my name is paul shapiro. i'm director of international affairs at the united states holocaust memorial museum. we're standing right now in the museum's ha of remembrance, which is a special place in which we remember the victims of the holocaust and pay tribute to the survivors of the holocaust who have done so much not only to help this museum, but to educate the world about what happened during the holocaust. we're doing this on international holocaust remembrance day. it's a special day, established in 2005. so 60 years after the end of world r two, established by a resolution of the general assembly of the united nations, encouraging all countries to remember the holocaust and lrn from the holocaust. it's interesting that in that u.n.

resolution, based on references made to combating holocaust denial and today we live in an era in which people raise questions orisuse the history for uses that are not positive, causes. theylso make reference to other parts of the international system thadeveloped as a result of learng from the holocaust. the internationaleclaration of human rights grew direct plea out of the dial of human rights in the holocaust era. the genocide convention of the united nations grew directly out of the eyewitness of the world to genocide of the --, of the -- of europe. today, the resolution also encouragesolocaust education, and of course, this is an area where this museum is active across the united states and

across the entire world. the lessons, i think, speak for them selves. we need to combat rising anti-semitism. we neeto combat racism. we need to respect differences, have a and appreciate the diversity of peoples all acros the world, including, of course, all across thenited states. one aspect of today's activities here at the u.s. holocaust memorial museum, or reading of the names of victims of the holocaust, somimes it's easy to say 6 million -- were murdered. it is much more difficult when you realize that everyone one of those people was an individual equal with hopes, with asrations, with potential to contribute in a positive way to

the world. and that all of that pertains was snuffed out. we also provide visitors to the museum today with special offer to cities to meet holocaust survivors. there are some 20 survivors here today placed at different locations in the museum, including here in the hall of remembrance. and and throughout the permanent exhibition of the museum on the history of the holocaust. so the activities today deal both with the very specific individuals story that only a survivor can really tell in the most powerful way. and also with an opportunity to learn the broader history of the holocaust by visiting the museum. permanent exhibition. we' also providing every visitor to the museum today with a special commemorative pin. the message on the pin is what you do matters.

we need to encourage governments and institutions and international organizations to push back against prejudice and hate and anti-semitism. but we also have to take individual responsibility to push back. one thing that the holocaust teachers for sure is that if you don't push back in the early stages of a wave of hatred to be it anti-semitism or any other form of racial or religious prejudice, if you don't push back early, you can't guess what the conflict chances might be in the holocaust. consequences were truly horrific. 6 million -- murdered, another 20 million people. just imagine 20 million people killed in a war of aggression where the purpose of that war in

part was to destroy an entire people. so individual responsibility, if if we learn nothing else from today's activity, it should be that don't wait for someone else to solve the problem. you have a role in solving the problem of course. ivana harris, not survivor, is is one half from hungary. i mean, knight from germany. oscar yaga perished at darko. yosef was krueger perished at bergen-belsen. here in the muum with a lot of visirs today. and we're in the part that talks

about the night of the broken glass kristallnacht. and i just want to tell you a little bit abouthat part of my story. my bther and i, we were sleeping in our bedroom and i was maybe eightnine years old. and he was seven. and we were very excit because was going to be our mother's birthday the next day. her birthday is on november the 10th and just around 11:00, some bricks andocks were being thrown throughout wind and my brother was younger than i am, but he's much braver than i am. and he looked out and he saw that it was our neighbors that were throwing the bricks and the rocks through the window. so we were very frightened. and so we ran across the hall to our parents bedroom and the bricks and rocks were coming through their bedroom window, too. and i had a baby brother and his

bassinetas right underneath the window. and one of the brickfell o top of his hand. but he was all right. and so while we were hovering in my parents bedroom and in the corner, trying to decide what to do, these neighbors had uprooted a lamp post and they carri it on their sulders and they smashed up from doo and they they they they broke the door and the glass wastrewn all over the floor. d then they went through our apartment and ty took some things and they broke some things. but what their main obctive was was to go to the rab's apartment that was above ours. and so we were really frightened. and my father said, well, let's go hide up in the attic. so we went up to the fourth floor where the attic was, and.

