Transcripts For CSPAN2 Max Eisen By Chance Alone 20240713

Good evening everyone and welcome. I am read a learner, daughter of Holocaust Survivors and trustee of the museum of jewish heritage, a living memorial to the holocaust. It is my pleasure to introduce the special evening, before we begin tonight i would like to say a few words about the museum. The museum of jewish heritage is the leading New York Institution dedicated to fighting antisemitism and bigotry. For more than 20 years the museum has challenged visitors intellectually, rigorous to understand the ways in which dehumanization of the people cannonball to deeply destructive ends. Engaging with history people have all ages and backgrounds inherits our mission to never forget and to come back combat intolerance that endures to this day but if youre interested in receiving any information of Upcoming Events please join our mailing list. A sign in sheet can be found at the admissions desk. I also invite you to become a member of the museums vibrant community. We are honored to have you with us tonight to celebrate the holocaust survivor author max eisen. At 15, mr. Eisen was saved from certain death at auschwitz by a polish physician who employed him as a cleaner in his operating room. Mr. Eisen 2016 memoir, by chance alone, chronicles his remarkable, persistent liberation and continued healing after the miraculous surviving auschwitz. By chance alone received ten of the top literary awards in 2019. Tonight we celebrate the launch of the books american addition. We had the privilege of hearing mr. Eisen in conversation with veteran producer of a 60 minutes [inaudible]. Leslie [inaudible] at the conclusion of tonights program we invite you to join mr. Eisen for a book signing in the lobby, by chance alone. It is available for purchase in our museum shop. We are honored to be joints tonight by [inaudible] acting council of general of the Canadian Council in new york, mark gordon, executive Committee Member of the usc show a foundation of counselors. Ellie rubinstein, National Director march of the living in canada, Phyllis Greenberg heitman, president of the international march of the living and [inaudible] with [inaudible]. We would like to thank our partners in planning and presenting tonights program, international march of the living, the counselor general of canada in new york, Hanover Square press, and the usc show a foundation. Before we begin please take a moment to silence your cell phones to avoid any disruptions during the program. Thank you. Now please join me in welcoming our first speaker tonight acting canadian Council General [inaudible] [applause] thank you, rita. I was not held up by the impeachment hearings in washington. [speaking in native tongue] what an incredible honor it is to be here with you tonight to pay tribute to her truly remarkable man and an extraordinary canadian. Mr. Max eisen. Since we learned of maxs incredible story my team at the consulate general has been seeking an opportunity to bring up mr. Eisen to new york. I have to state that for a man of his age he has a very busy schedule and it was not easy to get him here. Thank you, max, for joining us and thank you to hanover press usc foundation, international march of the living and that International Jewish Heritage Museum for bringing max here this evening to tell his story. As a diplomatmany incarnations and spent time in europe in one of the most memorable opportunities for me as a family was to visit poland and to travel to auschwitz with my family and with my wife and with my son and to see and to share with them the tragedies and the horrors and the legacy of auschwitz. I am deeply and profoundly inspired by the courage and strength of Holocaust Survivors who, despite the depths of the evil they faced, and despite the complexity of their emotions, understand that the holocaust needs to be real for those who are not there and to reconcile the unspeakable horrors of the [inaudible] with the enduring faith in humanity. Canada has been profoundly shaped by the approximately 40000 Holocaust Survivors who resettled in our country after the holocaust. I must add canada has acknowledged the devastating results of our own inaction and apathy towards jews and the nasi era. In 1939 jewish refugees on board the ms st. Louis were turned away and to which are per minister issued a formal apology in our house of commons in november of 2018. The lessons of the holocaust are clear but need to be repeated. As Prime Minister trudeau has said never again is not a phrase, its a promise. A promise to stand up to the dangers of hatred and determination and the irreversible consequences of inaction and indifference. As a new yorker we know all too well and is recent horrific antisemitic attacks, right here in new york, had made it all too clear hatred is not yet run its course on this earth. We must be vigilant because what we also know is that the modern tools to promote hate are infinitely more sophisticated than going balls radio newspaper and film. Speaking with my colleagues and learning i am inspired by the sane that whoever saves a single life saves an entire world. Given the Ripple Effect of maxs unyielding commitment to educate the younger generations about the dangers of racism and bigotry i think we can say that by stating max this surgeon saved much more than one. The opportunity to hear a firsthand account from a survivor is becoming increasingly rare. I am so honored to be with you all here this evening to hear max share his story and i hope we will all leave here tonight with a heightened sense of duty to condemn intolerance and defend human rights in our everyday lives. Please welcome daughter of the holocaust survivor and senior [inaudible] eva traveled with mr. Eisen on the 2015 march of the living where she conducted the choir at the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in auschwitz. Aviva will be joined and accompanied by [inaudible] grammy Award Winning guitarist whose parents were Holocaust Survivors and who lost many members of his family in the holocaust. I thank you all and look forward to a wonderful evening. [applause] good evening. It is such an incredible honor for me to be here this evening and to sing at this wonderful tribute to max eisen paid one of the most remarkable people i have ever met. I have the privilege of traveling with max on the 2015 march of the living when i led the march of the living choir that year and so this evening i would like to share with you a few of the songs that the students and i sang on that very moving trip. I like to invite my colleague and dear friend, Eli Rubinstein to introduce and give context to the song that i will sing. [applause] good evening. The first song we will hear is a song called [inaudible]. The song was written by [inaudible] as she walked along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the land of israel in the early 1940s. She was born in hungary in 1921 because of the antisemitism she experienced. She emigrated to palestine in 1939 to help build the jewish state. She later returned to hungary to fight against nazi but was caught, tortured and executed by the nasis on november 7, 1944 but she left us a remarkable home in italy whose words are mined us of the beauty of nature and that sand in the sea and the rush of the waters in the thundering of heavens that she was robbed of far too early in her young life. My lord, my god i pray these things never end the sand and the sea the rocks and the waters the crash of the heavens the prayer of the heart the sand in the sea the rush of the waters the cry of the heavens the prayer of the heart [applause] every