 |
||||
  
 
 |
Jewish dentist at Auschwitz recalls ashes and miracles
By Jen Feinstein
As Benjamin Jacobs walked across the stage and up to the microphone in the TSC ballroom on Thursday, the audience members braced themselves for the atrocities the Holocaust survivor was about to describe. Jacobs spoke softly to the filled auditorium and, with a thick Polish accent, recounted his horrifying tale. Jacobs, born Berek Jakubowicz, is the son of a grain merchant and the youngest of three. He was able to complete a year of dental school before the German occupation of Poland in 1939, but explained that anti-Semitism was a strong force in Poland as early as the mid-1930s. In his book, The Dentist of Auschwitz, he writes, "Jews were verbally abused and often beaten in broad daylight." By the time Jacobs was deported with his father in 1941, things were bad in Poland for Jews. Ghettos were put up and food was scarce. He and the other 166 men he had been arrested with were told they were being sent to a labor camp, Steineck. Jacobs remembers saying to himself, "Perhaps this is the best. If they want our labor they'll have to feed us." When they arrived however, Jacobs says, "We realized this is not about work, this is about death at work." Now, looking back, he says, "My dreams, my deliberations, and my hopes turned to ashes." Jacobs was sent to five concentration camps, including the infamous Auschwitz. While there, he worked as a dentist. He was lucky enough to have had a year of training and a mother who asked him to take his dentistry tools with him. He says of his mother's request, "This was the biggest miracle leading to my survival." The harsh conditions of the concentration camps left him suffering from malnutrition, with a sunken face, dark circles around the eyes and a thinness that resembled a living skeleton. He spoke of other miracles which were not so obvious. He says, "It just happened that the bullet would fall next to you or you would not be with the group." Jacobs brought his story to life with memories, such as the young Polish girl who brought him food, medication and even helped him keep in touch with his mother and sister by mailing and receiving letters for him. He says, "It was my first miracle." His tone turned somber, however, when he told of the last letter he received from his sister. He quoted from his book: "When you receive this letter, Mama and I will no longer be alive. Though we were told that we are going to be resettled, we know where they are taking us -- Chelmo -- and no one has ever come back from there." Jacobs also spoke about the strength of the human spirit and the will
to survive. He says, "In spite of it, there's something which we are
born with, a desire to live. No matter how difficult it is , you somehow
get used to it. All for one reason -- hope."
|
Archived Months:
September
1998 |
||