So somehow, I learned about this lecture from a Holocaust survivor really late. Really, I only found out about it somehow the morning of the lecture itself. Needless to say, I quickly made arrangement to purchase reservations, and then set it up so that I could pick my son up right after I got off work at 3pm, and hopefully get there just on time. the lecture was slated to begin at 4pm, and indeed, we did get there just a few minutes before it began.
It was held at the Hilton Amphitheater in Woodcliff Lake, which probably holds about 300 or so. And it was quite packed for this lecture. I was glad to have found out about on time, although admittedly, just barely.
So we went, my son and I. I decided a few years ago that it would be important to bring my son to some of these events, if circumstances permitted. A few years ago, we saw Alan Moskin, who was a member of the US Army and helped to liberate Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Earlier this year, we also saw another Holocaust survivor, Agnes Adler. I was very pleased to get another opportunity for him to see another Holocaust survivor, and to hear her tale. The Holocaust ended nearly eight decades ago, so obviously, there are not many survivors left. It is important to hear these stories from people who went through them, and are before you in the flesh.
Itu Lustig was sometimes a bit difficult to hear, and there was also a thick accent which sometimes made it a bit difficult to understand at times. Still, it was a good lecture, and I think that we both got a lot from it. She was the oldest of seven children from the small Romanian village of Stramtura. Her father was a rabbi in town, but everything changed in 1940, when Romania turned towards Fascism. She said that she had returned to visit the village after 50 years, although she made very clear that Auschwitz was one place which she will absolutely never return to.
Lustig said that once the Germans came, the Jews were segregated into separate ghettos. Life became much harder for Jews, as they were prevented by law from being part of mainstream society, including owning any businesses. Eventually in 1944, she and many other Jews were led to cattle cars, where they were expected to board, although she said that they did not have proper equipment to get them on board. Still, they were forced onto the cattle cars, which were jam packed. She said that whatever position you were in - sitting or standing - you had to remain in, because it was too crowded to make any adjustments after that. There were no bathrooms or anything in the cattle cars. No furniture of any kind. And only when the trains stopped in villages along the way were they given any kind of relief, in the form of water and food, which local Jews of these villages took great risks in providing. But she stated that Jews always try to help each other in any way that they can, no matter what.
After five or six days riding on the cattle cars, they arrived at Auschwitz. Once they arrived there, they were immediately separated during the selection process, which was headed by the infamous Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele. the Germans made a small signal, and you had to know what that meant, and which side to go on. One side meant being taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the labor camp. The other side was taken to the gas chambers. There was a thick smoke with a very unpleasant smell over the air. When asked what it was, some of the older Jews of the camp who were nice would tell them that they would find out what that was in time. The others, who were not so nice, were a lot more direct about what that smoke meant.
Life in Auschwitz was obviously very unpleasant. They lived in crowded housing with several people to each bunk. She said that they subsisted on a half a cup of coffee for breakfast, and some bread and a half a cup of soup later. That was all that they received for food each day. They were also only allowed to go to the bathroom when taken by Nazis, and could not simply go when nature called. As miserable and alone as she felt, and awful as the living conditions were, Lustig said that she nevertheless wanted to avoid the gas chambers, although she could not say why she wanted to avoid them.
As the war was coming to an end, the Germans knew that the Soviet Red Army was closing in and coming close to Auschwitz. So surviving Jews were forced on what have come to be known as the Death marches. Lustig was one of those people, and she made clear that it was not walking, but actual marching. There were many who died along the way. Roughly 75 percent of the people on these marches did not survive. There was nothing in the way or rest or sleep. You were expected to keep marching no matter what. When one of two sisters fell, and the other sister went to help, the Germans simply killed her. There was no discussion or anything with Nazis, Lustig made clear. If you asked questions, you received punches, and did not get any answers anyway. And in the concentration camps and marches, they often were very quick for any sort of justification to kill Jews.