time we sing this song with the children on the march of the living and the very place that hitler sought to destroy the jewish people we know the spirit, the values, the lessons that it represents continues to live on. That weight we are making a statement, hitler you did not win, we will return here year after year reciting the words of the very people you tried to annihilate. Our next song is called [inaudible] and reflects a similar sentiment of hope and defiance written in the 12th century by [inaudible] the worsg relief that redemption would come to humanity. Many jews recited these last words before they were put into hitlers gas chambers. They believed a better date would arrive. [applause] thank you, aviva. It is now my pleasure to invite to the stage, mark gordon and member of the executive committee of the usc Foundation Board of counselors and he will now share with us a joint project between the foundation and the march of the living involving the testimony of max eisen. [applause] thank you, alex. On behalf of the foundation i am grateful to be here tonight to honor and celebrate max eisen and the release of his memoir here in the u. S. I want to thank our colleagues at hanover press for publishing and making this work so widely available. We want to thank the museum of jewish heritage for hosting tonights event and the counselor general of canada for the long support and involvement. We want to think the international march of the living for our partnership between the international march of the living and the usc foundation and for including us in this very auspicious event tonight. The usc nation began working with max and his family in 2019 through this partnership with the international march of the living and together these organizations have a joint project to gather the testimony of Holocaust Survivors in a 360degree video method in the authentic original locations. Together we are working to film at least ten survivors as they take us on a journey from their hometowns to the sites of liberation sharing their unique and personal stories and the places where they experienced them. Eventually, these testimonies will be deeply integrated into the programs and experiences created by the march of the living. Max is one of four survivors so far who have participated and been filmed on location. Our team traveled with max to the auschwitz, Buchenwald Foundation as he shared a story with us and with his son who was on the march for the first time we traveled to [inaudible], slovakia and his hometown of moldova also in slovakia or max recalled his childhood and invited us to share in what was likely im told his last goodbye to his hometown. He wants vibrant prewar Jewish Community that now exists only through him. This committee will not be forgotten thanks to his 306t degree on location interview and the loving details he so generously included in his memoirs. This is all in addition to the usc foundation having not one but two life history interviews of max in our visual history archive. Both were recorded in the 1990s and one was taken by the foundation and one is filmed by the sarah heinberg and both are accessible to the visual history archives and that testimony is among the 55000 survivor testimonies that are now acceptable or available through over 160 universities and museums on Six Continents around the world and there is, of course, his book which is what we are here to celebrate today. Now, as i understand it, max did not always wish to tell his story. In the prologue of the book he talks about the fact that when he first spoke publicly about the holocaust and his experiences at st. Joseph high school in toronto he was very nervous and said he would not do it again. I think this was a very common reaction among survivors at that time. If i may tell a personal story, i too have or have an uncle max or had an uncle max who survived auschwitz and emigrated to toronto where he built a family and lived a life. I visited my uncle max in the summer of 1990 shortly after maybe a month or two after i had been on a trip to Eastern Europe and have visited auschwitz and over dinner i told him my travels and he asked me maybe two, three questions about auschwitz and what i had seen there and after dinner his son, harvey my cousin, who was 34 years old at the time said to me, no, and my entire life that is the most i have ever heard my father talk about his experiences. I said why do think that is and he said well, his attitude is what would be the point, who would listen and we just be complaining to our children or to my children. And so, i think, as individuals we are all here and incredibly indebted to organizations like Usc Shoah Foundation and like the international march of the living, like the museum of jewish heritage and organizations like the hanover press who have created outlets or forums for and a structure around hearing and learning the stories of the survivors so they can be passed down and so we can learn from them and so that hopefully never again. Most importantly, of course, we are indebted to survivors like max who did speak again and again at countless colleges, universities, high schools, Public Events and i think he is led 21 trips to auschwitz where he is educated though students and adults and shared his experiences in addition to, of course, giving his testimony, participating in the 360degree video with the international march of the living and of course, publishing this memoir. Id like now to share with you a short video that shows the behindthescenes of our time with max and his son ed where we filmed the 360degree video that will be incorporated into the march of the livings program. In it you can see the intensity with which max has committed himself to telling this story. Could someone play the video . [inaudible] [inaudible] theres always been avoid their. He is able to speak to strangers more so in ways and expressing feelings that he is with his own family and that is one of my reasons to come here is to see if there was an opportunity to break through some of that. [applause] and now i would like to invite backup, kelly rubinstein the National Director of the march of the living in canada. [applause] thank you, mark. Im honored to be able to introduce the main part of our program, the part we are about to hear from max eisen himself. Ive been traveling with max on the march of the living for well over 20 years now any time continue to be inspired by his courage, his wisdom and his eloquence. I recall in the early 2000s been with max at Queens University in kingston, ontario and for a week and conference training our educators to travel with us to poland in the march of the living. As we were milling about the reception area of the Conference Center a group of queens of students passed by and they noticed one of our staff was carrying a torah scroll in the agent five books of moses written by hand on parchment that the jewish people have read from public leaf or thousands of years been observing the curious look on the student spaces max patiently asked lane to them what these schools represented. He concluded in his approach to speech by informing them that the holocaust the nazis burned thousands of sacred works like this torah they were looking at now. They also reminded the students of the coach quotes from [inaudible] they burn books but in the end they burn of people. The spellbound students were mesmerized during his short speech and only reluctantly troubled souls away to return to their schools activities. At that moment i realized that max was a born teacher, a natural educator who had both a desire and ability to share a story