold thousands of people,” he said. “The U.S. had an immigration quota, only a certain number of Jews were allowed.”

While in the immigration camp, Katz waited for his number to be called so that he could immigrate.

However, Dec. 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Germany declared war on the United States.

At age 13, he escaped the camp and walked to Switzerland.

“The Germans had it so fortified that I found it hard to get across,” he said.

He eventually joined the French resistance and found housing and work with a farmer.

In 1945, Germany surrendered and Katz went to Paris. Once there he contacted the Red Cross to find information on his parents and grandparents. His parents were killed in Auschwitz. His grandparents were killed in the Warsaw Ghetto.

“Of 40 members living in continental Europe,” said Katz, “Three survived the Holocaust.”