John Freund

Czechoslovakia and České Budějovice

The hero of our story John Freund was born under the name Hanuš Jan Freund on 6th June 1930 in a small city in the South Bohemian region called České Budějovice. The town had approximately 50,000 inhabitants, of which circa 1,000 were Jews including John’s family. John depicts the then České Budějovice as quite prosperous, having no slums and thriving mostly because of the beer and pencil industry for which the city is famous till the present day.

At the time John Freund was born, Czechoslovakia was one of the last remaining democracies in central-eastern Europe. After its separation from the disintegrating Austria-Hungary in 1918, Czechia united with Slovakia and became a small independent state in the heart of Europe - Czechoslovakia. The Czechs and Slovaks were joined also by Carpathian Ruthenia and the Sudetenland - northern, southern, and western areas of Czech lands populated primarily by Sudeten Germans (or also called German Bohemians). 

The start of the ultimate fall of Czechoslovak prosperity and eventually also the Czechoslovak state was, of course, caused by the Great Depression of the 30s which replaced the “Golden Twenties” of Czechoslovak industry and culture. Another crucial weakening aspects were the hostile relations with the Sudeten Germans and also with the nation’s other half - the Slovaks. Both of them wanted to separate from the young Czechoslovak state and see their dreamed fate of independence on the Slovak site and inclusion to the German Empire on the Sudeten Germans site.

In České Budějovice, thanks to a limited number of Sudeten Germans living in the city during the interwar period, the Czech-German relations were mostly conflict-free and cooperative. The Czech culture there has thus seen its boom boosted also by the Czech language becoming the only administrative language in the area.

In 1938 the situation escalated at the September Munich Conference where Adolf Hitler’s requirements were met by the west-European empires and the Czechoslovak Republic saw its gradual fall. During March of 1939, the remaining parts of the “free” Czech lands were occupied by the German army, following the proclamation of a new German puppet state Slovakia. On the 16th of March the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed, thus ending the short period of the independent Czechoslovak state with no help from its allies or the western empires. 

Jews and antisemitism in Czechoslovakia

In 1920, two years after the establishment of the Czechoslovak state, a new constitution was created. This constitution ensured human and political rights to all citizens of the Czechoslovak Republic no matter their religion, ethnicity, or language. There were special sets of rules created for citizens of national or language minorities regarding politics and language laws, that were supposed to improve their everyday lives and political engagement. 

The Jewish part of the inhabitants was considered both as a religious minority and a national minority, therefore for the 1921 and 1930 censuses, they were able to register themselves in two categories separately - in religion and nationality. The precise number of Jews living in Czechoslovakia after the war is tricky, however, according to Česká demografická společnost about 125,000 citizens registered their religion as Judaism for the 1921 census and according to the second census results, there were around 186,000 Jews in 1930. 

Altogether their life in Czechoslovakia was theoretically supposed to be quite prosperous, but in reality, antisemitism was rooted in people’s minds still from the times of Austria-Hungary and sometimes came to the surface. Especially right after the First World War, when a number of pogroms and anti-Jewish disorders took place. People were fueled with old stereotypes about the wealth of Jews (which war-impoverished men envied), with allegations that Jews were the initiators of the war and supporters of Germans (which was in contradiction to a history of anti-german spirits of the patriotic Czechs). Altogether, Jews were seen as non-loyal Czechoslovaks. 

A crucial person in this matter was the first president of Czechoslovakia, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk who was already in the 1890s fighting against antisemitism in the well-known unjust Hilsner case, where a young Jewish man was convicted of a ritual murder based on people’s myths about traditions of Judaism. Along with other high-ranking politicians, he resolutely condemned any antisemitic behavior that was happening in post-war Czechoslovakia. Together with a major improvement in the state’s economy and social situation in the 20s, antisemitism slowly vanished from the public space and transformed into a latent dislike or ignorance. 

Jews were well integrated into the general people’s society, therefore more often than not they used the language used in the area of their residence - mainly Czech or alternatively German. Because of not meeting a limit of 20% of people speaking a certain language in any area of Czechoslovakia, the state did not consider Jews as an administrative language minority. No Jewish schools were therefore established by the state at the time so most of the Jewish students simply assimilated into the regular Czech school system. The integration was also supported by the fact that almost 45% of marriages included at least one partner of Jewish origin - that was of course the case of the Czech part of the state, in more rural and traditional regions such as Slovakia or Carpathian Ruthenia such marriages were uncommon. 