and the lessons of the holocaust with the most diverse audience in the clearest most successful manner. In that moment of teaching, as you heard, its something max replicated countless times as hes crossed canada sharing a story of love and loss with thousands upon thousands of people for the last 20 or more years. [inaudible] who comes from the same part of europe with max wanted something along the following lines. To be a jew after the holocaust is to have every reason to give up your belief in god and to give up on the jewish people and to abandon your trust in all humanity. I have every reason to give up your faith in god and to give on the jewish people and abandon your trust in all humanity but still not to do so. Max, like so many other survivors we no, perfectly example flies ellies sentiment. Despite having every reason to do so max did not abandon his faith or give up inhumanity but instead he continued today can dedicate literally every day of his life around the clock to teaching the lessons of Usc Shoah Foundation that it will never happen again. In that effort, max reminds us of a hasidic quote that said if you believe the world can be broken also believe it can be fixed. If you can believe the world can be broken, also believe it can be fixed. Thank you max from the bottom of all our hearts to not give into despair for not giving up on her world even though you had every reason to do so. Indeed, we are all the better for it. [applause] in a moment i like to invite to the stage my teacher, my hero, my mentor, max eisen. He will be interviewed by sherry from 60 minutes. Theyre currently producing a segment on maxs life and is familiar with maxs story. Max and sherry, please. [applause] thank you. Okay, im the substitute. [laughter] i dont do this for a living so please be understanding. Leslie is sad not to be here. She is a huge fan of max and really wanted to do this but wasnt able to get on a flight back early enough to be here. Youve got me. So, max. Why dont we start by talking about your life and why do we start by, with the beginning of your life, before these horrors. Tell us a little bit about your family, where you lived. I know it was czechoslovakia but it became a part of hungry so what was your life like, your home, your family before the w war. Czechoslovakia was a democratic country. We jews had plenty czechoslovakia. Our president [inaudible] we considered him our grandfather and i live in a town about 5000 people. We jews were 10 of the towns population and approximately 99 of the families were traditional Orthodox Jews and they were Small Business people, farmers and in my town there were teachers and doctors. Doctor laszlo, jewish dentist and jewish butcher, baker and we had a beautiful Jewish Synagogue and [inaudible] which is a Jewish School and i can tour and rabbi and its amazing looking at the town in toronto where its difficult for all the jewish communities to get together and it was a beautiful Jewish Community and i lived in a large dwelling with my paternal grandparents and my uncle and aunt. In many jewish people we live with extended families together. That was a wonderful way of growing up. Imagine some of the people that would be taking care of you or i was going by small who was doing the best cooking that day. Because you all were literally in the same home. Same dwelling. It was a large lshaped house we lived in the front part or leg of the l and so we had my mothers kitchen had a wood stove in the bedrooms in every bedroom had a fireplace called [inaudible] made up of tiles, ceramic tiles and there was no Running Water but we had a well in the yard and a Beautiful House and we had an outhouse and i had two younger brothers and in the center of the house with my paternal grandparents and my aunt bella who was an invalid and my grandmother had her own kitchen and bedrooms and my aunt had another kitchen and bedrooms and so on. Lots of kitchen choices. Anyway, i said think of it alert on the roof and lucky if you could have so many chickens. We had chickens and ducks all over the place and big vegetable garden and a huge orchard with fruit trees. I had bicycle and friends that were jewish and not jewish kids. That was how i spent the first ten years of my kids. In czechoslovakia i was the first [inaudible] of nazi germany but in 1938 during the munich conference my country was partitioned and we were given to hungary and we knew that we were in mortal danger when this happened in 1938 but it was too late for jews to leave and finding out much later and there was nowhere people would take jews in any way. This was our chance to be in europe so when this happened you go from a democratic lifestyle and its a fascist country, hungary was a fascist country. I remember in 38 my father had a [inaudible] and somehow he managed to find out that hitler was making a very important speech in berlin and i remember all his friends, my father mustve been in his late 30s and they all came to our home to listen to this radio speech and we spoke and i think we spoke hungarian in my home and i learned also slovakian in school and spoke german so we were [inaudible] and i remember this speech pouring out of the radio. Hitler said. [speaking in native tongue] we are going to eradicate the jews in the face of the war. I was nine years old and i knew something in my gut told me something terrible would happen but i had no idea what. I remember seeing the faces. When the you are nine and your father is 30 you think he is an old man but i could see his face and this was the tension in czechoslovakia but these edicts were being posted in my town and we were marked and numbered in my town and in school hungarian teachers made us sit in the back of the class and we were segregated. Bites every morning going to school. We read less than of the student body and other edicts were being posted on a daily basis. Jewish businesses were confiscated [inaudible]. My mother had a helper whose name was anna but the jews cannot employ nonjewish people. My hand mother had her hands full and she became a single mother because in 1941 all the ablebodied men were had to report to battalions so every man in the jewish family were taken away to labor battalions for many years. Then in edicts came out the jews cannot employ jewish people so anna had to leave and she did not want to go. They removed her from our home and it was a changing scene for my mother handling this whole family after looking after three kids and in 43 she gave birth to a little girl and that was on a good year for a jewish mother to give birth so i remember our job became so difficult and we had to i was 12 and a half years old and we jewish kids were sent out of school and my mother sent me to [inaudible] and i became an apprentice working in a shop. So, looking back my mother truly was my guardian angel. She made sure we always had good shoes, good winter boots and made sure our angles would be strong and fed us a balanced diet and all these things and i cannot imagine how she did all these things singlehanded. Half of it was gone and my grandfather who was truly a man of the land, all the grandfathers and my town fought in the First World War and the austrian empire and these were men from the country and they knew [inaudible] in every grandfather had a beard like [inaudible]. My grandfather taught me a lot of work skills and life skills. My uncles on my maternal side family were slovakian so i think they taught me a lot of things which really, i think, helped survive the one year i was incarcerated by the nazis. And 44, in 43 my aunt died and in hindsight it was [inaudible] she taught me how to read books