AUSCHWITZ, Poland (NBC) – Survivors of the Auschwitz death camp told their harrowing stories as they gathered for commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp.
Auschwitz is the site of the largest mass murder the world has ever seen of around one million Jews. On January 27, 2020, survivors returned, some for the first time.
Some brought photographs of their liberation. All shared their memories, like David Lenga from California. “I remember the place where they were shooting the people at the wall,” Lenga said. “I remember the hangings. I remember the horror. I remember the smoke from the chimney coming out of the crematorium. I remember everything!”
Most were barely teens here. Their families were murdered.
Hundreds of thousands of Jews were selected for death at Auschwitz, gassed within an hour and then burned. Their ashes scattered all around the camp.
Survivor Sally Jassy packed in New York to return, for the first time. “Auschwitz to me is a cemetery and I’m going to honor my people,” she said. “I always feel guilty. I say, ‘Why me?’
On Monday, Jassy visited the land where she lost her parents to give her mother a message. “And to tell her, ‘Ma, I want to tell you what I went through. Ma, please, I love you, I need your embrace. I need you should touch me and kiss me like you used to do it before!”
Also back for the first time is David Marks from Connecticut. “I would love Hitler should be alive and see what I accomplished,” he said. “I’m alive!”
Newly-colorized images show Jews being rounded up for death and some who survived.
These survivors fear the rise today of anti-Semitism in the U.S. and Europe.
Auschwitz survivor Elizabeth Citrom said, “I’m afraid.” She’s here again to bear witness and to send us a warning from history.
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