All that of course lasted only until the early 1930s and the arrival of Adolf Hitler and new fascist organizations and political parties all around Europe. In Czechoslovakia two major fascist parties emerged - Národní obec fašistická and Vlajka, both using antisemitism as one of their major programs. After the 1935 Nuremberg laws, many Jews from Germany escaped to Czechoslovakia which granted them asylum. However, after the Munich Conference of 1938, fascist parties as well as nationalism and antisemitism became more popular with the general disappointment from the situation. After the occupation and establishment of the Protectorate, a wave of antisemitic pogroms and disturbances emerged, followed by orders issued by the government throughout 1939 that drastically changed the lives of the Jewish inhabitants. They were forbidden to practice certain professions, their property was either transformed to new owners or they had forced administrators managing it, they were pressured to emigrate, etc. Later on, they had to wear the Star of David to distinguish themselves from the non-Jewish population, and from 1941 step by step most of the Czech Jews were involuntarily gathered in a ghetto called Terezín.

 John Freund and his life in České Budějovice

John Freund was born into a Jewish family living in České Budějovice in 1930. His family was, according to his own words, highly assimilated into the general public, they weren’t orthodox, they didn’t eat kosher, but they did celebrate the classical Jewish holidays and went to the synagogue. His mother was highly patriotic and Czech-speaking and his father, a pediatrician, was, given his studies in Germany, fluent in both Czech and German. 

The Freund family owned a car and lived in an apartment building in a big flat with electricity which was for the time quite luxurious. John attended a primary school in České Budějovice, he recollected being possibly the only Jewish pupil in his class, however being one of many Jewish students in his school. He had friends of both Jewish and non-Jewish origin.

The state school John attended provided its Jewish pupils with special education about Judaism from the local rabbi Ferda, who came to the school once a week to teach them about their Jewish origin.

John couldn’t recollect any antisemitic incidents done towards him or his friends and relatives in the time before the German occupation and establishment of the Protectorate in March 1939. John was only 9 when the German occupation started and his life changed drastically. At once he couldn’t attend school anymore, he wasn’t allowed in the swimming pools, public movies, etc., and later on, he had to start wearing the star of David, which symbolized his Jewish origin. Some Jews had enough time to emigrate or move to Prague, but most of the Budějovice’s Jews stayed, including the Freund family.

Since being friends with non-Jewish boys was no longer allowed John became closer to his friends from other Jewish families. Slowly their education would proceed, non-official done in the living rooms of the persecuted Jewish families by some Jewish teachers and elders. 

John’s father was not allowed to work as a doctor anymore so he had to take a new job as a gardener. Their flat wasn’t left untouched either, it had to be divided and shared with some administrators who made it into an office.

During the years under occupation Jewish children, limited in their daily activities and trying to escape boredom, came up with the idea to start their own magazine. The magazine was called “Klepy” (translated to English as gossip) and included at first mainly lines about the regulars in the area, about the Jewish kids who played together and their daily struggles and fun they had. Later, as John said they also included illustrated stories, poems, and illustrations, on which he also took part.

John remembers, being only a 9-year-old boy at the time, that he wasn't troubled by the occupation much, since he had friends and kids to play with and a place to swim (assigned especially to Jews).

John Freund in Theresienstadt

Terezín (Theresienstadt) was built in 1780 - 1790 as a stronghold safeguarding the northern approaches to the Bohemian heartlands. Since 1782 it got the official status as a town, always related to the military, in the Habsburg monarchy became an infamous prison. After the occupation of Czech-Slovakian Republic by the Germans, in June 1940 in Terezín was a police prison established for the Prague Gestapo. One year later, in November 1941, in town of Terezín the ghetto “Theresienstadt” was founded. It mainly functioned as a concentration and transit camp mainly for Jews and also for some Sinti and Roma.

Becoming a ghetto

In the second half of 1941, the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" was initiated, with Reinhard Heydrich being tasked with this mission in the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. On October 10, 1941, Heydrich began planning and decided to deport several thousand Jews to the ghettos in Litzmannstadt and Minsk and to establish a new ghetto in Bohemian territory. Theresienstadt was chosen, and on October 17, 1941, it was officially confirmed as a "suitable" location. At that time, Terezín was home to about 3,500 residents and an equal number of soldiers. Heydrich planned to deport 50,000 to 60,000 Jews to the ghetto.