and i was able to read, i read all the books by jewish learning by six years old. I read at an early age and i just loved books ever since. She was the only member of my family the cancer was made for my grandfather which was buried in the cemetery and the rest of the family wound up being deported on the first day of passover in 1944. I was going to ask you about that because you had a seder that evening and as you are obviously saying his memory is unbelievable for detail and when you all read the book if you have not already there are many more but yes, tell us about seder. Looking back in 1944 imagine jews and hungry about 700,000 jews in hungry and we did not know what was going on just because of the carpathian mountains and occupied poland and this is a message to us forever not knowing was a terrible thing. Who would have thought, my grandfather you know, hungarian empire they never did things like that and i kept saying when we know things that we did not think about it. Its a terrible mistake. We were celebrating passover and we had ample food and 44 and we were certain life went on and my father and uncle [inaudible] we believe this booktv program here as the u. S. Senate is about to, in this afternoon for what should be a short pro forma session. It is part of cspan2s longterm commitment to bring you live gavel to gavel coverage of the u. S. Senate. Earlier today for Small Business administration said they are unable to accept new applications the Paycheck Protection Program because funding ran out. We could see that debated on the senate floor here. And now to live coverage of the u. S. Senate here on cspan2. The presiding officer the senate will come to order. The clerk will read a communication to the senate. The parliamentarian the clerk washington, d. C, april 16, 2020. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable roy blunt, a senator from the state of missouri, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed chuck grassley, president pro tempore. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President , i ask consent to be recognized, notwithstanding the order for a pro forma session today. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Mcconnell one week ago, mr. President , i warned that the Paycheck Protection Program was running out of money. I tried to pass a clean funding bill. Senate democrats blocked it. So here is where we are. A week later, with absolutely no progress. This morning, the program ran out of money and shut down, just as i warned a week ago. Even now, Senate Democrats are still blocking funding. Every Senate Republican was ready to act today. Today. But democrats would not let us reopen the program. So look, mr. President. Its absolutely surreal to see Democratic Leaders treat support for workers and Small Businesses as something they need to be goaded, goaded into supporting. This really should be above politics. Five million more americans lost their jobs just last week. That makes 20 million layoffs in just one month. Americans need democrats to stop blocking emergency paycheck money and let this jobsaving program reopen. I hope our colleagues will come around soon. Now, mr. President , as if in executive session, i ask unanimous consent that the order of march 26 with respect to executive calendar number 556 be modified to occur on monday, may 4, with all other provisions of the previous order remaining in effect. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Mcconnell so, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn to then convene for pro forma sessions only with no business being conducted on the following dates and times, and that following each pro forma session, the Senate Adjourn until the next pro forma session. Monday, april 20, 2 00 p. M. Thursday, april 23, 5 30 p. M. Monday, april 27, 8 00 a. M. And thursday, april 30, 1 00 p. M. I further ask that when the Senate Adjourns on thursday, april 30, it next reconvene at 3 00 p. M. On monday, may 4, and that following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. Further, upon the closing of morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to consider the feitel nomination under the previous order. Finally, i ask to renew the Appointments Authority of the order of march 26. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Mcconnell so if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. The presiding officer under the previous order, the Senate Stands adjourned until 2 00 p. M. Stands adjourned until 2 00 p. M. They could come back to capitol hill before may 4th. Watch live Senate Coverage and the house on cspan. We now continue or booktv discussion from new york city, the book is by chance alone. Put into the gas chamber and forced to write a post california to families in hungry so im listening to this ss officer and i thinking im with my beautiful cousin somewhere, and seeing the reception and how it works unfortunately, so we in a cattle train, like a cattle car you see outside here. Imagine 100 people, its a journey i cannot describe. Initially they put in a pail of water and a pail for the toilet. And the doors to look them are bolted down and never the water was never replaced, the toilet was sloping on the ground. It was a mess. A terrible thing. My journey what four days and nights. Think of continental europe, and the entire land mass, think leading from the haug, amsterdam, rome, paris, budapest and bucharest, all the way locomotives, pulling tens of thousands of cattle cars like that with human cargo 0 the death camps in occupied poland. Millions of jews were hauled in this way, and not a single transport was supervised by any on the countries even though they were occupied, many of the underground. Not a single train was sabotaged. Documentary just came out yesterday on pbs, bombing auschwitz, when the was thing. What but the transports . But on this transport, you have no idea where youre going. Correct . Do you continue third dedeception continue you did the deception continue that we governor together a lovely farm with your family. By the second day we knew we were in big trouble. This was not going to be a place of work or whatever. It was the worst. The degradation of humanity was just so visible. And it was the worst. Never seen saw my mother and it was a din and crying and screaming, and the babies were their cry was gone. They couldnt breathe anymore, and you can write a book of what its like to be locked in with 100 emthen you arrive on the platform and youre totally a zombie. You cant think. They keep telling you misinformation; dont worry about your bundles. It will be delivered. Youll see your family tomorrow. Theyre been taken no infection and men and women are separate its done very fast. Therm german guard and ss guard, when i was at his trial, he wad too do this things very fast in orderly fashion when hung gareon hungarian jews were brought. And they were get i. These trains were arriving around the clock. Around the clock. You arrived at night. I arrived may 8, in the middle of the night. Hauled out on this platform, it was floodlights recall over and couldnt see anything behind the floodlights or a little bulb and a huge fire from behind me, flames, several chimney, i can see the chimneys and the flames and the table stench in the air. I naught it was a big factory. My uncle and i were selected for slave labor mitchell mother and two Little Brothers and my baby sister and hi grandparents and the aunt were sent to the left and i knew by the next day they were marched into the gas chamber or and 2,000 people at the time were gassed. How did you got separated and go with your daughter uncle. How