Thanks a lot for your memories mr Breite, some of the darkest days of human history... Now, if i may ask, was it Flossenburg the death camp? Or they were in others also? Were there gas chambers/ovens? Did your father remember something about religious/catholic activities or statues, emblems, writings and similar stuff? Was he a jew? Did he talk about other prisoners being protestant, orthodox, and others? Thanks again...
Dear Alucard,
My Grandfather and Father were in more than just Flossenburg. Yes, they both witnesses people "being asked" to walk into a brick building which omitted a terribly black smoke
(I really hope that doesn't invite Wiggs to make one of his points- that would be very insensitive as not just Jews were being gassed and burned alive) and then an odor of which no one
was previously familiar but would then never forget. My Dad saw very young children walk in but never walk out.
My Father was hidden at some point by a Catholic family and became an alter boy and took communion. Of course, he didn't know what it all meant but he knew to do it or he would be
exposed and taken away to die. This imbedded within him a very deep rooted appreciation for people of other faiths who were willing to risk their lives and the lives of their family for a "Jew."
My Father did not speak too much of all this as an adult but Steven Spielberg founded a company that records and preserves the stories of Holocaust survivors. They came (no, not Steven)
to our house and conducted a video interview with my family, first without my Dad and then with my Dad alone. They gave us a complimentary tape from their library in California and watching
my own Dad, in our own living room speak the way he did, was quite moving.
And then I mentioned that I met the children of the Austrian family who saved my Dad's life. I wrote about how and why I cried like a little girl just a bit earlier in this thread I believe.
Thanks for asking and I hope this helps.
Harley