The Nazis promoted the ghetto as an autonomous area where Jews could live and work peacefully until the end of the war, aiming to prevent unrest and uprisings within the Jewish community in the Protectorate. Initially, the Jewish population in larger Czech cities was gathered at assembly points and, after a few days, deported to Theresienstadt once administrative issues were resolved.

The ghetto was established by 342 Jewish men, known as the "construction command," and was under SS control. The camp commandants were first Dr. Siegfried Seidl, then Anton Burger, and finally Karl Rahm. A "Jewish self-administration" was established, though it was effectively under SS orders. This pseudo-self-administration was led by a "Jewish Elder," a position held by Jakob Edelstein, Dr. Paul Eppstein, and Dr. Benjamin Murmelstein, supported by a deputy and a "Council of Elders."

The Council of Elders was tasked with compiling lists of persons to be deported. Since January 1942, Theresienstadt served as a transit camp for about 60,400 Czech and 16,100 German Jews on their way to extermination camps in the East. From October 1942, transports went exclusively to Auschwitz.

Life in the ghetto

Life in the ghetto was characterized by catastrophic conditions. Even minor offenses, such as sending an unauthorized message or failing to greet an SS member, were punishable by death or collective punishment.

The prisoners suffered from extreme overcrowding, with an average living space of only 1.4 square meters per person. They were housed in former barracks, newly built wooden barracks, or makeshift shelters such as sheds or attics, which led to poor sanitary conditions, pest infestations, and diseases exacerbated by a lack of water. The nutritional situation was dire, with food portions strictly rationed and permanently inadequate. The size of the rations varied depending on the group of people, with those doing hard labor receiving slightly more. Some prisoners were fortunate enough to occasionally receive food parcels from acquaintances or relatives outside the ghetto.

The organization of healthcare was in the hands of the Jewish self-administration, which had to operate under extremely adverse conditions. There was a shortage of medicines and instruments. Hunger, psychological and physical stress, and rampant infectious diseases led to such poor health conditions that the doctors, despite their self-sacrificing efforts, could not reduce the high mortality rate. In Theresienstadt, a total of 33,430 people died, not counting those who were deported. This represents almost a quarter of all people deported to Theresienstadt. Initially, the dead were buried in the cemetery outside the town, first in individual graves, then in mass graves. Due to the rising mortality rate, a crematorium was built in October 1942, and the ashes of the deceased were stored in urns in a separate building that was not accessible to relatives.

The Jewish self-administration made special efforts to make life in the ghetto more bearable for the children. In the children's and youth homes, fellow prisoners took care of the youngest ones' education. In addition to secret classes in various school subjects, sports and cultural events were organized. Even a children's opera, "Brundibár," was staged. Of the more than 10,500 children (younger than 15 years before deportation), 400 died in Theresienstadt. Another 7,500 fell victim to death upon further deportation to extermination camps.

John Freund’s experiences in Theresienstadt

John Freund was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in April 1942. He spent there one and a half year till December 1943. Before getting deported, he was not aware of the existence of concentration camps. Initially, they were gathered in a large hall where they stayed for one to two nights before being transported by train to Theresienstadt, a journey that took three hours. They were told they would go to a gathering place to spend the rest of the war years.

They were allowed to bring 50kg of belongings, which included clothes and books. There were approximately 1,000 people on the train, remembers John Freund, but it did not go all the way to the town. They had to walk the last one to two kilometers, which took about two and a half hours, carrying their luggage. Upon arrival, they first stayed in military barracks, sleeping on the floor in a large hall with only blankets. John Freund was with his family, including his brother and parents, for the first three to four days before they were separated. He remained with his mother while his brother and father were relocated elsewhere. During the first two to three weeks, he had no contact with his family.

Freund described the ghetto as a square town with straight streets. Besides the garrisons, there were private houses where the locals were eventually moved out, and Jewish people moved in. Typically, two to three families shared a room. He stayed in a schoolhouse, which had very enlightened Jewish leadership in the youth house. He reports that they lived relatively freely and were not forced to do anything specific. In a room with 40 boys, they received lessons in history and Zionism, and even wrote a magazine. He described this period as "quite a productive time" and felt "relatively safer there than if we had stayed in our town." He formed good friendships, and the food was acceptable. However, there were only two to three baths for 400 boys.