did you find out what happened . Youre 15 years old. You think youre in an industrial facility. How did it become clear what actually was going on there . Well, we were selected, we were in the clutches of an ss unit. They took away our clothes. They shaved our heads. And they shaved our body hair. Women that were selected for slavery, were processed the same way in the womens camp, and given a shower, took away our clothing. The only thing we were allowed to keep were our boots and beaut a barrack and i was able to lie down for a few hours after staning for three days and nights. The next morning we were hauled out from the barrack, with a unlv sunday morning and i could see the spread of all i could say was barbed wire and four chimneys, fire and smoke and ashes coming down, and we were naked, and two men in a striped outfit, brought liquid and gave us a dish, and they leave a drink, the first drink i had no now days. My father asked him, are we going to see our familiesed to . They told us the night before so they were laughing and said where did you come from . We said we came from hungary in the middle of the night. And i can hear they said in 1944 you dont know what this place is all about . And your families have gone to the chimney. The only way youll get out of here, be beaten to death or starved to death but go through the chimney for sure. We didnt talking about anymore and i think probably my father and uncle got it. I didnt until maybe the next dale i knew there was no talk because you were now in the clutches of survival. We were put into work unit and we were given a couple, a road boss who was a psychopath from german jails. All these psychopaths into the camps. They were or work bosses and you were now on survival. You were dancing on the edge of a razor blade. Your food was 300calories a day. And it was very lucky i had good boots. Boots became a big thing because you have to march every day to work and back. 1015kilometers, and your body was fast disappearing, had to cover all kinds of things happening to your body, and you really had my father and uncle not be with me i dont think i would have survived two weeks. But not having anybody there who would be sort of helping you. I remember at first slop the brought us for lunch, this soup, a vegetarian soup. It stank to high heaven, and i said i will not eat this, and my father probably crammed it down my throat. A few days later, the soup tasted pretty good. There wasnt enough of it. You were inducted into this terrible live of auschwitz and were in the field and a half our lunch, work a 12hour back breaking day of hard work. Line up 100 people for your soup , and theres one of the couples has got a ladle and he is stirring up the slop in this canister and its like a double wall canister that keeps it warm. 100 people line up and people tried to figure out which is the best spot to be, up on toppest mostly liquid and the bottom is thick and if you were caught, you get a big hit on your head. When it was finished there was some left, so they called repeat. I couldnt believe it. I saw three or four people running into the canisters and trying to crawl in with their heads to lick out the last drop. I was in total shock. Said never in my life will i stay in a lineup for anything. So can you imagine how you have to be a fast learner. Because every second there was no second helping and no Second Chances here. It was a terrible thing. These couples were absolutely brutal and ive seen the best and the worst. My father and uncle were we were together for two months and they were selected in july, and i was very lucky to find a documentsomebody found a document in auschwitz, museum, of their selection and their name on it. They were selected out to a medical experiment for pharmaceutical companies for strep streptococcus analytic and the selection was in july we new what selection was, usually in the middle of the night. The loudspeakers were turned on and you heard very loud, attention, attention, all inmates in these barracks are naked to the barrack for selection and we knew selection was certain death. The next morning, i ran to my fathers and uncle. They were gone, and i had to go to my work, had to be consistent every morning, had to line up. A daily drill. And on a good day to take an hour and a half and when the count was bad you stand there in the military fashion three to four hours. People were simply collapsing and died on the spot, the strain of standing was so difficult and i managed to see them at night, they were in a quarantine area in auschwitz, and my father gave me a blessing through the wires and he told me, if i imagine to survive i need to tell the world what happened here. And never saw them again. And so i was going to ask you, i know this leslie would ask you, you have such the most tragic, horrible memories. Do you i know you talk about it frequently. How do you cope with describing these things again and again . And seeing i assume you see them when you talk. I manage to good over it because its very important. I i started to speak ive been speaking now 32 years. The first peach was in 1991 and i have a thank you card from the high school. What i thought its 32 years ago, of things happening in toronto, the antisemitism, and things about jews, would have never imagined. So theres no way i can sit by and not talk about it, and i think the book gave me a tool to be heard and be invited to speak in many different places, and its important for people to understand. It starts with the jews but does not end with the jews, and so see this kind of a thing second time around, its very gives me a lot of terrible feelings to that its possible. So, i just want to say, after my father and unkell were gone i had a hit on my head by a guard and i lost a lot of blood and went into shock. Was thrown into a ditch and i knew my life was over, and i kept thinking how die get myself out of this trouble . You see the only way to survive in this camp you have to be tough as nails and have to be very resilient and have to be able to put one foot in front of the other. You have plans for one second to the next. You couldnt thinking all the time. Pardon. You had to be thinking all the time about the next yeah, you survive from second to second, just bad movement could get this couple in such a rage, people were given beatings and you had to mean beatings you cant survive. They were there every second. So i was dragged back to camp, and i was dropped off in the surgery department, bare yack 21 barrack 21 in auschwitz 1, and i was put up in the ward upstairs and i found out that the two doctors, the two surgeons that operate on were Political Prisoners and upstairs in the ward were two jewish doctors, dr. Gordon from war saw and the doctor from prisms you had an operation you were able to stay in the ward for two days and after two days woreyear lead on a stretcher and taken to the gas chamber. If gore not better in two days, thats it. If wow couldnt walk away youre gone and ive seen a lot of people, they came because they knew nobody wanted to go to the operating they knew if you go there, thats the end. But these people were in such terrible shape, they were at the end of the life and had they said, two, three days maybe and if im lucky and its the end. So, i was on a stretcher, and the doctor pulled me off and he brought me in to the prep room of the surgery and gave me a lab coat and i became the cleaner. This was in middle of july of 44 and i was work are for him through january 12, 1945. So he saved your life. He saved my life, and definitely. Had he not done this, i wouldnt have survived because i would have been taken