there there was the rabbi's family was also hiding already, but the rabbi wasn't there. and i looked out this lile window up in the attic, and th rabbi was standing on his veranda and the two ss men were holding him on. both of his arms and another came along and cut off his beard. and later i found out that they put him in jail for the simple reason that he was the rabbi and that he was jewish. and then later on, i found out that theyidn't only do that to our apartment, but they did it to all the jewish families in but that's nothe town where i was born in germany. and then i found out that they took all of thjewish men that lived in our town and they put

them all i jail. and then i found out that they burned down our synagogue. and then i found out that they t only did this to the town of, but now, but they did. they didt in every city where they would where there was a jewish community and all of the men, jewish men that night were put in jail and picked up stores were the jewish stores were broken into. and everything was looted and so many synagogues burned on that night. and because so much glass was being broken and they called it kristallnacht, which means the night of the broken glass. and you stay there. yeah, well, that's a yes. did we stay there? well, that's a very good question, everybody.

before that, the night of the broken glass, many --, you know, wanted to stay in germany because they figured maybe hitler's going to blow over and everything is going to be all right. but after the night of the broken glass, all of the -- wanted to get out. but it was very difficult to get out of germany because you had to. first of all, the germans wanted you to leave. the whole idea was for the -- to leave, but there was no place for them to go. so because all of the countries in the world were had a quota and they didn't, especially the united states, and in order to get a visa to the united states, you had to wait a long time and you had toave all kinds of papers and you had to have somebody here in the united states to vouch for you and to tell them the united states government, at these people

are not going to be a burden to our economy and they're not going to take ay the jobs of the american people. so my father in law, all of the other jewish people, had a very difficult time getting out. but we finally my father finally found a lady that would smuggle two children. my brother and i, into frae. and so we were safe in france for a while. soma friedn, born in 1938, just dd after 1944. the zuckerman that born in 1934, in krakow. david pilcher. 1940 220. the the scientist i'm a survivor. asked me my story. what's your story out? i was born in the netherlands in

the middle of the nazi occupation. november 1941. my parents had immigrated to the netherlands from eastern europe to escape anti-semitism. they had three children and two sisters born before the occupaon. and as i said, i was born in the middle of the occupation. november 1941, when i was about eight months old. our family was forced to go into hiding and this is actually a photogph of me with my sisters just about the time the new year separated and forced to go into hiding. my two sisters were placed with a very devout catholic family, and they also formed a new catholic identity.

and this is my two sisters or participating in a cathoc school procession and i was placed and so happens with a dutch indonesian family. indonesia was a dutch colony and there are a loof indonesia and people living in the netherlands and this family happened to be close friends with my parents and that's the family where i ded up actually, this is my foster father or my first two foster sisters, and that is the nanny who took care of me. the nanny. this is another picture of the nanny holding me when i first came to e family as a nine month old baby. and this woman spoke no dutch, only her native indonesian language, which is now called

bahasa. and e was never taught to read or write, but she had a heart of gold. and she's the one who really saved my life. i remained with her and with the family for the next three and a half yrs, and that's why i'm able to be here today. i'm told that slept in her bed and that she kept a knife under her pillow, vowing to kill any nazi who might try to come and get me. oh. oh. there were some close calls periodically i would have to go to hiding in a closet, but i thought that was just a game of hide and seek. so the memories that i have of my years with the mothefamily are all very good ones. sadly, the story of my sisters isn't entirely a different one. oh, there. the husband denounced his wife to the nazis as hiding to jewish

children. so his wife was immediately arrested, sent to concentraon camp, but fortunately survived. lived. mywo sisters, however, were immediately taken to auschwitz, where they were killed, and they were only five and seven years old at the time. the train, the transport that took them to our auschwitz, a 215 unacmpanied children, one other one person who happened to be not same convoy that same transport or it was my father's youngest brother who happed to be reported at the same time, and he died along with my sisters of february 11th, 1944, in also killed in the gas chamr in auschwitz. both my parents were deported.