While older people were treated much worse, the youth received considerable attention. Freund did some work in the garden, planting vegetables. They observed Sabbath on Friday nights. Food rations were distributed from a central kitchen. His brother was housed in another home, and his father worked as a doctor in the youth home, in a small infirmary. His mother was ill most of the time. He saw his father regularly because of his work, and he also saw his brother and mother every one to two weeks.

The ghetto was overseen by the local Czech police force and a Jewish local force, with the Germans usually not getting involved. Only Jewish prisoners were there, and John Freund emphasized that it was not a concentration camp with such strict discipline. Theresienstadt was a transit camp, with most people staying only for two to three months.

"If there was one fear, it was the fear of being shipped. Because we knew there were transports going to Poland," he said. Theresienstadt served as a transit camp before further deportations, which was a constant source of fear. Notifications came from a central authority, giving them three days to pack before being sent to Birkenau.

John Freund in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

On 1 ^st  September 1939, the Third Reich attacked Poland. After more than a month of fighting and resistance to the Wehrmacht Poland lost the war. The territory of this state has been divided between the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Nazi state annexed Gdansk Pomerania, Greater Poland and Silesia. In the centre of the former Polish state, the General Governorate was established with Cracow as its capital and Hans Frank as the General Governor. The eastern parts of Poland were annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into Belarus and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republics. During the invasion and after Nazi Germany started committing purges and war crimes mostly by the SS-Einsatzguppen but also Wehrmacht. The most notable examples of mass murders of Polish citizens in the occupied territories during the first years of the Second World War were the Intelligenzaktion and later the AB-Aktion.

At the same time, the Holocaust in Poland began. First Jews were persecuted and murdered during the invasion. After establishing the General Governorate new laws were introduced. From 1 ^st  December 1939, all Jews were obliged to wear armbands with the symbol of the star of David. However, the first ghetto for Jews was established two months earlier on 5 ^th  October 1939 in Piotrków Trybunalski. Later Germans established ghettos in for example Warsaw or Cracow. Most of them were created by the end of 1941. Living conditions in these places were terrible which resulted in a high mortality rate. Leaving the ghetto was forbidden under the penalty of death.

With the beginning of Operation Barbarossa on 22 ^nd  June 1941 situation of Jews changed for the worse. In just six months Nazi Germany conquered territories stretched from Brest (in today’s Belarus) to Moscow. These territories were inhabited mostly by Poles, Jews, Belarusians, Ukrainians and Russians. In the Nazi Generalplan Ost, most of these people were marked for extermination or starvation to death. The rest of them were destined to be slaves. First mass murders were committed mostly by shooting. During the invasion of the USSR this method turned out to be ineffective, so the Nazis started to use mobile gas chambers which were previously installed on trucks.

Brief information about the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp was established in the spring of 1940 as the first concentration camp in the occupied territories of Poland. The first mass transport of prisoners arrived at the camp on 14 ^th  June 1940 and consisted of 728 prisoners. For the first two years of the camp's operation, the majority of prisoners were Poles. That situation changed after the Wannsee Conference on 20 ^th  January 1942. During this meeting between the authorities from the SS and Nazi bureaucracy it was decided to exterminate full-blooded Jews, sterilized Half-blooded Jews and recognise as Germans the rest of the so-called mischlings (people with non-Aryan blood according to the Nazi ideology). Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was chosen as one of the main places of planned extermination of Jews.

The first mass transport of Jews arrived in 1942. Prisoners were unloaded from the train cars on the ramps. During the selection process women, elders and children below 16 years of age were immediately sent to one of four gas chambers. The rest of the men were destined to labour to the death. Before death, the victims were ordered to disrobe themselves for “the disinfection and bathe”. Dead bodies were collected by the members of Sonderkommando (death camp prisoners who were forced to aid with the disposal of the Holocaust victims) and then burned in one of the crematoria.