away to the gas, or if not that, would have had to work outside in the cold and the fall, and do you have any idea what he saw in you or if it was you were there when he needed someone or there was some connection. There was a polish medical student who was walking, doing the was working, doing sentenced to good to auschwitz for one year, and he was there for one week, and maybe there was some discussion with dr. Gordon and dr. Steinberg because the people talk to each other. So, maybe that was my they needed somebody young, and maybe that was it. I will never know. Youre 15 years old and youre in charge of cleaning of an operating room, and getting people prepared for operations, and cleaning and getting instruments cleaned and i learned fast. I had to polish and sweep and clean and taking the bloody sheets next door to the washer this laundry next door. And you know how an operating room has to be run. A lot of work. Everybody has to be sterilized their clothing, in the laundry, had to be folded and sterilized, and the washing instruments for hours after the whole afternoon of operations, and everything had to be sparkle and be clean, and ive seen a lot, and so the thing was that polish Political Prisoners were not jews, they were allowed to receive one parcel a month from home and one letter. This whats difference and i found out after, many years after the doctor made he survived and went back to auschwitz and made a deposition, and there was an undergrounds in ash witness, and the doctor was a very big part of this underground. I had no idea what was going on there. I was going to ask you, skipping way ahead, you had no contact with him immediately after the war, but later on you established some connections. Wanted to ask you about that. Yes. He knows my story and kept asking me, lets find out. I said issue didnt want to open that book. I mean 30 years after i survived, i was busy, building a family and the life, you know, live hi hood and so on, and i said, okay; so, i remember he found a girl from the institute in war saw and i told her the name of the doctor, and of course that was easy. Some went to ash witness and the was the doctor and all his records were there. So, the following year she came on the bus and came to me with a document, envelope, and he said do you in the this man . It was the doctor. With his photograph because Political Prisoners are photographed, front and side. Not jesusnot photographed. I said well maybe you can track down the family, and they found the family of the doctor, and one day i had a phone call from a fellow, who said my name is whom are you looking for . I said, well, im just wondering whether you know are familiar with the name of the doctors. He said,ways, thats my grandfather, and we met the family, and so when i go there, i see them almost every time im in poland, and his granddaughter has a sixyearold little boy whose name is max, and a smart little boy, and [laughter] he says to me, max, did you have money to go to canada on boat . Because they know the story. Its interesting. The doctor, i know this now, he was in auschwitz because he was arrivedded by the gestapo. His wife was a dentist and they writing a jew hiding a jewish family in the staple by the horses in the stable by the horses. People have different points of views, and i want to ask you, you saw the best and the worst of people and you had dish was going to ask you about this, you talk how this will the trains were crisscrossing europe and all these people being taken their death and nobody sabotaged them and another story you tell, youre being transported after the work, you have been liberated, and there was a remarkable act of kindness that really meant a lot to you. I was hoping you could tell about that. That was on the death march. The throwing of the bread. That was on the death march. That was on the death march, forgive me. 75 i arrived in auschwitz the 22nd. I arrived on the 25th of january, we went through a place, an occupied czechoslovakia, and we arrive in afternoon, and i didnt know where we were. Imagine a train, i dont know how many open flat cars carrying coal or and we were guarded by ss ruins patrolling around. When it got dark there was no movement of trains on the rails because at the were picked up by american flighter plains and the locomotive. So the trains stood at the station all night. Everything was blacked out, and a big raid, and in the morning, a wet morning, snow was coming down it was a commotion behind me and there is was an overhead bridge and i look back and i see people with bakers basket throwing chunks of bread into the open cars, and the ssguards are yellingdont throw bread. These are jews. So i said, my gosh, people still care for us. They gave me three months to go on. That was truly a high. And these people just kept throwing bread. They didnt stop whether the guard said dont throw bread. They used a submachine and the sprayed the bridge and the people ran away. That was a very high and really something. They said we arrive in the train comes to a stop, theres a bridge over a river, big river, i could see ice floe going down the river. I said this is it. This is the end. And i couldnt figure out why the train didnt go across the bridge. So the bridge was damages by allied bombing, and there were many railway ties missing and people were falling through the crack interest the ice water and they were gone, and we were marching up a hill and it said munthausen. We were black from filth and we come into this beautiful town, and these two, threestory house and what hit me right away, sparkling windows with beautiful curtains and drapes. I was just beyond belief. I couldnt understand. I said, these people are still living in like normal. I mean, i came from hell and im looking at sparkling windows and i kept thinking if i could get into one of this homes and have a bath i would die happily. Then i keep going theres three beautifully dressed women, on the sidewalk, a lot of snow, and kids bundled up, beautiful knitted scarfs and rosy cheeks and theyre look with eyes at these monsters walking in the middle of the road. And theyre three young women who were pulling the sleighs they were looking the other way. Didnt want to see what was walking on the road. That was total rejection. So the difference between the towns, very high and very low. And i see inmates, prisoners, hanging from a cliff, on granite. And i said this going to be the end. A wonderful thing what people did. So, i went to munthausen a terrible four days and went to another camp where we worked in underground shafts, and there i really had i almost bought it. I had a terrible case of dysenteriy, and i was so sick, cantkeep keep in the food down and how can you keep on walking and working and there is would black something i and he gave me a piece of coal and said to ease this piece of coal to take the poison out of my body and i was eating char cole for three days and charcoal for three days and it did the job. Every time you move from one of camp to another, i was there march 15th, i sort of found out and i knew im not sure how im going to make i kept thinking. Will he be 17 years old, while i still be alive . And so i made it, but every time you were moved, it was a terrible ordeal. And i kept thinking, how good i had it in auschwitz one. Had my own bunk, and a few months and i walked in auschwitz. So, they made this documentary with the foundation, we finished it in a beautiful alps. And we were back there last year, people are living there, beautiful hotels, tourists all over, and theres an the town, big lakes in the alps, we were there in may, i think, snow on the