my mother, fortunately survived a total of 12 concentration mps, includinguschwitz. but my father went through an equal number of camps, but was so exhausted that he survived long enough to see liberation by the us army. but he died two months lat and is buried in a concentration camp. former concentration camp called evans high in the austrian alps. so i never got to meet my father, ner got to meet my sisters. and i tell the story, share it with students especially, but with law enforcement peopl anyone who wants t learn the terrible consequences of hate. and sadly, that's a lesson that the world still hasn't learned.

i'm especially concerned the fact that some forms of bigotry are now becoming states sponred and that i think especially against lgbt people, for example, there's an extremely sad and worsening because that is really the next step in hate when it becomes state policy. u.s. epstein perished an account think men from the netherlands. you know liechtenstein. i'm from hungary. so the sign says i'm a survivor. ask me my sto. what's your story? my story is that i am a child survivor of the holocaust. i was born in. 1941 in budapest, hungary. i'm fortunate i losmy fher during the holocaust. i have only pictures of him, but

not personal mory. my mom and i survived. i survived because of his brery and determination to survive no matr what the story is that until 1944, we were living in the apartment where i was born, and when the nazi germany occupied hungary in march 1944, the life of the -- of budapest changed to complete me. we had to leave our apartment and. and we had to wear a yellow star of david. first we moved to far removed family member's apartment. they were brave enough to hide us for a few short wks until somebody reported my mother to

the ngarian police. the police came anarrested her. she was taketo the most infamo hungarian jail in budapest. she was there for three weeks unl they let her go and we had to move again. and we didn't move to e budapest ghetto. we had because my mother was afraid that once they collect the -- at one place, it will be easier for them to ship them to the concentration camps in poland, we surved for a few eks because of the people from various foreign embassies in bupest, mostly from new countries like sweden, spain, pougal and switzerland tried

to do everythingo save the maining --. what happened was that the american government recognized that there were still many -- alive in europe. in 1944. they set up the war refugee board and they sent diplomats or people in diplomacy. these guys in various european capitals, to save as many -- and poible role ofallenberg, whose picture is behind me, was one of them. he was swiss swedish diplomat. had no connection with hungary. he was not jewish, never the last. he was brave enough to come to budapest. what he did and some of the other ambassadors in budapest did, was to give papers proving that people were either citizens of their country or they were

about to immigrate to those countries and those people saved people's lives for a while, only for a while. what they did was also they rented out apartment buildings in budapest and they put the fl of the embassy on those houses and what happened, according to the international law,hose houses and peopl inside their houses were protected from the local authorities. so those -- who were able t move in through those houses were protected forever. and this is where really in a house whicwas protected by the swiss embassy card, which w a swiss diplomat, is not as famous as rao wallenberg. nevertheless, he saved almost as many -- in hungary as raoul wallenberg did. we lived in this protected house

until october. 1944, where the forgn right nazi party, the ad across, took over the government and they couldn't care about internional laws anymore. and this nazi thugcame into the apartment building where we lived and took people away one by o. some of them were taken to the railway station and shipped to auschwitz and other ncentration camps. some of them we taken to the banks of the danube river, where they had to disrobe, take off their shoes and clothes,nd they were shot into the rer. we were lucky now that while we stayed in this protected house i befriended one of these young nazis, and he knew me by my fit name. so when it was our turn and they came to our apartmenthe told

to hisomrades that, guys, let'go to the next one. i know a little bit over. and so they went to the next apartment and they were not as lucky as we were. and that was the time we had to leave the protected has and moved into the budapest ghetto the last few weeks of the war and the holocaust. we lived in the budapest ghetto in circumstances. it's very hard to describe. we spent four most of our time in theasement of the building becausthe allied forces alady attacked budapest and bomb relentlessly during the day. so we spent our time in the basement of the apartment building which had floor. was used to store wood and coal for heating the apartment in the winter. food and water was hardly

available, no eltricity whatsoever in budapest was really destred during the last w months of the war, and that's where we survived until january 1945 with my mother. the soviet red army came into the ghetto and we were free to go back to our original aptment and we were lucky again because the apartment was occupied by a family. th moved in a year ago when we had leave and when we went back, they gladly gave us our apartment anall of our belongings because my mom was able to take on the few small object with her. we needed all of the fuiture, everything else was intact. we moved back our apartment

