Ben Stern, Part 1 | S.C. Voices: Lessons from the Holocaust

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Ben Stern Part 1 (Length 1:02:13)

Staying in a ghetto in Poland in the early 1940s, Ben Stern's people wore white arm bands with the Star of David to identify themselves as Jews. Food was rationed. In 1943 they were all taken away in cattle cars to extermination camps. Some died on the way. Looking through cracks in the cars, survivors saw signs reading, "Auschwitz." Their every thought was "I am going to a crematorium." Hearing cries and screams, they lost all feeling. According to Stern, "I lost faith." He was a skeleton of 87 lbs. when liberated. Upon arriving in New York in 1949, he was overcome by the Statue of Liberty. "Never have I taken this place for granted." In this interview he says, "I am delighted to tell you this story for introducing into the curriculum of the schools. If we don't educate people, the Holocaust can happen here as in Europe."

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