alps, and i was liberated on may 6th. By . By an American Tank unit called the 764th blank battalion. Most of them from new jersey. [applause] i tell you that was a moment i will never forget. Will you tell us i think i could listen to you talk all night so wont be a very good time keeper. We have another 40 minutes or so. A few hours. Tell us about the that moment. So, the last everything fell apart. The reich was finished and they locked the camp and threw with the keys and didnt give us any remarkses and shut he water off, and and we were infested with lice and they carried a sickness and i was in a lower bunk with high fever, and somebody came into the i mean we were ghosts. Those that were walking were walk ghosts. And couldnt lift their feet off the cement floor and kept mumbling away, that the guards are no longer in the tower. And i knew that if i dont get out of this bunk, i will never make it out. And i crawled out over cadavers all over, and i was outside, and im looking and i see the guard tower is empty. And i could hear heavy equipment and suddenly the gate came flying in, and there was an American Tank coming through with a white star. And dish. You could tell it was american. I knew right away it was american. German tanks have the black and white. I knew americans arrived. And i remember those soldiers, they were in total shock. They were liberate they liberated they didnt know what this place was. This unit went through, they were attached to general Pattons Third Army and came through the bat of the bulge and was an encampment on the mountainside and johnny stevens, the sergeant, the leader of the squadron issue think its 12 tanks. He. He said go up there expo what that it, barbed wire. They came up and went to the gate and all they saw was thousands of bodies in the square, piled up like mountains. And i couldnt get up on my feet, and these ghosts were coming to the tank and trying to touch the shoes of the soldiers and the soldiers, they tried to lift themselves up higher on the tour yet but on the stewart but you can only go so far. They dont no who these monsters were and they had could keep on going because they liberated and another American Unit came toes a mr. The camp, and it was very difficult for them to cope with it, i know. Many people that were given food, after they got a part of food, i think it was some meat, stew or something, and they ate the stew and simply dropped dead. We couldnt keep down any food. We were dying from hunger and now we were given food and we had issues for that for years. On my way back home it took me a month. We made stops in every town. They give us a piece of bread and a piece of salami and we had to eat it because we figured tomorrow whenever we ate we were in real trouble, so we had to be fed with an eye dropper. So it was a real mess, and so we were liberated but really not free, and an announcement came out, and anybody that wants to good to check czechoslovakia tomorrow the last truck is leaving and i was at the get a and i thought, where. Agoing knew i had to go because the camp was closing. So, i arrived home and i was in terrible shape. I was retaining a lot of water. I dont know what was wrong with me but it was not good. And the clothing we had, all the clothing that the americans found a huge storehouse of hitler shirts and corduroy bleachers and i had a shirt and corduroy bleaches and i had to cut them because i was full of water the boots i had to make slippers because i couldnt put my feet in them. Thats the way i got home. A farmer gave me a lift, and about a mile from my home i he made a left turn and i got up and kept walking towards the house it and was at that place, the year before it was a busy place, with three families, and i knew when i was a half kilometerway if he would be alive he would be flying through the gate. There was nothing. The neighbor sitting in my mothers kitchen, and get a glass of water. I went to see this lady who asked my mother, why not what would she leave a baby, and she she tide for me what my mother would have done for me ahead come back from a terrible journey. She got me to a hospital, right away, and i went to see i couldnt put my head back. The water line was up here. So, recovery took awhile, and one neighbor took your house and is in your kitchen and the other neighbor treat you with kindness and did another wonderful to thing for you. We did this documentary for the Shell Foundation last year, and back in my town, standing right in front of my house, its a scrapyard now exhibits was a it was a sunday morning and the crew was there, eight people on the crew, and a guy comes on a wheelchair down the few houses down the road and hes yelling, my name is tibor, thats my name and he said, time. Thats my nick nccic nick nickname, and its wonderful that somebody remembers me 70 years later. I within very happy to meet anybody, believe me. So anyway, i kept very civil, and everybody was amazed, remembering me, remembered my two brothers. My two brothers and he remembered the names, so we invited in for lunch. I said to him, his name is toth. I said, tell me, what happened here . When we were locked up in the school . What happened in my town . Every jew was the synagogue, they come and prayer books were put in a fire and torched, and the torah schools were cut into ribbons and worse. I said what happened when we were locked up in the school . Oh, that was a terrible time. I said but what happened . He said, oh, i remember we had a wonderful lady who was doing interviews on tv. She said you ask a question and if you dont get an answer, you answer once men and then you drop it. Said, what happened . What happened to my furniture . Oh, it was a terrible times. Wouldnt say anything. I think this is now 75 years later, its in the slovakia. Not a single jew living in my town. , so terrible times, okay. I was going for the answer about the woman saving the photos. I was trying to end on a happy note. She gave me four pictures when my home was everything was flying through the air and she shaved four pictures and those are truly treasures. I brought four pictures when i came to canada and i had less than a dollar in change when i got off the boat in quebec city and i had four pictures. So, that was the story, in continental europe. I just want to thank you so much. Wish that we had endless time because you obviously have i want to ask you so much about your life since the war, but now everyone can get the book. And read more i tell you, Harper Collins i never published the holocaust story, and it took me years to put this book together. I tried everything in and the last three years, i had to write i couldnt type on the computer. So i wrote with a pencil and paper. And then i had to tribute to my wife and granddaughter and my son and it took over three years. And i had a professor from the university, who did the editing. Took me three years and finally done in 2015, in early april, and i phoned the editor of Harper Collins, whom i met years before, came on a mission with me to poland, with another group. I said, youll know, i have my memoirs done i want to know if its worth anything. He said ill be back in two weeks and find out. What die know about editing, and publishing a book. He says, well, send it and just pushed a button it and was gone. I forgot boat. I was getting ready to leave on a sunday and this was tuesday. And two days later i had an email they would be honored to publish my memoirs. I simply almost fell off the chair mitchell book was a finalist for an award, obviously, and this year in canada, and i think its a very important book at the right time. Gave the book tremendous