anthe re of the stories. i grew up in hungary. in 1949, the comnist party tookver the government. grew up in budapest during the communist shame until 1980, when i defected to the united states and i have been living here since then. i got a good education. i worked with computers in all of my lives, and that's what i did when i came over here. i work for mostlyow, so great project. hubble space telescope. james webb space telespe and other smaller project. i started a family happy father of four girls and so three, five girls and i have five granddaughters and retired in 2014 and ever since then i have

volunteered he in the use them where i really am proud to be a part of the volunteer team beuse there are very few survivors that age 81 i am the baby in thgroup and that will be one day when there will be no survors to tell our stories. and so every opportune to to talk to pele is an opportunity to educate people and make sure that the the holocst will never happen again. so we'll ask born in 1933 and breast to died there at the age of seven. selah born in 1933 died at the age of eight.

in 1941. revela l polsky, born in 1938, in vilna, dd in the killing fields of connery in 1943, at e age of five, signs say i'm a survivor. ask me my sty. what's wh's your story? my story i survival. basically out oa town of about 3000 --, they e less than four, probably a dozen that survived. all the -- we execu rated and those that were i hiding with many of em expose that, including my brother for four five kilo. ll, it'll the equivalent of £5 of sugar. so my story is invold.

it was long we went through many phases. first escaping the russians, escaping the ghetto, the nazis. again, the russians. and eventually coming to th united states through italy. right? yes. my friends that aren't here today, what would you want them to kw? i volunteer at the museum and speak about what happed in my town because i feel that's e only testimony there is and that's why commemoration of their lives, because therare no pictures, no lis of names, no numbers. and the nazis gave out numbers. they didn't know the population bybut they didn't expect them to be called by na. they were the numbers.

my town was eliminated may. of 1942. to give you an idea how quickly they disposed of the -- in eastern europe. at first, many of the holocaust survivors did not talk about it. i was thrown into a situation where i started to talk about it because i was bullied in school. i came here, was 15. i had no papers, had to start with elementary school. i went through a quickly then junior high and high school, and needless to say, my english was horrible. i did hardly knew any. i have been. sortf trying to incorporate all the language that i knew bere because i started out with polish, belarus, heew and

irish and went on to russian and german and eventually to two italian and then english and a smattering of languages on the way from below us, through poland, through all the countries that bught us into italy. and so i kind of. just adapted to languages as far as family, anybody that we met along the way became family. we had none. i sometimes think that i don't even remember all the names of my relatives. my mother was one of six or her siblings, with the exception of two, we married with families. i know how many children they had, but i hesitated to speak to

my mother about relatives because it would break her up and the one broke her spirit completely was losing my brother, who was left with a family in hiding. and as i said, for the price of £5 of sugar, he was exposed by a neighbor. my mother must have en brilliant at some time to be able to figure everything out. she was resource ful. she was resilient. my fathehappened to have died in 1937. she was left with a five year old and a two year old and she managed both businesses with the help of her parents. her father and mother and my father's mother, my other grandmother. her only desire wato save me.

and she goshe got that wish. and she was looking for my brother. she i, i have letters tt she wrote to organization to the red cross and to oer orgazations. if she couldn't believe that somebody killed him, that was e only thing my family always tried to shield y of the programs that used to come up on television about the holocaust because it would break her up. robert and i really perished and not silent. rivka long, right from poland. salomon lee tobias from poland. kurt linden felt perished. how the money. both my pares were born and the eastern part of hungary. my mother was the oldest of 12

children and my father was the youngest of seven and 1924. about a year after world war one ded, my father and o of his older brothers decided to move from hungary to romania, where they established a dairy farm. before long, they became very successful because one of thei biggest customer was the romanian army. my father was still a bhelor at the time, so in 1930 he went back to hungary to find a bride. he found a bridend brought it back to romania, where three chilen were born, two girls and a boy and that boy. we lived in peace an harmony with all the gentile farmers in the area. my father tried toelp them whenever possible. they needed help. my mother tried to help him. he grew up ia farm which was great. open air nature. it's great for for a child to grow up on a farm. it was a primitive life, but it was great life. i went to kindergten. i went to first grade.

