Born Abraham on December 8th, 1928 in Romania, David Abrams now lives in New York. He was only 15 when the nazis loaded him up on a freight train along with his family and many others. David’s opening statement, or speech rather, was quite eye opening. I have never heard a direct testimony from someone who actually experienced the holocaust. Of course I knew that it was terrible, everyone does. However to see the anguish it brings to the faces of survivors from just speaking about it really gives me a new perspective. David’s earliest memories are of he and his family eating dinner around their table with his brothers and sisters. His mother died just a few days after he was born. His father remarried soon after. David thought fondly of his father’s new wife as his mother. In fact, he didn’t know otherwise until he was about nine or ten.
One thing I learned is that the crimes against the Jews started very subtly with rules like not being able to hire gentiles and not being able to go the the market until ten o’clock so the gentiles could have their pick first. I thought this was interesting because I see that happening to us today.
David was able to leave Oschwits by mere luck. He was loaded up on a train along with others again, except this time they were only allowed to occupy one half of the car and the other half was occupied by German guards and soldiers. After another train ride david arrived in Mothausen. It was a hot day when he arrived and they weren’t allowed any water. They went through processing similar to what they went through at Oschwits which consisted of stripping, inspection, and shaving. David spent about a year at his work camp until the end of the war.
David recalls trying to keep a sense of humor and praying every chance he had.
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