publicity in canada. I get letters from country from the atlantic to the pacific. And i think its very important, the right book for the right time, and we need to be aware of what is happening around us, and we cannot repeat the same mistakes, it starts with jute but does not end with jews, and when students ask merck what can be do, i say you need to stand up and say, we will not allow you to do this, not in my school, not our cities, not in our towns, not in our country. This is not a jewish problem. This everybodys problem. [applause] max, thank you so much from all of us. I think theres going to be another musical performance. Elie wiesel once said when you listen to wilt you become a witness. When you listen to wait, you become a witness. Mask, like so many others were privileged to hear you share your story on the march of the living and countless other experiences, al of us here now are your witnesses. We pledge to never forget your story and promise to pass on your story to future generations. Of course, we all look forward to your segment on 60 minutes. Our final song its called pay lay down your arms . World we momentum re liberation of auschwitz on january 27, 1945. If you ask my holocaust survivor, world war ii veteran what their meters fervent wish is theirandone word, peace. This has song is among the favorite pieces students like to read on the march of the living the peace song, lay down your arms. The hebrew veries are tame from isaiah 2 4 and they shall beat their swords into plow chairs, nation shoot not lift up sweared against nation. Eye say words spoken over some of the english word read, every hand that holds a sword can hold a baby. Every heart can learn to love. Lay dourdown arms, let time heal your wound and love will set us free. Lay downer averages. Note dear god please here us lice ton our prayers and help dues your will upon this earth let the children suffer no more and let a Peaceful World be given birth every hand that holds a sword can hold a baby every heart can learn to love lay down your arms begin the journey home and join the human family somewhere deep inside the soldier theres a dreamer dreaming of the world of peace lay down your arms let time heal every wound and love will some day set us free love will some day set us free love will some day set us free love will some day set us free [applause] thank you, for sharing with us your profoundly Healing Music this evening. To close out this extraordinary evening id like to invite your exceptionally dedicated president , president of the international march of the living. [applause] good evening to each of. You as he has done so beautifully this evening, in his own words, max has shared with countless of participants on the march of the living not only his personal story of survival but his belief in understanding of how very vital our commitment to the messages of memory are to the meaning of our lives. For over 20 years, march of the living student have had the opportunity to benefit from max residents gentle demeanor, his intuitive wisdom and his belief in our personal responsibility to protect the early chapters in our communal book of life, even as we strive to preserve a Better Future in the foregoing chapters. Since his inception in 1988, the international march of the living hat been devoted to an unwaiverring mission to educate the next generation on the historical truths of our Jewish Communal past. We see memory as a means to improvement. We see truth as fundamental to our existence. We feel morally compelled to remember the six million of our ancestors who so brutally met their deaths during the holocaust, and we feel passionately driven to honor and pay tribute to those fortunate enough to survive the atrocities they face during this most bleak and dark time in jewish and world history. As we approach our 32nd march from auschwitz this april well re joined the 10,000 participants, students, adults, survivors, clergy, law enforcement, professors, educators and world leaders, from 150 communities around this globe. We will stand together against the evils of antisemitism and we believe that together we are making a difference that we will remember and we will never forget. In this year of 2020, the year of vision, it is our fervent hope that humanity will strive to see the truths of reality more clearly. We are grateful for the vision of our founders who along ago sought to understand our moral obligation to remember the past as we prepare to grasp the future, and pass it on to the next generation, and we are very grateful for the physical fortitude, the inner strength and the will of max eisen. It is through your words and count lazy like you who brace yourself face unbearable enemy rid, open your hearts and share scrip stiff story dededescriptive stories and events that shaved the lives of so many and intro executive impact on the shoah on all the peoples of oworld. Im very pleased on behalf of the board of detectors of the international march of the living to publicly thank you, max, for showing us that the will to live can some must remain alive win each of us, against all odds and against all evils. You serve a true role model for our young peeping, the leaders young people, the leaders of tomorrow, the witnesses for the witnesses. Your resilience is remarkable, your commitment to memory inspiring, we are fortunate have you as a torch bearer of memory and truth and their meaning and importance, the relevance they have to our lives. We read the ethics of the father the chapter 2, and i quote it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task but neither are you free to desist from it. My friend, max, you and the very way that you have led your life, exemplify that most prophetic epic. We at the march of the living join in steadfast commitment to memory and to education. I pray, i pray deeply, our educational journey together from will continue for many, many more years to come as together we march in the common goal of learning from the past to preserve a Better Future. I would like to take a moment to thank all our distinguished guests for joining us this evening, for our partners in the recordation and transmission of memory, and to each one of you who have seen fit to join us this evening for this very special moment in time. I wish you a rest a pleasant rest of the evening. Safe travels home and i will remind you that our dear max will be shopping books at the gift shop at the conclusion of the program. Thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] youre watching a special edition of booktv. Airing now during the week, while members of congress are working in their districts because of the coronavirus pandemic. Tonight, a look at crime. First Joshua Hammer tells the story of a black market animal smuggling operation and report oles relate international and Domestic Trade regulations. Then university of texas journal ism appreciate Kate Winkler Dawson looks at the life of the first forensic scientist, and then recalls the life of his step father who is an associate of jimmy hoffa. Enjoy booktv now and over the weekend on cspan2. The coronavirus pandemic is having an impact on the congressional schedule, House Majority leader steny hoyer announces memberswell not be back for businesses medical may 4th and Mitch Mcconnell announced the same two weeks the shameber was originally scheduled to return and members have been advised they would have sufficient notice about returning to capitol hill if legislation related to the coronavirus would be considered before may 4th. Watch live coverage of the house on cspan, see the senate on cspan2. [inaudible conversations]