There were main three camps and more than 40 subcamps. In the first camp (Auschwitz) there were administrative buildings, an SS garrison and the office of the commandant of the whole camp. Besides that, Auschwitz was the “concentration part” of the camp with barracks where in 1944 16 thousand people were imprisoned. The second camp (Birkenau) was the largest one and is considered to be the “death part” of the camp. In the early concepts it was designed to be a camp for 125 thousand POWs, however, the camp never served its original function, becoming one of the largest concentration and transit camps not only on the occupied territories but also in the whole Nazi Germany. This enormous area was separated into several organisation units (sectors), for example, men’s camp, women’s camp, hospital camp, Gypsy Family Camp and others. The third main camp (Monowitz) was the labour camp. Prisoners were producing synthetic rubber and liquid fuels for the German chemical company IG Farben. The camp was constructed in 1942 after signing the agreement between the SS and the company. In July 1944 16 thousand prisoners were held in the camp. 10 thousand men died as a result of working for IG Farben.

In the Birkenau camp, there was a special sector for Czech people from the Theresienstadt Ghetto from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It operated from October 1943 to July 1944. Unlike the other camps, families were not divided on the ramps, there was no selection, and the heads of prisoners were not shaved. That’s why this sector is now called “Theresienstadt family camp”. This place was designed to show the world how decent conditions were in the camps. Nazi filmmakers were arriving at the camp to record movies for propaganda purposes. After six months after the arrival of the first transport of Jews from Theresienstadt all of them were sent to the gas chambers and replaced with the next transport. Auschwitz-Birkenau camp administration created separate barracks for children. In July 1944 one of the most notable war criminals Josef Mengele carried out a selection of boys for labour. Only 90 of 300-400 boys were chosen, rest of them were murdered. The camp was liquidated in the summer of 1944 after the highlighted selection.

John Freund in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

John Freund, a member of a Jewish family from the Theresienstadt Ghetto was shipped out in December 1943. After two days he and his family arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, to the Theresienstadt family camp. Right after his arrival, he got his tattoo with the camp number. Also, in documents, his name was changed from Czech “Jan” to the German “Hans”. During his stay in the camp in the middle of Birkenau, he was aware of what was happening with the rest of the prisoners. He could even smell the smoke from the gas chambers. In the camp, people were wearing ordinary people, not the stripped uniforms like in the rest of the camps. From the family camp, he could send postcards to Theresienstadt and the places outside of Theresienstadt. Nazis allowed for that to deny the rumours of killing Jews. He was a witness to the liquidation of the previous transport of Jews from the Ghetto.

John Freund was among 90 highlighted boys and men between 35 to 45 years of age who were selected to work in July 1944 and immediately sent out of the family camp and went to the men’s camp in the Birkenau compound. The rest of the camp population including Freund’s mother, was murdered in the gas chambers after a couple of days. Half of the chosen boys did not survive. In the man’s camp, John Freund had got his stripped uniform and he was assigned to move the wagon with materials between the camps. His father and brother were sent to a working (sub)camp after the selection. In the men’s camp, prisoners received a cup of water or tea in the morning, then in the noon a pot of warm soup and in the evening a chunk of bread and again tea.

In January 1945 John Freund was evacuated from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. He went on the death march with a column of 400 men which lasted four days with stops at night. He also witnessed shooting at people who stayed behind during the march. After this time, he arrived at the train station. In the open coal car, he arrived in Flossenburg after 7-10 days.

Life in Flossenbürg

John Freund, a Holocaust survivor, remembers the nightmare of Flossenbürg. By looking at the brutal conditions of camp and Freund's determination to keep going, we learn more general things about what life was like under the circumstances of a concentration camp, as well as how there could still exist part of some hope after such devastating events. Located in Bavaria, Germany, Flossenbürg was established by the Germans to provide forced labor for wartime requirements.

The Flossenbürg camp was established in May 1938 during the Schutzstaffel organization of the entire concentration camp system. In the new system, the purpose of the camp was no longer only to imprison and terrorize political opponents of the Nazi regime. The first SS guards arrived in late April, and on May 3, the first transport of 100 prisoners arrived at the construction site from the Dachau concentration camp.

When John Freund arrived, the camp was already infamous for its appalling conditions. Prisoners, such as Freund, were put to hard labor mainly in the stone quarry and manufacturing various armaments parts like aircraft components for Messerschmitt. The SS,, who ran the camp, imposed a harsh regime in which beatings and random acts of murderous violence became normal. This, together with malnutrition bordering on starvation for some individuals and the quality of their food left much to be desired, resulted in disease outbreaks such as dysentery and typhus running rife among the prisoners, turning things eventually out even worse (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2024).