one of our neighbors was a priest. that priest used to come bour house once a week and ask father for a donation to the church. and some day he products for some of the congregants who could not affordt otherwise. in 18 years my father lived in that area and never was as he refused such a request. one day in november of 1942, the same priest showed up. however, this time he ca with the police officer and two armed soldiers. we didn't know why they came, so we all came out of the house and tried to find out what wasoing on. when we came clo to the group, the priest pointed to us, lked at the police officer and said, as these you don, these are - so we will turn in the authories because we were -- by a priest. the police officer told us that we have 4 hos to vacate the farm. my father tried to argue with my

moth, try ttry to convince them. perhaps they're going to stay. she told them. look, this is our home. the childrenere born here. we don't know any other place. he says. no, we have orders to transfer you, to relocate you to another part of the big city of yass. at that point, we pretty much knew where we were going because in 1941, a ghetto was established in the us. so after the 4 hours were over, weried to figure out what can we take with us? you ow, you look around, you havell kinds of things in the house. what do you take when you have only 4 hou? so obviously we took whater cash we had in th house, some religious books, my mother's jewelry, and then we tried to pack whatever we actually needed, blanket pillows, cooking utensils, eatingtensils was the food. i was wherever we were transferred to the ghetto authority, we given over to the police of the ghettohere

immediately they were given us a real star that they had to wear. i was left side pocket. you were given rations ofread and kerosene and offered a we gave in a one room in a house of the house for other family hous so that particular house had approximately 25 or 26 indivials living in one plac the room that we were given at that completely empty was two beds, nothing else in there. there was no classes, there was no table, thing. so we had to store everything that we brought with us that we were allowed to bring with us underneath the every individual was betweethe ages of 18 and 50. we had different jobs. they had to perform primarily manual jobs. my father's job was to sweep the streets in the summertime, shovel the snow in the wintertime. and my mother's job was as an orderly and in a hospital where she had to scrub bullets and do cleaning and s on. so at this point things were

pretty bad. same that we arrived there. many -- were rounded up from the surrounding villages, cities to brought into the ghetto. i as i mentioned, we were given ration car forread and kerosene. the ration bread was a quarter of aoaf bread every two days pererson. and five liters of kerosene for a week which that service for heating and so for cooking five liters approximately point three gallons, which was not very much for one would be getting the rations that cut the bread rations. i had a system which was two years older than me. my father to her to go god go out and get the rations. until one day he found out that a lot of hooligans were taken and jewish girls. from that point on. he said that from this. now you going to go out and get the rations because he were afraid of my sister, the same hooligans who picked the jewish

girls also picked on jewish boys. many times. would come home, but i was beaten up. bloody face. but that never hurt as much as when these hooligans stole my bread. which meant for the next two days we had nothing to eat. when my mother realized what happened, she also realized that this could happen again and from that day on she started thrashing us for moral rations. so when i got my first ration of bread, she removed one slice. two days later, she removed another slice and she accumulated entire loaf of bread. when these hooligans stoley bread again, at least we had something to eat. things in the ghetto wasn't wasn't really. this was. it was a lot of problems. food was a problem. sicknesses was a problem. so people were suffering. people were dying. one day when my mothewas working at the hospital, scrubbing the floors and the children's ward, she heard a child wheezing. i couldn't breathe now.

she was the oldest of 12 children, so she knew pretty much her mother passed when was the 10th child. but so when she realized what happened, she knew exactly that the child cannot breathe. so she went over to him and realized how he's already purple on his face. she called up the doctors to come quickly. they came and they saved this child's life. and so happened. and that child was the child of the chief of police, of yash, which later on who got a course of because of that gdwill that my mother performed, we were either later on he was able to we were able to able to get out of romania because of him. so while we were in thehetto, things were pretty much pretty bad. we one day when my father was working in the in the area where he was cleaning from the farmers market, old farm, i came over to him and he said, i'm really

sorry to see you in the condition you are he. you are always helping other farmers. you were well-to-do people and here you are now cleaning up my house, which was really hurts me a lot. is anything could do for you? so my father said yes, it must. a food could help us a lot. so from that point on, he said to my father, he says, i'm going to speak to other farmers in the community and see they can do to bring some extra food the next week. when he came back, he said to my father that the farmers get together on a big field every night and they leave as a caravan to the market on thursday morning. why don't you wait between two and 3:00 in the morning? the certain spot outside the ghetto? i will try to give you some food. so that's what happened. so the next thursday, my father went out to be discovered. then beten two and 3:00 in the morning to have somebody outside

