The Nazis might be coming!

Final Thought: ‘The Holocaust Show

Several years ago, before my parents died, I went to visit them in New York. My dad was seventy-eight at the time and he had this big old Chevrolet that he kept in the garage at the apartment building they lived in in Queens. He didn’t drive it much anymore because frankly, it was too dangerous: his eyes weren’t too good, his reflexes had slowed considerably and being really short, he could barely see over the steering wheel anyway. And my mom was deathly afraid every time he took it out for a ride. In fact, she refused to go along with him and begged him to please sell the car.

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‘I saw millions of people go directly to the gas chambers …’

… The Review’s decision also disturbed 83-year-old George Preston, a Holocaust survivor who lost his family during World War II and was instrumental in getting the Holocaust Monument erected in Wilmington. He said he would be willing to talk to [University of Delaware] students about his experiences. He said it is “pathetic” that survivors have to defend and justify themselves because of historical revisionists.

“I was there. I saw millions of people go directly to the gas chambers and never come back,” Preston said. “I’m a witness. I have a number on my left arm to remind me.”


Source: “Existence of Holocaust Questioned in Article, Ad”, Wilmington News Journal, Thursday, December 11, 1997, Page A 14

USHMM Recommends Wilkomirski — He’s Comparable to Wiesel (!)

Bill and Bob’s comments about relying on “the classics” of Holocaust literature resonated for me in interesting ways. On the one hand, I agree with them that Wiesel’s Night is not only one of the most powerful survivor memoirs that I have read and probably one of the most accessible to multiple reading levels. On the other hand, Holocaust literature has evolved over time as more survivors are willing to record their experiences and more diaries and documents from the time of the Holocaust are published. Additionally, there is much more interest in non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust now than in the past, and this corresponds to an increase in publications of their stories.

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