Auschwitz survivors ask 'never forget us' on 80th anniversary of their liberation

Claims Conference launches global digital campaign to commemorate testimonies to mark anniversary of liberation of Nazi death camp

This month, the world will mark 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest and most infamous Nazi concentration and extermination camp, where more than 1.1 million people were murdered during its five years of operation.
The Conference for Jewish Material Claims against Germany (Claims Conference) is launching on Monday "I Survived Auschwitz: Remember This," a new digital campaign featuring 80 Holocaust survivors who survived the death camp, which has become synonymous with cruelty.
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מצעד החיים בפולין
מצעד החיים בפולין
Auschwitz
(Photo: AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
As part of the campaign, 80 short videos by 80 Auschwitz survivors will be posted on social media for two weeks, with the main aim of reaching the world’s younger generation. In each video, the survivors answer the question: What is the most important thing for you to know and remember about your experience in the Auschwitz death camp?
Ella Blumenthal, 103, from South Africa wants the world to remember that she never lost hope in Auschwitz, despite losing 23 of her closest family members there. She and her niece, Roma, survived. “She begged me to end our suffering by throwing ourselves under the electrified fence because she said the only way out of Auschwitz was through the chimney. I convinced her to wait one more day – and then again to wait another day – because I wasn’t ready to die. I wanted to live.”
Ella Blumenthal
(Video: Claims Conference)
Jona Laks, a twin who survived Mengele's experiments in the Auschwitz camp, who now lives in Israel, said: "I made a vow to donate all my energy, all my time, everything, to tell, document and convey to people what happened. I am Jona Laks, and it is important to me that you remember this."
Jona Lax
(Video: Claims Conference)

The campaign is also inspired by the testimony of Aron Krell, an Auschwitz survivor, about his brother Zvi, who died of starvation after a year in the Lodz ghetto. Aron Krell remembered Zvi, the second of three boys in their family, as a soccer player. But food shortages, intense forced labor and a lack of medical care left Zvi very thin.
Aron recalls the last words Zvi said to him before his death: "Please never forget me." This campaign is a tribute to Aron, his brother Zvi and all the families who were lost, murdered and persecuted by the Nazis. In his testimony, Aron Krell said: "I lost not only Zvi, but also my brother Moshe and my mother Esther in the Holocaust. I survived five concentration camps and ghettos, including Auschwitz. I know that many cannot understand what I went through. But one can understand what it is to love a brother as I loved Zvi, to imagine the unbearable pain that comes with such a loss, and from that, I hope, to agree that the lessons of the Holocaust must always be remembered."
Aron Krell
(Video: Claims Conference)

Eva Szepesi, an Auschwitz survivor from Germany, spoke about her mother, father and younger brother, all of whom were murdered in the Holocaust. Her mother sent her with forged documents in an attempt to save her. Despite the effort, the Nazis found Shepzi and sent her to Auschwitz on November 3, 1944. At the time, I didn’t know my mother, Valerie, and my little brother, Tamas, had already been sent to Auschwitz and murdered there. And when I entered the gate there, they saw me from above. I didn’t think about it then. Thinking of it would have been fatal,” she said.
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Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, said that the horrors of Auschwitz were an evil that no one should have to endure, but also an evil that no one should forget. He added that, although it is difficult to imagine ourselves in a concentration camp, we can all understand the desire of people to remember their loved ones who were lost, the experiences that shaped them, and the moments that mattered to them.
Taylor believes it is essential that we teach future generations about Auschwitz. "I Survived Auschwitz: Remember This" does so by connecting generations with our common humanity.
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