Holocaust Testimony
David Abrams
David
Abrams of Dej, Romania was born in 1928 on December 8th. His
original name before coming to America was Abraham. At the time of the
interview he lived in Brooklyn, New York and was 69 years old. David had a very
modest but good childhood in Dej. He had three or four sisters and three
brothers. He was the oldest of the brothers and the youngest of the sisters.
His father was a baker and was very religious. Anti-Semitism started in their
tiny town around about 1941-42. Like everything else about the Holocaust it
started out very gradually and didn’t always seem out of the ordinary compared
to what had already happened. It went from just being picked on while on the
way home to his father being beaten for not displaying a flag on a nation
holiday. Soon they weren’t allowed to own the bakery that earned them their food
and money. In about 1943 he and his family were taken away to live in a Jewish
ghetto. The ghetto wasn’t like most of the “poster child” ghettos from the Holocaust;
it was really just a forest where they were left. They stayed in this ghetto
for about a month in the spring time. When they left the ghetto they were taken
straight to Auschwitz by train. At Auschwitz he was separated from his family and
wouldn’t be reunited with any of them until after the war. He was only at this
camp for a short time until being moved on to Mauthausen and then to Gusen.
While at these work camps his work mostly consisted of moving large rocks. He
survived mostly by sheer luck and being only 15 or 16 years old. In one
instance he was admitted to the hospital at the camp for a leg infection. During
that time the kids his age were assigned to do extremely hard work where many
of them died. Once the death marches started his guards were ordered to kill
them but didn’t and just kept them walking. Once he was liberated he was taken
to a hospital where he was nursed back to health. After that he was all on his
own. He went into a DP camp and eventually found his way home where he was
eventually reunited with his sisters.
“…there was a holocaust, I was there, I survived, and I’m
here now to testify about it.”
“Zachor” –Always remember what happened
“Al tishkach” –Never forget
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