Holocaust survivor speaks at Wahkiakum High School

One of the last living Holocaust survivors came to Wahkiakum HIgh School last Friday to describe what he experienced as a young man caught in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.

Alter Wiener, a resident of Hillsboro, Ore., visits schools from elementary to college to tell his story with the hope that listeners will prevent such atrocities from happening again.

Wiener, 82, has recently written his autobiography, “From a Name to a Number.” It is a chronological description of everything he experienced from the death of his father on September 11, 1939 to his liberation on May 9, 1945.

Wiener said his life in Poland was pretty good before he was taken away by the German Army. He went to a public school six days a week and lived in an apartment with his father, step-mother and two brothers.

In September 1939, the German Army invaded Poland. Wiener and his step-mother and brothers joined the people who tried to flee. They filled the streets in an attempt to make it to the German border. His father, a grocery store merchant, was ordered to stay behind.

Three months later, the four returned to find the store had been destroyed, and his father was nowhere to be found. They were told that he was dead and bodies of other victims would be exhumed. Volunteers dug with shovels and their hands, “there was no big machinery,” Wiener said.

Twenty thousand bodies were found, half Jewish, half Catholic. There was no DNA identification available then. It took time to ID the bodies. They found Wiener’s father by personal items in his clothing.

“Why did they murder my father?” he said. “I didn’t understand it at 13, and I do not understand it at 82.”

In May 1941, Wiener said his older brother was taken away, and just over a year later, there was a knock at the door. He was given five minutes to get ready while his step-mother and little brother cried. The step-mother pleaded with the men not to take Wiener. The men from the German Army scowled at her. “You dare to question our actions?” one of them growled.

Wiener never got to say goodbye to his family. At the age of 15, he was whisked away to the first of five labor camps for Jews, Blechhammer. He was beaten upon his arrival.

For three months, he lived in an 8x10-foot box with 80 people. They were given no food, no water. There were no beds, no pillows, and no privacy.

His captors made sure they couldn’t escape. Every two weeks, a line was shaved in the middle of their heads so they could be easily recognized.

Camp Brande, the second camp, was smaller than the others, about 800 Jewish citizens. Wiener said the commander of this facility was a cruel and evil man, a sadist.

One night, for no reason whatsoever, he was forced to stand in a freezing fountain for the entire night.

“The commander enjoyed it. It was entertaining,” Wiener said. He said he found out later that the man was a career criminal let out of prison to help in Hitler’s reign of terror.

The third camp was Camp Gross Masselwitz, where he was forced to work in a factory with other Germans. There were signs all over the factory that warned the employees not to talk to, make eye contact or socialize with the detainees. Wiener said an older German woman got his attention and pointed to a box under a table.

Afraid of being caught, he said he waited for just the right time to see what she was pointing at. A free moment, Wiener found a sandwich; two pieces of white bread with a slice of cheese inside. He said that for the 30 days he worked at that factory, a cheese sandwich was waiting for him daily. He said he believes that act of kindness was a large part of his survival.

Wiener said he never knew why that woman was so kind to him. Perhaps because she had a son his age or maybe she wanted to point out that not all Germans were cruel. He said to this day he has never forgotten that woman and he never will.

At the fifth and final camp, Waldenburg, Wiener said he lost his name and officially became a number. From then on, while incarcerated, he was known as 64735.

After almost three years, and five forced labor camps for Jews, on May 9, 1945, the Russian Army came and said, “You are liberated.”

The Germans had been defeated. Wiener and the others were given permission to take revenge on their tormentors, but they were too weak. He only weighed 80 pounds upon his release. Wiener said he had nowhere to go and didn’t know what to do.

“We were stones,” he said.

When he returned to Poland, he found himself to be the only survivor of his immediate family. All others had been murdered.

Because of the Holocaust, Wiener’s education ended at age 13. He had wanted to become an accountant, but because of the demise of his education, he had no skills. He was able to return to school and earn his GED in 1961 at the age of 35.

Memories of the Holocaust will forever live in his memory, he said. He still suffers and has sleepless nights. He has no control. He has continuous flashbacks.

“The Holocaust lives inside of me," he said. "I try to deal with it the best way I know how. Obviously, it isn’t easy.”

Wiener said he wants no money for his story; he wants no fame. He just wants people to know the Holocaust happened and he is living proof.

People have denied the Holocaust ever happened; they say it is a myth, he said.

“How dare they say that? It is very disturbing to me,” he said.

And people who don’t believe the Holocaust happened are ignorant.

“They should read. If you visit Poland or Germany, all those camps are still there," he said.

He encourages people to travel to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC to see the proof for themselves.

He encourages people to treat others with respect.

"We are all people," he said. "We are all equal."