There are certainly many survivors, but they are also dying at an increasing rate (just because of old age, if nothing else).
American WWII veteran servicemen, who generally were much better cared for than the concentration camp inmates, are also dying off quickly – about 1,000 a day.
The French actor Robert Clary, best known for Hogan’s Heroes, is a Buchenwald survivor and speaks about his experiences. He is 83.
Mr. Neville’s grandmother was in Camp Gurs before she came to the US.
Not all of them are dying of old age, either. 90 year old Guido Felix Brinkmann, who was a “disco impresario” at one time, was murdered by a couple of career criminals in July, presumably for money (they stole his safe). (Sorry no link – I’m short on time, but the story is easy to Google.)
I really hate it when a Holocaust survivor is killed by thugs or run down by a drunk driver, etc. I know we all have to go sometime, but it seems unfair for anyone to be subjected to such great injustice twice.
Friend of my fiancee’s was detained at a camp in Northern France (sorry don’t know the name) at 15. All his family died.
The OP reminds me of one of the more tasteless jokes I’ve heard: “I’ll have you know that my grandfather died at a concentration camp. He fell out of one of the towers.”
Well, what do you think of the people who were sent to concentration camps because they were gay – after the camps were captured by Allied forces, these concentration camp survivors were shipped by our American forces under Gen. Eisenhower into regular German prisons, to serve out the remainder of the sentence given to them by the Nazi ‘court’.
A facility member at my elementary school was one (this wasn’t TOO long ago, now) and had the faded, blue numerical tattoo to boot.
Much creepier in retrospect now that I have a fuller appreciation of what he endured.
My college best bud’s father had a tattoo. She never said anything about it. He had a nice tailor’s shop in the Valley (we were at UCSB) and we went to see him on a road trip. We were goofing around in his shop laughing about how I didn’t know which side I “dressed” on and such and since he had his sleeves rolled up I happened to see his tattoo. It was hard to miss but I thought I’d bring it up with my friend later.
He’s a survivor and I still get the family round-up Emails from her. He hasn’t died and is still going at 80-middles.
My ex-BF’s father. He was in a camp in Ukraine as a child, and his mother bribed a couple of guards to let him and his sister escape. They did so, but they shot her to death in front of their eyes first.
He spent the rest of the war hiding out in a barn, eating rats, until the Ukrainian family that was hiding him turned him back over to the German Army. Luckily, by then the war was almost over. My ex didn’t know any of this until he had to help his parents apply for German government compensation.
Based on typical maximum human lifespans, I think we can expect that at least a few survivors will be alive 20 to 25 years from now.
Somewhat OT- Roman Polanski directed The Pianist which was based on Wladyslaw Szpilman’s experience during the war. Apparently (according to the director’s commentary on the DVD), Polanski put some of his own experiences into the movie as well. The movie is outstanding, if a bit depressing. It doesn’t touch upon the camps very much, but gives a view of life in the ghetto and on-the-run in the rest of Warsaw.
Alas, I wouldn’t be too surprised to find that this is true, but cite, please?
Off the top of my head, check out Evans’ “The Third Reich at War”. People convicted of crimes who hadn’t completed their sentences were put back in prison after the war was over.
Here’s a few. No doubt Google could give you many more.
Timeline of LGBT history - Wikipedia (See 1945)
http://outforequity.spps.org/Resources/lesson_historyquiz1.htm (See question 7)
http://www.hmd.org.uk/genocides/lgbt-history-month_2009/ (See paragraph 4)
A friend of my parents: Thomas Buergenthal. I’ve met some other friends of theirs who were survivors, but I’m not sure if they are still living.
1000 a day cannot possibly be correct (can it?) - the US Army (plus the other services of course) wasn’t big enough to have 365,000 veterans a year dying off 60 years later. (Or was it?) That number feels about right for an entire population of 300 millon people.
70
My neighbor down the street is a survivor of Auschwitz and has the tattoo numbers on his forearm. There aren’t many left. My fear is once these direct witnesses to the Holocaust disappear, the deniers will start to claim that there are no eye witnesses.
Holocaust deniers have a two prong argument:
1). The Holocaust never happened.
2). The Jews deserved it.
I’ve met him too.