Ultimately, she was Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. They did not have gas chambers there, but they used other cruel methods to kill Jews. They were given showers once every two weeks, and often had to put shame aside and strip naked and help one another get the lice off their bodies. And Lustig also said that they were given bread which the Nazis had put glass in. They did not grind it too finely, which meant that some of the pieces had rather large pieces of glass. When people swallowed these, it cut their insides. Death soon followed.
After she was liberated, the suffering still continued for a little while. The British liberated the camp, and they initially gave the survivors baked beans. But this was too much for many of the people, who had not eaten a proper meal in over a year in many cases. Many of them died shortly after that. So they had to change the diet, and gave them some chocolate and other things that would be a bit easier to digest.
Ultimately, Lustig survived. She and her brother Zanvil were the only survivors in her family. She emigrated to the United States in 1947. There, she met her husband, Mayer, who was from Hungary. Together, they lived in Brooklyn and had three children. She worked in education for some years before helping her husband out in his nursing home business.
The timing of this lecture is important, as hatred and xenophobia of all kinds - and perhaps anti-Semitism in particular - appear to be on the rise throughout the country. My son and I talked about this as we left. I asked him if he had learned anything new. He had heard many of the stories of the Holocaust, but he said he had never heard about Germans putting glass in bread before. Admittedly, that was new to me, as well.
It was an important evening. Itu Lustig made clear in the beginning that it was not a pleasure to be there, since the topic of discussion was so grim. However, it is important to keep the memory alive, especially while there are still some Holocaust survivors among us. Perhaps it is more important than ever before, with both anti-Semitism and the related Holocaust denying seemingly on the rise in recent years.
Below are two links to articles about this particular lecture, which seemed important to share here:
A Historic Evening with Itu Lustig An Auschwitz survivor My Life in a Death Camp
https://www.eternalflame.org/itu-lustig/?gf_paypal_return=aWRzPTEyfDE3MTQmaGFzaD1hOTgxMTQ3NWJlNWYxZTNjOWY5NjBkOWE5YzJhZjA1NA=
Auschwitz survivor brings 'message of hope' to Bergen in era of growing Holocaust denial 6 minute read Deena Yellin NorthJersey.com, December 2, 2022:
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2022/12/02/holocaust-survivor-itu-lustig-to-speak-in-woodcliff-lake-nj/69668651007/
This was only the latest in what has actually been an impressive number of such discussions about the Holocaust, often with people who actually had some experience with it. I was fortunate to have attended a number of them dating some years back, and wrote reviews for them on this blog. If you are interested in reading these reviews, here are some of the links, which I put here in chronological order:
Eva Schloss, Anne Frank's Stepsister, Reflects on Auschwitz and the Holocaust, published on November 15, 2014:
https://charbor74.blogspot.com/2014/11/eva-schloss-anne-franks-stepsister.html
The Mitzvah Project: Astonishing Stories of the Holocaust, published on May 22, 2015:
https://charbor74.blogspot.com/2015/05/review-mitzvah-project-astonishing.html
Behind Enemy Lines - Eternal Flame Lecture with Marthe Cohn at Pascack Valley High School on Monday October 19th, 2015, published on October 19, 2017:
https://charbor74.blogspot.com/2017/10/behind-enemy-lines-eternal-flame.html
Holocaust Survivor Dr. Jacob Eisenbach at Hilton Woodcliff Lake, NJ- Tuesday, October 24 - Dr. Jacob Eisenbach, published on October 25, 2017:
https://charbor74.blogspot.com/2017/10/holocaust-survivor-dr-jacob-eisenbach.html
WWII Sergeant Alan Moskin Discusses Experiences During War & Liberating Mauthausen Concentration Camp published on March 11, 2019:
https://charbor74.blogspot.com/2019/03/wwii-sergeant-alan-moskin-discusses.html
Eternal Flame Presents: An Evening With a Survivor: Agnes Adler published on March 7, 2022:
https://charbor74.blogspot.com/2022/03/eternal-flame-presents-evening-with.html
In honor of her 94th birthday, Eternal Flames organizer threw Iva Lustig a party right after the lecture. The two balloons represent her age, one saying 9 and the other 4:
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