the ghetto between those hours only meant one thing. that individual try to flee and will be punished very severely. but my father thought it's a good escape, okay, to do that. and the risk is live per hour to make sure that we get some extra food. so that happenedlmost every every thursday. my father would go out and get this extra food from this farmer. one day that farmer didn't stop. so my father realized something is bad. and when he saw him again in the farmers market, the farmer came over and said to him, i'm sorry, i can no longer help you because as individuals told the police that some of the farmers are helping jewish people. i'm afraid for my part, for my family and i'm sorry, i can't help you anymore. my father realized th. he said, thank you very much for all the help that you gave us. i understand. and from that point on, we did not have any help from the farmers. and june of 1943, there was a

post that signed in the ghetto stating that every individual male between the age of 18 and 50 have to assemble for the next day and a day. a ghetto center and because it would be sent over to different place to work, they would not be coming home on a daily basis anymore. the night before that, my father was supposed to be assembled. we all cry. they couldn't sleep. we didn't know when we're going to see my father again. if you ever going to see him again the nextay. when he walked out of the house, the room to go to the assembled area, i asked them, papa, can i walk with you to where you're supposed to go? and he agreed. we were walking hand to hand. hand. we didn't speak at all. once we got to the assembled area, my father told me that it's time for you to goack. at that point, he turned to me, put both his hand on my shoulders, and he said that he said five words to me that i was

remember the rest of my life. he said that te care of the girls. i was not yet and a half years old. you can imagine the weight of these five words that meant to me. i could have said, i'll try, do my best. but instead i said, i'll take care of the girls. i will see. once he left, he was shipped out to a camp on the border between and moldova and ukraine on a slave labor camp. all these years we re away before and together of having heard from him. we didn't know if he was alive. dead. finally, we were liberated by the russians in944, the summer of 1944, and eventually a few months later, my father actually showed up. he hitchhiked on convoy, russian convoys and farmer wagons, walked a lot and finally came back.

so we were reunid. my father, in the spring of 1945, the entire family who remained in hungary athat point stayed inungary. now we know from history that rmany invaded hungary in march of 1944, between april of 1944 and july of 1944, 440,000 -- were expelled, were transferred to auschwitz. among these foreign, 40,000 -- were 33 members of my extended family, my grandparents my unes, my aunts, my cousins. they all we shipped to auschwitz. the old ones and the young ones immediately put to death. and the gas chambers, tho who were able workwere sent to auschwitz from auschwz, they were sent to various other camps where they died. we know when or how orhere. the only know the individuals, three individuals that we know for a fact were together was with my grandfather and two of my uncles were in auschwitz.

my grandfather died of starvation a monthefore he was liberated. two of my uncl survived a liberation. one was 21 years old. one was 22 years old. each one wghed £65. so you can imagine what they looked like. they look like walking skeletons when the red cross came into these cas. and so the condition that these people were in, they put them on ships and shipped them to swen to recuperate. unfortunately one of these two uncles did not make it to sweden. he died on the way and he was buried at sea. and one individual did me it to sweden. he was there in a cemetery room, in a hospital for four years to gain his weighand his held back. so from 33 members of my extended family, only one person survived. eventually he made it to the united states when i and then in 1947, my father realized there's no longer a future for jewish people in romania. so we tried to leave a at that

point we couldn't leave. we filed for exit visa and he came back a few months later, denied the father another time again was denied. so finally my mother went over to the police station where that individual chieff police was. he said, i saved youson's life, save my children. and he hadity on her. d he actually gave us an exit visa and we left romania in may of 1951. we arrived in israel, which originally was palestine, arrived in israel. i stayed in israel for ten years. i served for three years in elite fighting unit and then came to united states to visit my ule. i got married here. yes, i have five grand, five children and2 grandchildren. they all name after one of these individuals who we murdered by the nazis during t holocaust. and that's in general what

happened to us over a period of two years that we were in the ghetto. it was.

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