The SS guards in Flossenbürg were brutal thugs, and the criminals effectively ran day-to-day camp affairs under a system of internment even more insidious than at Buchenwald. That incentive structure breeds an environment where fear and violence ran rampant, with survival often coming down to chance as much as constitution. The victims consisted of an eclectic group, including political prisoners and Jehovah's Witnesses, as well as a small amount of Jews who received the worst treatment (KZ Gedenkstätte Flossenburg 2024).

Freund somehow lived through it all; albeit, there are not records on how he managed to survive in such a dehumanizing environment. Nearly 97,000 prisoners, of whom just over 16,000 were female, passed through the concentration camp between 1938 and 1945 (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2024).Freund's suffering came to an end when the U.S. Army liberated the camp in April 1945. By the time Flossenbürg was liberated, almost 30,000 prisoners out of some 97.

The liberation of John Freund by US forces and his return to Czechoslovakia

Freund provided a comprehensive and detailed account of the traumatic experience of the death marches from Flossenbürg, during which he and other prisoners were compelled to traverse the countryside and forests, bearing witness to the harrowing realities of death and suffering along the way. As they heard the sounds of approaching engines, they initially believed that they were German tanks approaching. But when the tanks came closer, they realised that they were American tanks, marking the moment of their liberation.

This liberation was not only a physical emancipation from captivity, but a significant turning point in his life. After his liberation on 22 April 1945, he and other survivors were given food and shelter by American soldiers. This act of benevolence and assistance from the liberators was instrumental in enabling them to begin the process of recovering from the trauma they had endured. After his liberation, he was taken by train back to his home town in Czechoslovakia. He stayed there for three years with a relative who had also survived the war. During this time he continued his secondary education in Prague until 1948.

In the autumn of 1948, Stalin initiated a domestic anti-Zionist campaign targeting Jews in the Soviet Union and its satellite states, including Czechoslovakia. As a result, there was an increase in the repression of Jewish cultural and religious life, as well as a crackdown on any expressions of Jewish nationalism or support for Israel.

Immigration to Canada

In consequence of the recent political developments in Czechoslovakia in 1948, Freund was compelled to determine his future destination. He decided to settle in Toronto, Canada. He arrived in Canada with the help of the Jewish Congress, which facilitated his resettlement by providing financial assistance. His immigration to Canada, represented a significant post-war chapter in his life, signifying both a new beginning and a continuation of his journey of recovery. In Toronto, he continued his studies, completing his secondary education and becoming a chartered accountant.

In Canada he met his wife, Nora, who also came from Czechoslovakia, and they married in 1959, eventually having three daughters and five grandchildren. This aspect of his life highlights the importance of community and family in his healing process.

What kind of victim was he?

He was a victim of the Holocaust, having endured the brutal conditions of the concentration camps and the subsequent death marches. He was a witness to scenes of extreme violence, death and suffering. The experience of being a victim was not just a matter of physical suffering; it also included the loss of family, community and a way of life that was irrevocably changed by the war. However, he did not define himself solely in terms of his victimhood.

He had a desire to reclaim agency over his narrative rather than being defined solely as a victim. He expressed gratitude for his life and the opportunities after the war, noting his contentment with his family and his successful adaptation to life in Canada. He emphasised the value of living in the present and not allowing one's past experiences to define one's identity. He pointed out that while the memories were always with him, he had found a way to live a fulfilling life despite the trauma he had endured.

He was a survivor who was interested in sharing his story

Indeed, he was a survivor who took a keen interest in sharing his personal story. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, he realised the value of recording and sharing his experiences, not only for his own personal recovery, but also for the benefit of future generations. He wrote a memoir recounting his own experiences and those of the other boys from Birkenau, contributing to a collective account that serves as a testament to their shared suffering and resilience. His memoir “Spring's End” narrates his difficult journey through the Holocaust.

His willingness to share his story is evident in the numerous interviews he has given. He felt it was important to preserve the memory of the atrocities and to ensure that the lessons learned from such events were passed on. This commitment to sharing his historical account reflects a broader understanding of the importance of remembrance and education in preventing future atrocities.