Holocaust survivor, part 2

Last night we did the first of two stories about Holocaust survivor Max Steinmetz. 

Max is a retired businessman. These days he may do the most important work of his life. 

He speaks to schools and groups about the Holocaust. His message is simple: What happened to him, to his family, to his people can never happen again to anyone.

Had the war lasted a little longer, Max Steinmetz would not have survived.

Just before world World War II ended, Max Steinmetz escaped from his concentration camp and took refuge in a home in a small town in the German Alps. A woman in the town hid him in her home. He feared he’d be found.

“And, then the Americans came in, and they liberated me, and I don’t know if I would have lasted 3 more days had she not taken me in.“

After the war, Max Steimetz stayed in a displaced persons camp. He was treated well, but had no where to go. He applied for a visa for America and waited two years before it was approved.

“I didn’t have the proverbial nickel. In fact, I went to work for 25 cents an hour in New York and I was happy to have that, very, very happy,“ Steinmetz said.

In 1948, many Jews went to Israel… Max Steinmetz came to America.

“I love America; America has been good to me… America has been very, very good to me… oh it’s not perfect, far from it. To be able to do as I please without being told what to do, within limits… that’s what I like about America.“

Max’s wife Betty wanted my son Jack and me to see a painting in the hallway. It’s a painting of Max’s family: his father Lewis and mother Ilona, his sister Esther, and his younger brother Henry.  They all died in the concentration camps, murdered because they were Jews.

“yes, I hate that generation that did this to us,” Steinmetz said. ”However, today’s generation I do not hate, be it Germany or Japan or be it anywhere; they are not responsible for their parents’ sins.“

Today Max’s message to young people is this:

“They must remember and never let it happen again, now how do we prevent that what do we have to do?  We have to be tolerant of each other, we have to… we can disagree but we have to give everybody the right to disagree without hate and without punishing anybody for disagreement. We must disagree and be very civil about it, and we must remember otherwise it can happen again… yes, it can happen.“

And Max Steinmetz said this to my son:

“Well, all of this is for your sake Jack, you’re the future, our days are almost over but you’re the future, you’re the one that whenever you get a chance make sure this doesn’t happen to anybody.“

Tomorrow, Max Steinmetz will speak to his own grandson’s class about the Holocaust, what it was, how horrible it was, and how they to have to ensure that nothing like it ever happens again.